You may have heard that I’m the new guy in town, and I’m happy to say this is my first blog post as a member of the Gilbane Group. I am thrilled to be a part such a well-respected organization, and I’m ready to roll up my sleeves and get to work on all things WCM!
A little about me: I’ve been a practitioner and a consultant in the WCM space for over ten years, but I’ve worked for an analyst firm for all of two days. The good news? I know, first hand, the pains users experience when it comes to web content management. I empathize with the marketer who knows there must be a way to put all this content to work in her next pull-through campaign, and I sympathize with the Intranet Manager who has been directed to deploy more Web 2.0 tools into the enterprise, even in the absence of a business case. [I’m not a Web 2.0-basher, by the way.] I consider myself a passionate user advocate, and if I’m true to myself (and to you) I’ll continue to bring that perspective to all of my work here at Gilbane.
To continue my let-me-tell-you-about-me schtick, here are a few random thoughts that come to mind which will hopefully provide further insight into my philosophy as it relates to WCM:
- Usability has become a commodity; It’s time for vendors to stop bragging about it and for users to stop accepting anything less.
- Technology for the sake of technology leads to dissatisfaction every time.
- “What problem am I trying to solve?” — If you can’t answer this, stop what you’re doing.
- Technology won’t change human nature…but it will amplify it!
- You don’t have to do what everyone else is doing…there’s a good chance they’ll fail anyway.
- “Grassroots” applications require more planning, not less.
- User research is never a bad idea… but don’t just ask them, watch them.
And finally,
- If we spent as much time crafting strategies as writing RFPs and selecting tools, we’d achieve a much higher ROI.
So that’s it for now. I look forward to writing more on these pages and hope you’ll chime in with your thoughts and reactions.
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A great intro Scott and I thoroughly agree with all your points. If only we began with the end in mind and crafted our web strategies first, we’d all see far greater business impact from our efforts on the web. Looking forward to seeing more from you.
Thanks for your comment Darren. I agree wholeheartedly. This is a topic which is near to my heart, so stay tuned for more on the subject in the near future.