Workflow that works under pressure
Building tools that make publishing faster, safer, and saner ! ! ! #congility2014 : @eaton : 18-06-2014 1

Hi, I’m @eaton! I’m with
Lullabot. web strategy, design, and development 2

Lots of content
3

I have a lot of
feelings 4

1. The potato button
5

1. The potato button
6

“ The latest version of
our CMS has a fresh new design; it’s simple and easy to use! 7 Every vendor since vendors started vending

1. The potato button 2.
A false dichotomy 8

Creator 9 Consumer Editor Writer
Author Ink-stained wretch Visitor Customer End user Reader

10 Legal Counsel opywriter Freelance
Photographer Hapless Intern Editor in Chief Social Media Manag Fact Checker Subject Matter Boss’s Assistan

one size does not fit
all. 11

1. The potato button 2.
A false dichotomy 3. Hard-won lessons 12

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 13

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 14

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. 15

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 16

1. The potato button 2.
A false dichotomy 3. Hard-won lessons 4. Success stories 17

MSNBC
18

decoupled
control
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decoupled
control
19

20

20

The GRAMMYs
21

22 4pm-10pm Feb 10th Roughly
1,000,000,000,000,000,00 Est. GRAMMYTraffic

23

WWE
24

Grouping and
Labeling
25

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The New York Times
27

28
open.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/scoop-a-glimpse-into-the-nytimes-cms

29
open.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/06/17/scoop-a-glimpse-into-the-nytimes-cms

Making
it happen
30

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 31

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 31 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! 32

Your secret weapon: two hours
and a pizza ‣ Get your editors involved early ‣ Ask what they want and hate ‣ Watch them do real work 33

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. 34

Want to read more? Check
out… 35 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