Workflow That Works Under Pressure

Workflow that works under pressureBuilding tools that make publishing faster, safer, and saner !

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#congility2014 : @eaton : 18-06-2014

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Hi, I’m @eaton! I’m with Lullabot.web strategy, design, and development

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Lots of content

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I have a lot of feelings

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1. The potato button5

1. The potato button6

“ The latest version of our CMS has a fresh new design; it’s simple and easy to use!

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Every vendor since vendors started vending

1. The potato button 2. A false dichotomy

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Creator

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ConsumerEditor Writer

Author Ink-stained wretch

Visitor Customer End user Reader

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Copy

writerFreelance

Photographer

Hapless Intern

Editor in Chief

Social Media ManagerFact

Checker

Subject Matter Expert

Boss’s Assistant

one size does not fit all.

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1. The potato button 2. A false dichotomy 3. Hard-won lessons

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Don’t overwhelm‣ Inexperienced users need clear paths ‣ Experienced ones need shortcuts ‣ Both need consistency ‣Use their vocabulary to label, organize ‣Use selective disclosure, sensible defaults

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Speed tasks, not forms‣ Let go of the 1:1 mapping ‣Understand the processes and goals ‣Maintain context, state for multi-step work ‣ Automate repetitive tasks ‣Map offline work, know the cutovers

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Workflow should work‣ Your 12-step approval system sucks ‣Model state, then responsibility, then process ‣Give visibility before veto power ‣ Restrict access to risky actions ‣ Consult the lawyer, trust the team.

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Divorce the design‣ Take a hard look at responsibilities ‣ Capture priority, emphasis, grouping ‣ Slim down the markup, use tokens ‣ Treat curation and assembly as content ‣Don’t be dazzled by amazing demos

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1. The potato button 2. A false dichotomy 3. Hard-won lessons 4. Success stories

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MSNBC

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decoupled control

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decoupled control

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The GRAMMYs

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4pm-10pm Feb 10th

Roughly 1,000,000,000,000,000,000

Est. GRAMMY Traffic

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WWE

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Grouping and Labeling

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The New York Times

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open.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/scoop-a-glimpse-into-the-nytimes-cms

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open.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/scoop-a-glimpse-into-the-nytimes-cms

Making it happen

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There’s always a budget for “not failing”‣Map content to business goals ‣ Know the cost of public errors ‣ Know the cost of lost time ‣Grab the low-hanging fruit

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There’s always a budget for “not failing”‣Map content to business goals ‣ Know the cost of public errors ‣ Know the cost of lost time ‣Grab the low-hanging fruit

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http://xkcd.com/1205

Yay, it’s old-fashioned CS and UX work!‣ Interviews and user stories! ‣ Card sorts and taxonomy! ‣Domain and content modeling! ‣ Inventories and governance plans!

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Your secret weapon: two hours and a pizza‣Get your editors involved early ‣ Ask what they want and hate ‣Watch them do real work

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Your tools will evolve: Ask, build, and iterate.‣ You can never solve it all in one go ‣ Iterative refinement lets you learn ‣ Your solutions will not be universal…But they’ll work for your team.

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Want to read more? Check out…

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When Editors Design !Baby Got Backend Battle for the Body Field !Interviewing Users Card Sorting Mental Models Web Form Design

www.smashingmagazine.com/2013/06/26/controlling-presentation-in-structured-content www.lullabot.com/blog/article/baby-got-backend alistapart.com/article/battle-for-the-body-field !rosenfeldmedia.com/books/interviewing-users rosenfeldmedia.com/books/card-sorting rosenfeldmedia.com/books/mental-models rosenfeldmedia.com/books/web-form-design