Thinking Strategically About Content - Localization World Singapore
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The document discusses the importance of content strategy as a repeatable system for managing content throughout its lifecycle to achieve business goals. It emphasizes the need to identify inefficiencies in content production, particularly through the use of automation and effective collaboration, to enhance productivity. The author advocates for a critical reassessment of current practices, leveraging insights from manufacturing to drive innovation and improve content management.
Thinking Strategically About Content - Localization World Singapore
- 1. Thinking Strategically About Content by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler Localization World Singapore, April 12, 2013
- 2. web: www.contentwrangler.com twitter: @contentwrangler Scott Abel The Content Wrangler
- 3. content marketer social media choreographer XML evangelist trouble-maker technical documentation expert magazine columnist/blogger conference presenter conference organizer instructor UC Berkeley nightclub dj my personal metadata
- 4. content strategy My area of speciality is
- 5. Let’s start with a common vocabulary!
- 6. content? what is Content is the lifeblood of your organization. It’s the stuff that helps you accomplish your business goals. Ann Rockley @ARockley
- 7. content? what is There are many types of content. Some content is aimed at internal audiences, other content is created for external audiences.
- 8. content strategy? what is Content strategy is a repeatable system that governs the management of content throughout its entire lifecycle. Rahel Bailie @RahelAB
- 9. content strategy? what is the purpose of It’s about envisioning the future of content -- its development, management, delivery -- and creating a plan that helps us leverage content to achieve our future goals.
- 10. content strategy important, but not Strategists do not get lost in the minutiae. What should be included in the style guide? What font should we use? Should we use the passive voice? Do we need a blog?
- 11. content strategist concerns of a Content strategists are concerned with actions, resources, costs, opportunities, threats, and timetables associated with producing content that help us meet our goals and support our vision.
- 12. vision? what is Vision is what you want your content to help you accomplish in the future. It should be a clear, concise, and easy-to-understand description of the future you desire.
- 13. vision example “Create source content that can be translated into 12 target languages by machine with 90% accuracy by 2016”
- 14. vision example “Become the largest retailer (by sales volume) of smartphones to Latin Americans living in the United States by 2014”
- 15. content strategist another name for a Content strategists are business consultants for content. Rahel Bailie @RahelAB
- 16. critical eye what’s needed is a Let’s take a look at some often overlooked areas of waste in the content production lifecycle to uncover time-sucking tasks that prevent us from innovating.
- 18. manufacturing think of content production as The Japanese make great strides in manufacturing in the 1970s and 1980s by adopting lean manufacturing practices and just in time delivery.
- 19. innovation? how do you find time for First,take an honest and critical look at every single step in your content lifecycle. You may have to enlist the help from a specialist in operational efficiency.
- 20. this way here we’ve always done it or... avoid lame excuses like
- 21. that way here we’ve never done it lame excuses like
- 23. What is this?
- 24. What is this?
- 25. rules these are
- 26. What is this?
- 27. What are these?
- 28. What is this?
- 29. rules these are
- 30. Who is this?
- 31. Dean actually, his name is
- 32. rule enforcer he is a
- 33. What is this?
- 35. The Editor Who is this?
- 36. Steve actually, his name is
- 37. this presentation he has no idea I used his photo in shhhhh...
- 38. rule enforcer he is a
- 39. rule enforcer he prides himself on being a
- 40. inefficient he is horribly like the majority of us
- 41. Have you ever misplaced you keys?
- 42. The Editor So has Steve.
- 43. left his car keys he can’t remember where he
- 44. memorize... but he want us to believe he can
- 47. grammar rules hundreds of grammar
- 48. terminology his corporate and industry
- 49. on demand and recall these rules
- 50. has never seen while reading content he
- 51. left his car keys but, he can’t remember where he
- 53. time-sucker how to get rid of this Relying on outdated approaches like memorizing a style guide is indefensible when challenged. Automating enforcement of writing rules is one way to gain efficiency.
