Comments on: You Are Not Alone

By: dhutson

dhutson — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 21:54:24 +0000

We're beginning our content strategy development process with Brain Traffic this week and I'm looking forward to it. Nice to know we're ahead of the curve, but it doesn't surprise me. Developing content for any communication channel has always been a challenge because most people just don't get it. It's about the right content for the right audience, done the right way. Seems simple but apparently it isn't.

By: sindrew

sindrew — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 19:37:03 +0000

First of all, thanks for a great workshop in Oslo, you're norwegian was… surprising(ly good).
I'm in a situation now where I'm trying to get the org. to take content seriously, sadly our web-editor and crew are pretty far down the foodchain (as with so many of your examples.), so right now elevating their status seems like job number one. *stop rant*

Anyway. Just thank you very much for expanding my arsenal of arguments!

By: Aaron Hoos

Aaron Hoos — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:58:20 +0000

“Patience. Persistence. A sense of humor.” Good advice for even more than just content strategy! Entrepreneurs and professionals could use that tattooed on the insides of their eyelids.

By: tormodguldvog

tormodguldvog — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 03:38:53 +0000

Excellent observations, Kristina. It was a blast having you here in Oslo for Software 2010. I think we all feel the pressure of endless piles of smelly content, and no clear mandates to get it sorted (unless we take it upon ourselves to do it) (because we're either slaves, or stupid, or both). Or because we're passionate about wen content and usability, perhaps.

I always tell the people I train that they really know most of what they need. Yeah, they may feel outclassed in their own organization – but who else is any better at setting rules for content than the folks who want to do something about it? Just do it, and do it anyway you like. Then we wrap your ideas into concepts we dig out of the Red Book.

By: melanie75

melanie75 — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 20:11:48 +0000

Ah, this post is so comforting. It's hard to avoid thinking I'm way behind the times (and so is my company) when I see smart, savvy pros like the folks at Brain Traffic.

It's good to know that having a huge content mess on your hands is normal. Good, no. Easy, no. Normal, yes.

By: ianalexander

ianalexander — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:18:09 +0000

Perhaps I don't say thank you enough for the horse, cart and plow you've wielded. So, Thank you.

By: staceykinggordon

staceykinggordon — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:35:56 +0000

Thanks for the post Kristina! I attended IxDA's Interaction10 this past weekend and found that every time I introduced myself as “I am a content strategist” (tentatively, of course, because it's the first time I've definitively described myself that way), heads turned, ears perked up, people asked to learn more … it is starting to happen!

By: The dog

The dog — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 02:16:10 +0000

It's SO HARD arguing for attention on content (text, pictures, links, tags, usergenerated, centrally produced etc) in our huge task-oriented intranet project. Intranets today must of course be task-oriented, keeping focus on value, but the focus lies on Interaction design/Information Architecture and goes no further.

There is a lot to gain for a company making content effective and immediate understandable for the user.

To promote that content should be a part of the SCRUM prosess – f.ex. test if the user easily understand the content and not only easily find the content – is like being a dog talking to a fish. (I really like agile/iterative methods, though.)

By: Nlee

Nlee — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 01:01:28 +0000

Thanks for this post. I am just beginning my journey to convincing people we need to start with content first! I have a workshop planned this week to kick this off…I hope the response is good!