SALLY JENKINSON · @sjenkinson ·
Front-end London · 28th May 2015 Choosing the “right” cms (or other things)

Hello! SALLY JENKINSON Freelance technical
consultant & solutions architect ! @sjenkinson sally@recordssoundthesame.com recordssoundthesame.com

@sjenkinson

TODO
@sjenkinson

Choosing YOUR
TECHNOLOGY

a long time ago in
a galaxy far, far away* *Kent

@sjenkinson

@sjenkinson

@sjenkinson

@sjenkinson Tip 1: don’t put
yourself into maintenance hell

Disclaimer

http://goo.gl/3dU4Hf @sjenkinson

@sjenkinson

@sjenkinson

@sjenkinson

Tip 2: Understanding needs

As a new developer, I
am easily swayed by the opinions of people I respect, or at least view as more experienced. […] ! One person stated that I don’t need to worry about making open source contributions and I went “Yay, cool, less pressure”, another seemed to state that I am of little worth if I don’t contribute “Fuck, okay, I guess I better get on that then”. I wish programmers were more aware of the things they are saying and the attitudes they express, and how that might effect a young padawan like me. Charlotte Spencer http://goo.gl/Uc2tSl @sjenkinson TIP 3: Your choices can influence others

THE agency should
always decide

@sjenkinson TIP 4: What’s your
motivation?

TIP 4: choose solutions for
the right reasons

THE product can do
everything

@sjenkinson TIP 5: ask the
right questions

everyone else is
using it

@sjenkinson
TIP 6: everyone’s different

Is bespoke
best?

Back in 2008 (when we
started Bearded), one of our differentiators was that we built every site on a CMS. At the time, many agencies had not-insignificant revenue streams derived from updating their clients’ site content on their behalf. ! But we didn’t want to do that work, and our clients didn’t want to pay for it. Building their site on a CMS and training them to use it was a natural solution. It solved both of our problems, recurring revenue be damned! It gave our clients power that they wanted and needed. Matt GRiffin http://goo.gl/XPM5kK @sjenkinson

TIP 7: choices can have
a business impact

Not just for Developers/designers TIP
7: you are not your users

How do I choose the
right thing?

@sjenkinson
?

gov.uk/service-manual/making-software/choosing-technology “You can change your
mind” “Start with capabilities” “Cost” “Involve everyone”“Testing and deployment” “Lock-in” “New vs existing software” “Commercial or open source” “Security”

Features Open source Costs KNOCK-ON
IMPACTS Complexity APPROPRIATENESS User experience/ experience of users Constraints/ flexibility Product confidence LEVEL OF CUSTOMISATION NEEDED fit with your overall architecture migration vendor support @sjenkinson

TIP 8: explain your choices
@sjenkinson

“It depends” - EveryONE, ever
@sjenkinson

@sjenkinson

Thank you Sally Jenkinson recordssoundthesame.com
sally@recordssoundthesame.com · @sjenkinson