- 54. Software can be used to automate tasks that humans are ill-equipped to perform efficiently and effectively -- like editing. By freeing editors of busy work, they will be able to read, augment and improve content. THE EDITING PROCESS IS AN EASY PLACE TO FIND INEFFICIENCIES SOME EDITORS WON T LIKE THIS! THEY MISTAKENLY SEE THEIR VALUE AS ENFORCERS OF RULES THEIR REAL VALUE IS IN ENHANCING AND IMPROVING CONTENT THEY SHOULD NOT BE SPOTTING STYLE AND BRANDING ERRORS, GRAMMAR PROBLEMS, TYPOS --> OR FINDING YOUR CAR KEYS THERE ARE SOFTWARE TOOLS FAR BETTER SUITED FOR SUCH TASKS
- 57. priority to email we assign false We tend to try and answer email as soon as possible. Why? Not because we know it is time senstive. Not because it is important. But, because it arrived in our inbox.
- 58. email negative impacts of When we constantly monitor our email inbox, we fail to fully concentrate on a single task. As a result, our productivity drops.
- 59. email additional impacts of The cost of email is not free. Email relies on servers, software, electricity, and more often than we might admit, toner and paper.
- 60. metrics email In addition to being the wrong tool for many jobs, the average employee spends 28% of the work week dealing with internal email messages that add no business value.
- 61. metrics email That’s 13 hours a week or 650 hours per year!
- 62. time-sucker how to get rid of this Adopt alternatives to email (IM, social media and the telephone). Admit that they often prove a better, faster mode of communication.
- 63. time-sucker how to get rid of this Do not use email to set up meetings with groups of people. Instead, use a meeting management tool.
- 64. time-sucker how to get rid of this Do not hit the “reply all” button unless absolutely necessary.
- 65. time-sucker how to get rid of this Ask yourself, “Do I really need to reply to this message right now?” and “What will happen if I don’t?”
- 66. time-sucker how to get rid of this If you really need to send an email, write it so it is easy to scan. Include numbered lists to make it clear what you are asking and to make it easy for the recipient to reply.
- 67. example 1. To translate the Adobe FrameMaker files I need the source files by Tuesday. 2. I will need the illustrations by Tuesday afternoon 5pm PT. 3. The job will be ready on Thursday. 4. The price is $3,000 USD. 5. Who do I invoice? What’s their email address and their telephone number?
- 70. authoring more specifically, collaborative review and editing, too
- 71. collaboration we have yet to master We pretend that we are working as a team toward a common goal. Usually, that’s not the case.
- 72. collaboration change is involved in Most often, our collaborative efforts don’t actually save time. We use new tools and old processes to do pretty much the same thing we did before.
- 73. time-sucker how to get rid of this Make everyone on the “team” understands what a team is and what it is not. Ensure everyone is working toward a measurable, common goal.
- 74. time-sucker how to get rid of this Pick up the telephone and get everyone on the line. Open the document you are working on, discuss it, make changes, and end the call with a completed document.
- 76. content time wasted looking for
- 77. reusing it recreating it, instead of
- 78. content time wasted looking for 85% of knowledge workers complain that not being able to find the right information is a huge time-waster.
- 79. content time wasted looking for Knowledge workers spend on average 2.3 hours per day looking for content; one in ten spend four or more hours on average days.
- 80. time-sucker how to get rid of this Find ways to make content easy to find and reuse for you and for those you work with.
- 82. presentation takeaways from this content is a business asset worthy of being managed effeciently and effectively
- 83. presentation takeaways from this taking a critical look at the way you do things today will help you find time to innovate
- 84. presentation takeaways from this borrowing lessons learned from manufacturing can help us uncover inefficiencies
- 85. presentation takeaways from this a little common sense goes a long way
- 86. learn more? where can you
- 87. Managing Enterprise Content A Unified Content Strategy by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper (New Riders 2012)
- 88. Content Strategy: Connecting the Dots Between Business, Brand, and Benefits by Rahel Bailie and Noz Urbina (XML Press, 2012)
- 89. Document Engineering Analyzing and Designing Documents for Business Informatics and Web Services by Robert Glushko and Tim McGrath (2005 MIT Press)
- 90. The Discipline of Organizing by Robert Glushko (2013 MIT Press)
- 91. Come up and see me for a set.
- 95. web: www.contentwrangler.com twitter: @contentwrangler Scott Abel The Content Wrangler
- 96. Thinking Strategically About Content by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler