Good Content Management: Process Is The Key

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Oct 24, 2000

Picture this: You need to create a mockup of a submit form based on an existing one. No problem. You assign the task to a designer who views the original form through his browser, does a "save as" on it, makes the HTML changes, then submits the mockup to developers for implementation.

Only, something gets lost in the translation — and the mockup gets implemented and released to the live site "as is."

"As is" in this case means "corrupted," since it originated as a "save as" on a processed form.

Which means every person who has used the updated form has submitted junk data.

Which leads to yelling and finger pointing and gnashing of teeth. Not to mention hours of time spent trying to correct the problem and salvage the corrupted data.

How could this situation been avoided? Since the title of this article refers to "process" it's a safe bet that process is, indeed, the key.

Merriam-Webster defines procedure as "a traditional or established way of doing things." At a Web company, it's critical that every page, every product, follow an established creation and release pattern.

A good process:

Provides clear direction and guidance
Increases the chances of bugs being caught before they're introduced to the live site
Lessens time to market because once implemented, the process does not need to be created time and time again
Is flexible, so it can be adapted to different situations

If proper process had been applied to the corrupted form situation, the developers would not have released the bad form to the live site because their QA process would have caught the errors. Or better yet, the communication process between the departments — and inside the departments — would have set clear expectations (i.e., that this was a mockup, not the real deal).

Has process helped your website achieve its goals? Tell me your process-oriented victories ... or process-oriented follies.

See you next time!

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