Creating a Culture of Innovation: Launching Projects Quickly Through the Power of a Headless CMS, Jesse Martin, Developer Advocate at GraphCMS GmbH

1. @motleydev
Creating a Culture
of Innovation
Launching Projects Quickly
Through the Power of a Headless CMS

2. @motleydev
About Me
● Developer Advocate @ GraphCMS
● Husband
● Father
● American
● Nice Guy (WIP)
I tell dad
jokes.

3. @motleydev
Two Goals…

4. @motleydev
Get Everyone in the
Room to use a
Headless CMS
This one.

5. @motleydev
Get a Room full of
Finnish Developers
to Laugh

6. What We’ll
Learn
● Definition of an Innovative Culture
● What is a Headless CMS
● The Modern Product Stack
● I tell dad jokes

7. A Culture of Innovation
Core Business
Idea for related
product or service

8. A Culture of Innovation
Prototype created and
pitched to internal
stakeholders.
1. Needs to use Real Data
2. Demonstrate Feasibility
3. Identify KPI of Success

9. A Culture of Innovation
MVP Goes live and is
measured aggressively
for signs of life.
Failure and Failure due to
Incompetence should not be
correlated.

10. A Culture of Innovation
Product is developed
and incorporated into
Core Business.
Core Business
The Cycle proves successful
and kicks off future
development initiatives.

11. @motleydev
A Beautiful Process
...when it works.

12. @motleydev
Where things go wrong
Core
Business
Core
Business
Prototype needs to be
built quick. Data, Tech
Stack and Team
diverge from Core
Reporting and
Measurement Also
Diverge from Core.
Quarterly Meetings are Held
indefinitely to decide if
Innovative Idea is revenue
generator or cost center.

13. @motleydev
The Problem
Core Business
Data & Infra
“Innovative Product”
Data & Infra

14. @motleydev
A Better Way
Core Business
“Innovative Product”
Data & Infra

15. @motleydev
Hedging
with
Headless

16. @motleydev
A Headless CMS is
A content management system that
delivers content strictly via API.
No front-end or render engine,
AKA “headless”.

17. @motleydev
Content is
Everywhere

18. Why that Matters
Restaurants
with pictures,
please.
Restaurants
WITHOUT
pictures,
please.
Content Hub

19. @motleydev
Why not Hybrid?

20. @motleydev
Content is Anything
Can I have
some Water?

21. @motleydev
Headless Supports
Today’s Mission
Critical Apps
Tomorrow’s MVPs

22. @motleydev
The Modern Stack
for Everyone

23. @motleydev
The Product Flow
Content, Auth,
Business Logic
Micro-Services,
SaaS, Serverless, etc
Prototyping & MVPs
Marketing Micro-Sites
& Landing Pages
Mission Critical Apps &
Services Integrations & 3rd
Party Vendors

24. @motleydev
For Existing Websites
● Add Headless Features Slowly
● Can Migrate Data via API
● Embrace New Technology

25. @motleydev
For Innovation
● Use Existing Data
● Embrace New Technology
● Discover Ideas from Data

26. @motleydev
For Flexibility
Make Renault
Model Zoe
Year 2019
Color Blue
Driver ...
is_electric yes
can_drive_in_cologne yes
range ...

27. @motleydev
For Performance
cars(
where: {
is_electric: true
}
) {
model,
range
}

28. @motleydev
Examples

29. @motleydev
Under Armour
Acquisitions
Existing
Platforms
Own Initiatives
Microsites

30. @motleydev
Discovery Channel

31. @motleydev
K+S: Urban Farming Berlin
Existing
Platforms
Own
Initiatives

32. @motleydev
Questions?