Copyright © Joe Gollner 2011

Implementing

Intelligent Content Solutions

Joe Gollner | www.gollner.ca

Implementation Topics

Management

Taking First Steps

• Business Considerations, Communication Channels, Project Team

Managing Risks

Technology

Applying Proven Methods

Adapting Proven Design Patterns

Intelligent Content Solutions

Key Concepts

Scenario: Taking a Software Product Global

Software Company

Niche Offering

Traditional Licensing

Single Unilingual Interface

Limited Market

Declining Sales

New Strategy

Software as a Service Offering

App clients

Multiple Localized Interfaces

Global Market

This is a scenario

many organizations find themselves

regardless of what business they are in

Scenario: The Content Dimension

Content areas

Marketing

Sales

Product support

Training

Customer support

(call center/self-support)

User generated content

System documentation

(requirements, design specifications, test

scenarios, maintenance instructions…)

OEM / Supplier component documentation

Taking the First Steps

Vision

Strategy

Business Case

Strategic

Tactical

Charter

Authority

Reporting line

Resource allocation

Working budget

Scenario

Executive expression of the urgency of

the change imperative

Example: Nokia’s burning platform

Balancing Business Considerations

Context

Market conditions

Financial pressures

Key trends

• Technology

• Consumer behaviour

Competitive pressures

Organizational realities

• Readiness for change

• Competence areas

Management realities

• “Announcables” & Metrics

Scenario

Timeframe identified for the

demonstration and

announcement of a new product

roadmap & new product offerings

Opening Communication Channels

Content initiatives have a special challenge here

Content represents a potential return

Must contend for attention

• Amid the fray of day-to-day business

• “The world always rewards

skill over knowledge” (Brian Reid)

Build tactical relationships

based on

new capabilities

new offerings

Help business partners succeed

Assembling the Implementation Team

The Real Test of Executive Support

Latitude to assemble an effective team

Essential elements • Passion for change

• Domain experience & credibility

• Management connections

• Project management experience

• Procurement experience

• Communication skills

• Experience with innovation tools

• Modeling & Markup

• Findability & Management

• Usability / User experience

Managing Risks

More than creating & reporting on

a “risk register”

Key Risks

Content initiatives can become

mis-aligned with:

• Business priorities

• Market directions

Content initiatives can become

inwardly focused & disappear

from management view

Addressing Legacy Content

Opportunity

All new content initiatives will

have antecedents

The investment in past content

has often been great

Can deliver benefits if it is

recovered / reused effectively

Threats

Can represent

overwhelming volumes

Often includes material &

structures that must be jettisoned

Often the newest sources

can be the most challenging (e.g., the impenetrable database)

Addressing Legacy Processes

Opportunities

Many legacy processes contain valuable,

even vital, knowledge

These can be repurposed and

repositioned in a new world

Threats

Many legacy processes were a bad idea

to begin with & are now out of step

Champions of legacy ways of doing things

can be an obstacle

The good processes risk being tossed out

Addressing Legacy Controls

Information Technology Group

Will not typically be attuned to

content considerations

Will apply familiar templates

derived from

• Network management

• Database administration

• Application maintenance

Will emphasize a default

control mentality

• Antithetical to “content”

• The most potent risk

Scenario

How can the IT group be

engaged in a content initiative?

How can IT be made part of the

intelligent content solution?

Battling Entropy & Barnaclization

Entropy

The dissolution of initiative energy

• Loss of executive engagement

• Loss of key resources

• Decline in pace of innovation

Barnaclization

The accrual of features

• Degenerating responsiveness

• Escalating complexity

• Increasing brittleness

• Climbing operating costs

Accepting the Reality of Intelligent Content

Intelligent Content Content can be considered intelligent

when it expresses, in an open way,

the full meaning underlying a communication

such that the

data, information and knowledge

being expressed can be easily accessed

and effectively leveraged

by both people and

the software applications

that support them.

Intelligence The acquisition & application

of knowledge

Accepting Content Complexity

The three sides of content

must be held in a delicate balance

The risk is that

over-emphasis on one

dimension undermines

the others

The point of intersection

is highly complex

Intelligent Content in Practice

A Practical Definition

Intelligent Content is designed, created, managed and deployed

using open standards so that the resulting information products

are exactly tailored to the needs of the user and are efficient to

maintain & leverage for the content owner.

