Kaplan Publishing has engaged in several efforts to develop an end-to-end digital workflow focused on digital product innovation, to varying degrees of success. This session will cover: -Lessons learned from three separate digital product/workflow development projects -The importance of team size and composition to project success -Real-world pitfalls of sizing a team or a project too large or too small

1. THE GOLDILOCKS APPROACH
FINDING THE RIGHT PROJECT AND THE
RIGHT TEAM AT THE RIGHT SIZE
EDWINA LUI
INFORMATION ARCHITECT
KAPLAN PUBLISHING

2. THIS IS KAPLAN.
Kaplan, Inc.
Kaplan Higher Ed
KHEC KU KPE
KI
KUK
Kaplan Test Prep
Grad Health Pre-
College Bar
Kaplan Publishing
And this is KPUB.

3. “TRADITIONAL” PRINT & LMS
WORKFLOW
LAN
Content
Creation
(Word)
Editing
(Word/
InDesign)
Typesetting
(InDesign)
Digital
Publication
(EPUB)
Print
Publication
Google
Docs
Template
LMS Authoring Tool
LMS Student
Homepage
Legacy
Content
(InDesign)

4. ADAPTING TO CHANGE
• physical classrooms to
online courses
• printed materials to print-and-
digital bundles
• comprehensive courses to
customizable, mix-and-match
offerings
• paper-and-pencil to
ubiquitous mobile devices

6. TOO BIG: THE ECMS + UCM

7. ECMS + UCM: THE GOAL
+ =
CCMS
+ UCM
DAM
Current
Content
Model
KPUB
Content
KHE KTP

8. PHASE I PHASE II

9. PHASE I
1. sunrise CCMS, DAM, and
authoring tools
2. develop UCM v1.0
3. research (confirm assumptions
about)
• current systems
• current models
• legacy content volumes
4. research workflow
requirements
PHASE II

10. PHASE I
1. sunrise CCMS, DAM, and
authoring tools
2. develop UCM v1.0
3. research (confirm assumptions
about)
• current systems
• current models
• legacy content volumes
4. research workflow
requirements
PHASE II
1. ingest legacy content
2. update UCM v1.0+
3. develop publishing pipelines
4. train users on new workflow(s)

11. ECMS: THE PLAN
“Power User”
Authoring
Tool
“Daily User”
Authoring
Tool
CCMS
DAM
Pub.
Pipe-lines
LMS
Au.
Tool Student
LMS
Au.
Tool Student
InDD, PDF,
EPUB, etc.
Legacy Content
LLMMSS
LMS
LAN
LMS
Au.
Tool Student
Home-page
LMS
Home-page
LMS
Home-page
LMS

12. ECMS: END OF PHASE I
LMS
Au.
Tool Student
LMS
Au.
Tool Student
Home-page
LMS
Legacy Content
LLMLMLMMSSSS LMS
Au.
Tool Student
Home-page
LMS
Home-page
LMS
“Power User”
Authoring
Tool
“Daily User”
Authoring
Tool
CCMS
DAM
Pub.
Pipe-lines
LMS
Au.
Tool Student
Home-page
LMS
InDD, PDF,
LMS
LAN EPUB, etc.

13. ECMS + UCM: OUTCOME
Phase I 90% completed (except for deployment of
fully integrated “daily user” authoring tool)
Phase II scaled back to a single business unit only

14. PROJECT FOCUS
1.
2.

15. UCM: FROM PROPOSAL TO V1.0
KPUB Model
KTP Model
KHE Model

16. UCM: FROM PROPOSAL TO V1.0
became
KPUB Model
KTP Model
KHE Model
KPUB Model KTP Model
New Stuff
KHE Model

17. SURVEYING THE CURRENT
LANDSCAPE
breadth depth

18. A CLEAR BUSINESS NEED

19. A CLEAR BUSINESS NEED
Q: Do you have a business
need to facilitate easier
sharing of content with
other Kaplan business units?
KINC: Yes!
KTP: No.
KHE: No.
KPUB: Maybe?

20. ECMS + UCM:
TOP-DOWN CHANGE
KINC
KHE
KHEC KU
KTP
Grad Health PC Bar
KPUB

21. TEAM MAKEUP

22. PRIORITY LEVELS

23. PRIORITY LEVELS
1. differing levels of expertise by
participants

24. PRIORITY LEVELS
1. differing levels of expertise by
participants
2. unclear participant roles:
consultation vs. active
development

25. PRIORITY LEVELS
1. differing levels of expertise by
participants
2. unclear participant roles:
consultation vs. active
development
3. lack of empowerment within
respective BUs

26. PRIORITY LEVELS
1. differing levels of expertise by
participants
2. unclear participant roles:
consultation vs. active
development
3. lack of empowerment within
respective BUs
4. inability to accurately anticipate
impact of next phase

27. (DON’T) BOIL THE OCEAN

28. TOO SMALL: INTERACTIVE IBOOKS

29. INTERACTIVE IBOOKS: THE GOAL
design develop
brainstorm
release
Legacy
Content
User
Feedback

30. INTERACTIVE IBOOKS: THE PLAN
LAN
Content
Creation
(Word)
Editing
(Word/
InDesign)
Typesetting
(iBooks
Author)
Widget
Dev
(Javascript)
Print
Publication
(PDF)
Digital
Publication
(iBooks)
Typesetting
(InDesign)
Content
Conversion
(DITA)
Digital
Publication
(EPUB)

