Issue 6

A couple of months ago, Deane Barker shared some principles of content management, and I can’t get it out of my head. Beginning with this issue, I’m going to share pieces of what Barker wrote along with a few thoughts of my own.

Structure

Quick thoughts about how content lives in systems

This is very true. Content models are the foundational element of content management systems (CMSes).

It’s also true that problems in the content model tend to stick around for a while.

I’ve made content model mistakes that have made it hard to scale our content or that tie content too closely to how and where it’s presented. You might have to migrate content or even change front-end code to undo or iterate on some of these mistakes. It is absolutely painful to do so.

As Sarah O’Keefe and Alan Pringle put it in Content Strategy 101: “Remember that content modeling changes get more and more expensive as you get farther into the project.”

But this brings about a cause for rejoicing too: Content models are malleable. They can—and should—be iterated upon.

Here’s the reminder I try to give when presenting about content modeling or when working with a group new to content models: Expect to change your content models as your organization changes and as you learn more about your audience.

You can unlock new business capabilities with changes to your content models.

I have one caution, though, about Deane’s point, and this is a lesson that my former manager used to remind me before he managed me, when we were peers on a leadership group: Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

Or as Carrie Hane and Mike Atheron say in Designing Connected Content: “Done is better than perfect.”

They go on to admonish: “Don’t get mired in getting the model just right.”

Be careful not to get stuck on avoiding mistakes. Keep moving forward.

My manager-to-be was wise, and his admonition was because we were in the midst of a months-long debate about some of our foundational content model decisions. We lost time and didn’t deliver business value as soon as we could have.

Don’t stall out because you’re afraid of encoding mistakes that can’t be fixed. Make a content model expecting to change it. Stress test the model with some realistic content.

And feel free to reach out if you want to talk to someone who might be able to save you from content model mistakes. Book a chat!​

Style

Quick thoughts about how to improve your content

Most word processors and most content management systems allow you to both style your text (such as with bold and italics) and assign paragraph styles to your content (such as Heading 1, Heading 2, Blockquote, etc.).

Don’t abuse the paragraph styles. They exist for adding meaning and purpose to your content. They are not for formatting.

For instance, your usage of heading styles has direct implications for search engine optimization (SEO) and accessibility, such as for someone with limited sight who relies on a screen reader application to read content to them.

Here’s some quick tips about heading styles:

• Use only one Heading 1 (H1) per page or document. This should be the title.
• Don’t skip heading levels. For instance, go Heading 2 (H2) → Heading 3 (H3) → Heading 4 (H4). Don’t go Heading 1 (H1) → Heading 4 (H4). Remember, this isn’t here for formatting. You’re building an outline, which is key for someone using a screen reader.
• Avoid stacked headings, where you have two headings adjacent without anything between them. Don’t have Heading 2 (H2) followed immediately by Heading 3 (H3). Your content will feel a lot friendlier if you have some sort of text about the section before you introduce a subsection. You’d want something like Heading 2 (H2) → Overview/introduction to H2 section → Heading 3 (H3).
• Beware if you see a single sub-heading. This is less about SEO and accessibility and more about writing and structure. If one of your Heading 2 (H2) sections is followed by a single Heading 3 (H3), why is Heading 3 there? I’m not saying you can’t do this, but this is a clue that your structure could be improved. Consider if there’s another Heading 3 (H3) that could be created from existing content, if there’s another Heading 3 (H3) that you should add, or if you should remove the solo Heading 3 (H3) and simply have that content as part of your Heading 2 (H2).

Solutions

Quick thoughts about selecting content tooling

I’ve thought about writing about this for a while, but I’ve avoided it because it gets deep and philosophical quicker than shorts weather comes to Austin, Texas. I’m going to try to avoid going deep and philosophical as much as I can.

Some CMS vendors and industry practitioners promote an approach of content as data in which they treat distinct pieces of content as data, meaning they attach metadata that helps the CMS itself, other systems, and user experiences know how to handle it. This approach contrasts with a documentation approach called content as code in which content is scraped out of application code.

The content as data approach can be a healthy way to approach content because it leads to structure and interconnected content that can build sophisticated “intelligent” content-driven experiences. I’ve also found that content as data can be a useful framing when dealing with software architects and engineers.

However …

I’ve also had those same technical people tell me that content is data. I believe that’s a harmful, reductive assertion, and that’s part of the point of what I see in Barker’s comment. For the deep, philosophical take on content versus data, see Revisiting the difference between content and data by Michael Andrews on his blog, Story Needle.

The reason I’ve put this under the Solutions heading is because it queues up Barker’s next point, which is important for enterprises considering CMS vendors and architectures. ⤵

A lot of things could be modeled as content types and live in a CMS, but you might not always want that.

For instance, you could have product names, descriptions, and specifications in your CMS, but if you have a large inventory managed with a product information system (PIM), then the PIM is the source of truth for product names, descriptions, and specifications. Putting that same information in the CMS is a duplication that creates a risk for inaccurate, off-brand product content.

Or your corporate brand assets like logos may live in its own digital asset management (DAM) system. Again, duplicating that content in the CMS is inefficient and risky.

If you’re evaluating CMS vendors, you might want to consider how they integrated with some of these related tools. If you’re implementing a CMS integrated with related tools, you’ll want to clearly articulate what content lives where, and when something is content and when it is data.

Soft skills

A look at the less-tangible characteristics and skills that can expand your influence

Tough conversations are inevitable, whether you’re needing to speak up for yourself in a tricky situation or whether you’re trying to help someone grow but pointing it out will be uncomfortable for either party.

One tool that I use is the Situation-Behavior-Impact™ (SBI) feedback model from the Center for Creative Leadership. I use it because it’s pretty simple to learn, and it has defused potentially volatile or emotional discussions for me at work and even with teen children.

Let’s take a look at SBI:

• Situation: You set the context by specifically describing the situation.
  • ✅ On Tuesday, I reminded you about the report due on Friday. The week before I reminded you on Friday morning about that Friday’s report.
  • ⛔️ I constantly have to remind you about everything.
• Behavior: Let the recipient know what you witnessed. Think of this as though you were making an official statement. Stick only to what you personally observed with your senses. Make no assumptions or judgments.
  • ✅ You grunted something that I was unable to understand and then you walked away. I didn’t receive the report until Monday.
  • ⛔️ You blew me off because you didn’t intend to file the report on time.
• Impact: Share how the behavior in this situation had an impact on you, others, or the work at hand.
  • ✅ I felt disrespected and had the sense that you resented my reminders.
  • ⛔️ You obviously were disrespectful and insubordinate.

When done properly, you avoid making accusations or attacking the person’s character. It can help bring the parties into joint problem solving and having a deeper, more meaningful conversation that leads to more positive outcomes and emotional trust.

Of course, people smarter than me have a lot more wisdom about tough conversations. If you haven’t read Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes Are High (Kindle / paperback / hardcover), you definitely should.

Top of mind

Things that are bouncing around in my head as I synthesize a range of ideas

A short one today … It’s just something I’ve been fascinated with for years, even before I knew it had a name. Do you ever say or write a word so much that you start to think it’s a weird, meaningless thing? That’s something called semantic satiation. ​

John Collins

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