Key Concepts

Portable

Reusable

Discoverable

Contextualized

Dynamic

Processable Dynamic assembly of engaging information products

Building Blocks of Intelligent Content

Content Components

Text Modules

Media Assets

Data Sources

Relationship Links

Metadata Properties

Concept Taxonomies

Assembly Maps

Governing Models

Processing Rules

Formatting Instructions

Distribution Rights

Technology Components

Management Systems

Authoring Environments

Publishing Processes

Discovery Frameworks

Social Media Venues

Mobile Devices

Applying Proven Implementation Methods

The Seven Steps to Intelligent Content

Strategy – why

Analysis – what

Design – how

Exploration – learn

Transformation – change

Validation – confirm

Deployment – use It’s about Content evolving in Context

Using Standards

Standards should be used • Each has strengths

• Each has limitations

Scenario

What standard suggests itself?

Why? What risks emerge?

Standard

Evaluation

model

Leveraging Open Source

Strengths & Limitations

Widely used products tend to be better

Many open source tools

have known weaknesses

• Testing regimes

are minimal

• Documentation is weak

• Support is

“community based”

• Commercial Open Source

can be attractive

Great for exploratory

investments

Building Solid Vendor Relationships

Vendor community is a key resource

Experience & expertise

Technology that is supported

Customer-driven innovation

Key tactics

Maintain competitive pressure

Avoid the “Big Deal”

Separate consultancy from

implementation

Avoid lock-in

Pursuing Incremental Realization

Implement solutions incrementally

Seven steps to intelligent content

Iterative cycles against a larger strategy & architecture

Key principles

Content-oriented architecture

• Versus a technology oriented

architecture

Modular solution components

Twinned investments

• Open source implementations

• Commercial product realizations

Engaging New User Behaviours

Technologies are not neutral

An innovation will spark a reaction & new behaviours

• Complex system

• Probe, sense, react model

Projects must learn as they progress

Scenario

New product offerings is being

delivered to new users on new devices.

How could the project team tap into

what users are doing?

Pursuing Payback (Relentlessly)

Returning benefits on investments is critical

Must be measurable & reported

The Business of Intelligent Content

A harsh discipline used to force an agile design strategy

• For every dollar spent on the solution,

a second dollar must be spent on

making content & process improvements

• For every two dollars invested,

there must be four dollars returned

in the first year

1 + 1 = 4

Maintaining Content Independence

Easy to Say – Hard to Do

Resist pressure to compromise independence

Vendor-specific orientations

Over-engineering

(spiralling complexity)

Disciplinary bias

• We need to design

the perfect database!

Independence is designed

…and continuously verified

Reducing the Cost of Change

Future orientation means designing for change

Sustainable solutions

Maintainable

Extensible

Replaceable

with minimal cost

Sustainment cost will

ultimately determine

latitude for adaptation Design for redesign

Making Content the Center of Product Design

Intelligent Content

• Product design

• Production

Processes

• Radical

customization

Users as

product managers

Products

as publications

Scenario

This is the

end goal

A real world

content strategy

for a major

High Tech firm

(circa 2000)

Recalling Key Concepts

Balancing business

considerations

Accepting the reality of

Intelligent Content

Engaging new user

behaviours

Pursing payback relentlessly

(1+1=4)

Maintaining content

independence

Activating a learning cycle where

the value & knowledge persist in

the form of intelligent content

Exploring Intelligent Content 2011

Generated from ICC11

Program using Wordle.net

Intelligent Content in the Green Desert

Tapping the knowledge

New Look Tech Docs

Content in the Middle

The Social Dimension

Going Mobile

From Pubs to Apps

Integration Matters

Leveraging Vendors

Finding Findability

Measuring Measurement

Business Fundamentals

Engaging UX Design

Disciplinary Convergence

Content Strategists Unite

A Hunger for Learning

An Emerging Community

See Intelligent Content in the Green Desert at www.gollner.ca

The Four Humors of Intelligent Content (c400 BC)

Phlegmatic

Melancholic

Choleric

Sanguine

IMPLEMENT ENVISION

ENGAGE MANAGE

Integrated Solutions

Dynamic Publishing

Business Goals

Content Strategy

User Contributions

Social Media

Performance Metrics

Adaptive Control

Hippocrates

www.gollner.ca

Making Connections

Joe Gollner

joe@gollner.ca

Gnostyx Research

www.gnostyx.com

Fractal Enterprise Blog

www.gollner.ca