10 STEPS TO S ALVAT ION: CREAT ING D IG ITAL GOVERNANCE THAT WORKS

C O N FA B E U R O P E 2 0 1 4

K AT E T H O M A S

What we’ll cover

• The governance problem

• What does good governance look like?

• 10 steps to achieve this

The governance problem

Governance is your life raft

Processes People Technology

Without it you’re lost.

Enterprise web governance

ensures the proper stewardship

of an organizational

web presence.

Lisa Welchman

Old style governance

• Fixed world of wires e.g. big mainframes, expensive technology suites

• Online was owned by the IT department

• Early online publishing not dissimilar to print

• Transferring old governance frameworks made sense

The governance group hug!

tech

people

process

This is digital

This is governance

Disruption! Challengers! Start-ups!

1998 2000

2005

2003

2005 2006

2009 20102010

And new ways of doing everything

New world order

Everyone is a publisher.

The digital-content-governance group hug!

content

tech

peopleprocess

This is digital

This is governance

The digital-content-governance group hug!

content

tech

peopleprocess

This is digital

This is governance

Alas, failures of governance abound.

Some tell tale signs of inattention to governance:

• Not everyone is on board the digital train

• Poor documentation and format

• No clear process for sign-off or approval

• No shared understanding of managing non-standard requests

With an impact on people building digital

Crazy workflows!1. Request to web team2. To and fro with client3. Upload to CMS4. Screenshots of CMS preview5. Copy into PPT6. Add narrative showing interaction7. Regs & Compliance review8. Two-week turnaround9. Back to web team10. Upload to live

And trying to use it

x x

Why is this happening?

No-one wants content to be wrong.

Or sets out to work crazy hours via a dumb workflow.

So what’s the problem?

It’s because the frameworks in place don’t work.

They’re:

– outmoded

– focused on print

– not agile

– typically convoluted

Governance needs a facelift

• Focus is analogue, not digital

• Websites are is now the shop front: don’t make it hard for people to see in

• This is all new; businesses didn’t have to do this 10, 15 years ago

• They now have to do their job AND do digital

How do we need to think differently about governance?

• It’s not what it used to be

• Governance isn’t a document, a committee, a gatekeeper– It’s a new way of working

• Twenty-first century governance is the supportive mesh of digital success

What does digital governance mean to content?

• It means content and context is mapped, prioritized and understood

• Teamwork!

• Content is – On-brand, correct– Compliant– Accurate– Measurable and working hard

What does good governance look like?

Digital governance: scope

Technology and operations

CMS set up, database configuration, infrastructure

Joiners, leavers, movers

Local ownership and control, training, access management

Workflow

Support requests, change requests, automated approval

Content

Content governance: the heart of any governance framework

• Text Sourcing, writing, translating, adding, editing, removing

• Images Picking images – library or photo shoot? Formats, sizes

• Metadata & taggingTechnical details count!

• Tone of voiceIt’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it

• Visual styleStay on-brand: ensure the site perfects personalised experiences

• Content managementKeeping people and systems in sync

• AnalyticsYour compass of truth

Governance framework

Global Steering Guidelines ToolsPlanning Optimization

Global steering committee

Global KPI framework

Agency (and inter-agency) management

Global guidelines

Local guidelines

Global / localcontent

calendars

Tactical planning

Content updates

Digital asset

manage-ment

Evaluation

Optimization

Software / toolsProcesses / people Documents / policies

Content distribution

Analytics

Example of a digital-content workflow

Set-up PlanningSourcing

Creation.EditingFormatting

Reviewing and

publishing Monitoring Removal

And digital content deliverables

Content plan

Content KPI framework

Approval principles

Content briefs

Editorial guidelines

Content templates

10 steps to salvation

1. Strategy

• Start by defining a plan and a common vision for the organisation

• Align digital with strategic business goals– User centred strategy– User centred content

• Have an entrepreneurial information leader

2. People: you’re lost without leadership

• Your executive must be on board– If the head honchos don’t get digital and live and

breathe the vision, you’re wasting your energy – nothing will ever happen

– Your CMO and CTO must get on• CMOs will spend more on tech by 2017 than CIOs do now

• If you’re in a leadership role, employ the right people: trust them to do their job

3. Tech

• Hardware, servers, software, systems are tools

• Tech doesn't have to be big

• Start small, prove your principles, grow

Follow the leaders

Start small, prove your principles, grow

Like the Hearst corporation• Hearst magazines uses WordPress to

power their (corporate) website

4. Spring clean!

• By now you know – what you’re trying to achieve (strategy)– who’s leading on it (people)– the tools you’ll need (tech)

• Now it’s time to get rid of the dead wood– Small teams– Smart work practices – Begin as you intend to continue: it’s

happening – it’s no longer a project; it is/will be, your reality

5. Content

• Not all content is the same– Learn to spot the difference– Use insight to learn what’s important to

your users

• A content strategy frames all activity; no (strategic) ticket, no start– You need a content vision, to prevent a

whole world of wrongness

Just ask…

Who are all losing market share to digital disruptors

6. Workflows

• Workflows map dependencies and lays circuits that link relationships – Remove friction

• Design them to be inclusive, nimble, empowered, empathetic, smart

• Build with muscle and power so you can pull the plug before it’s too late

Great work flows = productivity!

Lessons from the public sector: • Transparency helps accountability• More at stake than the bottom line• Long term vision– efficiencies of investment in research, policy over

decades• Shared cultural understandings

Reflowing the workflow

Crazy Perfectly sensible workflow1. Request to web team2. To and fro with client3. Upload to CMS test server4. Send link to test site to Regs & Compliance for review5. One-week two week turnaround6. Back to web team7. Upload to live

Reflowing the workflow

Crazy Perfectly sensible workflow1. Request to web team2. To and fro with client3. Upload to CMS test server4. Send link to test site to Regs & Compliance for review5. One-week two week turnaround6. Back to web team7. Upload to live

7. Corridor chats

• Let’s get social: colleagues and higher ups• Create a framework everyone understands• Engineer corridor chats with decision makers

to keep the wheels oiled • Harness all resources you can: sell digital!

8. Your audience

• It’s time to check in with the people paying your salary: customers, students, clients:• Is your governance framework working for

them?• When they need to do something with you, to

find that phone number to keep their lights on, are you helping them?

• Is governance supporting the strategy, which is supporting users/customers

9. No rest for the wicked

• Not resting on your laurels:– Test always with data against smart benchmarks – How effective is digital? – How much have you spent? – Are people reading/doing/acting on your products?– Are you joined up.– What needs to change? – What’s working, what’s not?

• Everything today is measurable: make this a fundamental part of your framework

10. Yoga time

• Be agile, nimble, flexible• You’re not locked into anything• You need to be future prepared – Future proofing, but without the

expectation of perfection; you don’t know what’s coming, so set things up to be ready to move

10 steps

1. Strategy

2. People

3. Tech

5. Content

6. Work flows

7. Corridor chats

8. Audience

9. Data

10. Yoga

4. Spring clean

Take aways

Takeaways

1. Content - the heart and lungs of

digital; governance - the

muscles/ligaments and central nervous

system

2. Content strategists must own governance and lead

the conversation

Takeaways

3. Governance applies across the content lifecycle; it’s not a checkpoint before

launch

4. Embrace the new way of working in

digital – give governance a hug

Thank you

Acknowledgements!

A big thank you to Alex Papageorgiou for her hand-drawn graphics. (She saved you from death by PowerPoint and my slides from looking very boring indeed.)

And for ongoing inspiration, to members of the DigitasLBi content strategy team, past and present.