How to Create an Agile Content Factory

1. @arockley • #intelcontent
How to Create an Agile Content Factory
Ann Rockley
CEO, The Rockley Group Inc.
@arockley
@arockley • #intelcontent

2. @arockley • #intelcontent
What is Agile?
• The methodology associated with Agile was developed for the
software industry to speed up the development of software
• Prior to Agile, the most common software development
process was the Waterfall process (sequential through the
lifecycle)
• Rather than waiting until everything is finished Agile creates
iterative interim deliverables that are assessed and rapidly
updated

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Benefits of Agile
• Speed-to-market
• Flexibility/Agility
• Business engagement/Customer satisfaction
• Quality and consistency
• Reduced costs/increased resource availability

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Situation
• Manage and publish our content in new ways
• Rushing to make deadlines so get content ‘in’
• Look to technology to solve problems
• Multiple silos all over the organization

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Current processes
• Authors continue to put together content based on their
perceived way for how the content should be written/created
• Rush to address the ‘now’ and forget about the ‘future’
• Content is duplicated over and over again
• Silos limit awareness of what content already exists
• Customer needs are fragmented across silos
• Translation/localization is “not my responsibility” or “not
really sure what happens to it for translation”

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Manufacture content don’t
handcraft it!
@arockley • #intelcontent

7. @arockley • #intelcontent@arockley • #intelcontent

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"Ford assembly line - 1913" by Unknown -
http://www.gpschools.org/ci/depts/eng/k5/third/fordpic.
htmhttp://toolkit.archives.gov/exhibits/twww/ image.
Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons -
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ford_assembly_l
ine_-_1913.jpg#/media/File:Ford_assembly_line_-
_1913.jpg

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10. @arockley • #intelcontent

11. @arockley • #intelcontent
WE CAN
MANUFACTURE
CONTENT TOO!

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How to manufacture content
• Modularize content
• Create guidelines/best practices for content chunk/topic size
• Pre-define content structure and uses of those structures
• Design for your future use of content, not just current
• Develop structured writing guidelines and incorporate
terminology management

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Define content structures
• What are your content structures?
• What are you content assemblies?
• When do you use each of the structures?
• What is mandatory in the structure and what is not?

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Content model

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Tweet, promo, facebook

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Tweet, promo, facebook

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Brochure, Facebook

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Desktop web

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Structured writing guidelines

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Beyond reuse/multichannel
• Personalized content/dynamic delivery based on
• Industry vertical
• Preferences
• Etc.
• Content in apps
• Content as product
• And more

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Control content
• Develop reuse governance
• Develop a taxonomy and define metadata best practices
• Develop workflow now, not later
• Automate workflow
• Automate publishing

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Reuse governance
• What content can be reused?
• How it can be reused (identically or with change)?
• Who is allowed to change reusable content?
• Where/when it can be reused?

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Localization
• Content is chunked into components rather than documents
• Modules that are unchanged that have previously been translated
are not translated again
• New/changed modules are translated when they are approved, no
need to wait for the entire “document” to be complete
• A PDF of the section or document is provided to ensure that
sufficient context is available for effective translation
• When something changes, only the changed module needs to be
retranslated

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Terminology management
• What are your style guidelines?
• What terms are acceptable?
• What are your grammar rules (comma/no comma,
capitalization, abbreviations)?
• Can these rules be automated?

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Metadata
• Metadata is critical for the effective
selection and delivery of content
• Metadata can identify:
• Audience
• Region
• Product
• ‘Situation’

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Workflow
• Workflow allows us to control our content throughout its lifecycle
• Roles
• Tasks
• Interactions
• Dependencies
• Wait states
• Approvals
• Exceptions
• Tracking metadata (attributes)

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Workflow

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Automate publishing
• Hand-off publishing
• Templates/stylesheets
• ‘Pour’ content into stylesheets
• Refine stylesheets for optimum display, but never with
content in it
• Content should only be changed in source

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An Agile Content Factory is:
• Based on the manufacturing paradigm
• Modular
• Consistently structured for infinite use and reuse
• Adaptable
• Managed

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Ann Rockley
CEO
The Rockley Group
rockley@rockley.com
@arockley • #intelcontent