31. PROJECT FOCUS

32. INTERACTIVE IBOOKS:
ISOLATING CHANGE
KINC
KHE
KHEC KU
KTP
Grad Health PC Bar
KPUB

33. INTERACTIVE IBOOKS: OUTCOME
3 interactive iBook products brought to market
5 additional titles 80% developed, but not released
Project discontinued

34. A CLEAR BUSINESS NEED

35. A CLEAR BUSINESS NEED
Q: Do you have a business
need to develop interactive
eBooks?
KPUB: Yes!
KTP: No.

36. DISCOVERING PAIN POINTS
Content
Creation
(Word)
Editing
(Word/
InDesign)
Typesetting
(InDesign)
Content
Conversion
(DITA)
Typesetting
(iBooks
Author)
Widget
Dev
(Javascript)
Digital
Publication
(EPUB)
Print
Publication
(PDF)
Digital
Publication
(iBooks)

37. Terje Rakke, “Female Hurdler Bislet Stadium, Norway”
TEAM MAKEUP
=

38. Deborah Parkin, “isolation”
TEAM MAKEUP
=

39. TEAM MAKEUP
=

40. TEAM MAKEUP
=

41. JUST RIGHT (?): HTML AUTHORING

42. HTML AUTHORING: THE GOAL
Legacy Content
Newly Authored
Content
HTML Authoring
Tool
Print HTML
Books
eBooks XML
PDFs

43. HTML AUTHORING: THE PLAN
LMS
Au. Tool
LMS Student
LAN
Content
Creation
Content
Editing
HTML Authoring Tool
EPUB
Creation
InDD
Typesetting
Print
Publication
Homepage
Legacy Content
LMS
LAN

44. PROJECT FOCUS
+

45. ADDRESSING REAL PAIN POINTS
v1
v2
v3
WYSIWYG

46. TEAM MAKE-UP

47. TEAM MAKE-UP

48. PROS & CONS OF ADOPTING AN
EVOLVING TOOL

49. PROS & CONS OF ADOPTING AN
EVOLVING TOOL
– users may expect a defined end, or have higher
expectations sooner

50. PROS & CONS OF ADOPTING AN
EVOLVING TOOL
– users may expect a defined end, or have higher
expectations sooner
– frustration with an “unfinished” tool or workflow

51. PROS & CONS OF ADOPTING AN
EVOLVING TOOL
– users may expect a defined end, or have higher
expectations sooner
– frustration with an “unfinished” tool or workflow
+ issues uncovered early in the tool’s evolution can
be addressed iteratively

52. PROS & CONS OF ADOPTING AN
EVOLVING TOOL
– users may expect a defined end, or have higher
expectations sooner
– frustration with an “unfinished” tool or workflow
+ issues uncovered early in the tool’s evolution can
be addressed iteratively
+ users feel empowered to guide pace and direction
of change

53. HTML AUTHORING:
TURNING USERS INTO CHANGE AGENTS
KINC
KHE
KHEC KU
KTP
Grad Health PC Bar
KPUB

54. REGULAR COMMUNICATION
WITH USERS & STAKEHOLDERS

55. REGULAR COMMUNICATION
WITH USERS & STAKEHOLDERS
daily office hours
weekly remote & in-person
stand-ups
monthly demos
quarterly stakeholder updates
ongoing chats & documentation
User Guide

56. HTML AUTHORING: OUTCOME
6-month pilot completed with 40 titles’ worth of
content ingested to the platform
30+ users trained
3 major output formats tested and proven
Shortened timeline for digital-only product
Platform licensed for 3 years with additional content
teams being on-boarded each quarter

57. WHAT DID WE LEARN?

58. WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Do Don’t

59. WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Do Don’t
Align project goals to actual business
needs
Build towards an aspirational
requirement only

60. WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Do Don’t
Align project goals to actual business
needs
Build towards an aspirational
requirement only
Conduct regular and targeted two-way
communications with all stakeholders
Deliver information and updates as a
coda

61. WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Do Don’t
Align project goals to actual business
needs
Build towards an aspirational
requirement only
Conduct regular and targeted two-way
communications with all stakeholders
Deliver information and updates as a
coda
Put users first! Design around a technology, no matter
how cool it might be

62. WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Do Don’t
Align project goals to actual business
needs
Build towards an aspirational
requirement only
Conduct regular and targeted two-way
communications with all stakeholders
Deliver information and updates as a
coda
Put users first! Design around a technology, no matter
how cool it might be
Continually address user pain points,
no matter how trivial
Place all newly-raised issues in a
parking lot to avoid changes in scope

63. WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Do Don’t
Align project goals to actual business
needs
Build towards an aspirational
requirement only
Conduct regular and targeted two-way
communications with all stakeholders
Deliver information and updates as a
coda
Put users first! Design around a technology, no matter
how cool it might be
Continually address user pain points,
no matter how trivial
Place all newly-raised issues in a
parking lot to avoid changes in scope
Promote change agents from within
groups of end users
Manage change from above

64. WHAT DID WE LEARN?
Do Don’t
Align project goals to actual business
needs
Build towards an aspirational
requirement only
Conduct regular and targeted two-way
communications with all stakeholders
Deliver information and updates as a
coda
Put users first! Design around a technology, no matter
how cool it might be
Continually address user pain points,
no matter how trivial
Place all newly-raised issues in a
parking lot to avoid changes in scope
Promote change agents from within
groups of end users
Manage change from above
Have internal users roll up their sleeves
and get hands-on sooner
Outsource development and support
tasks to avoid disrupting internal
resourcesresources

65. Edwina Lui
edwina.lui@kaplan.com