1.
Thinking Strategically About Content
by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler
Localization World Singapore, April 12, 2013

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web: www.contentwrangler.com
twitter: @contentwrangler
Scott Abel
The Content Wrangler

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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

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content strategy
My area of speciality is

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Let’s start with a
common vocabulary!

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content?
what is
Content is the lifeblood of your
organization. It’s the stuff that
helps you accomplish your
business goals.
Ann Rockley @ARockley

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content?
what is
There are many types of content.
Some content is aimed at internal
audiences, other content is
created for external audiences.

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content strategy?
what is
Content strategy is a repeatable
system that governs the
management of content
throughout its entire lifecycle.
Rahel Bailie @RahelAB

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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vision
example
“Create source content that can
be translated into 12 target
languages by machine with 90%
accuracy by 2016”

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vision
example
“Become the largest retailer (by
sales volume) of smartphones to
Latin Americans living in the
United States by 2014”

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content strategist
another name for a
Content strategists are business
consultants for content.
Rahel Bailie @RahelAB

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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.

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time-suckers
identifying

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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.

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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.

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this way here
we’ve always done it
or...
avoid lame excuses like

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that way here
we’ve never done it
lame excuses like

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productivity
start with

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What is this?

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What is this?

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rules
these are

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What is this?

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What are these?

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What is this?

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rules
these are

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Who is this?

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Dean
actually, his name is

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rule enforcer
he is a

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What is this?

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tool
Dean’s rule enforcement

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The Editor
Who is this?

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Steve
actually, his name is

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this presentation
he has no idea I used his photo in
shhhhh...

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rule enforcer
he is a

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rule enforcer
he prides himself on being a

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inefficient
he is horribly
like the majority of us

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Have you ever misplaced you keys?

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The Editor
So has Steve.

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left his car keys
he can’t remember where he

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memorize...
but he want us to believe he can

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style guide rules
750

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branding rules
125

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grammar rules
hundreds of grammar

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terminology
his corporate and industry

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on demand
and recall these rules

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has never seen
while reading content he

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left his car keys
but, he can’t remember where he

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editing
Steve’s biggest time-sucker is

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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.

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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

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time-sucker
the biggest

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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metrics
email
That’s 13 hours a week or
650 hours per year!

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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.

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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.

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time-sucker
how to get rid of this
Do not hit the “reply all” button
unless absolutely necessary.

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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?”

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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.

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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?

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time-suckers
more

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authoring
more specifically, collaborative
review and editing, too

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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.

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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.

71.
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.

72.
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.

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time-sucker
one more

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content
time wasted looking for

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reusing it
recreating it, instead of

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content
time wasted looking for
85% of knowledge workers
complain that not being able to
find the right information is a
huge time-waster.

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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.

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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.

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presentation
takeaways from this
content is a business asset
worthy of being managed
effeciently and
effectively

80.
presentation
takeaways from this
taking a critical look at the way
you do things today will
help you find time to
innovate

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presentation
takeaways from this
borrowing lessons learned from
manufacturing can help
us uncover inefficiencies

82.
presentation
takeaways from this
a little common sense goes a
long way

83.
learn more?
where can you

84.
Managing Enterprise Content
A Unified Content Strategy
by Ann Rockley and Charles Cooper (New Riders 2012)

85.
Content Strategy:
Connecting the Dots Between
Business, Brand, and Benefits
by Rahel Bailie and Noz Urbina (XML Press, 2012)

86.
Document Engineering
Analyzing and Designing
Documents for Business
Informatics and Web Services
by Robert Glushko and Tim McGrath (2005 MIT Press)

87.
The Discipline of Organizing
by Robert Glushko (2013 MIT Press)

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Come up and see me for a set.

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web: www.contentwrangler.com
twitter: @contentwrangler
Scott Abel
The Content Wrangler

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Thinking Strategically About Content
by Scott Abel, The Content Wrangler