Post on 14-Dec-2015
transcript
Office of Communications and Consumer Information
Relaunch/redesign of nhtsa.gov(based on a true story)
Jim Schulte nhtsa.gov Content Manager
The Tiny Type: All opinions expressed – especially the really outlandish ones – are mine alone. No IT staff was harmed in the making of this website.
Office of Communications and Consumer Information
NHTSA.gov redesign & CMSimplementation: Challenges, successes,
really hard challenges, creativity… and what do you mean we won’t get any more money until 2007, maybe?
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NHTSA.gov launched in 1996
Began as a billboard site; evolved to more consumer focus
Seemingly designed for the internal audience; organizational approach to
content presentation
No official owner or decision-maker; IT became default editor/owner
Two scariest issues
Daughter sites had sprung up
Content management? People’s memories
End result
Warehousing of content
Nobody really knew what was where and why, how old, or how much
We were more ready for reality than reality was ready for us
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10. Impossible deadline
9. Very small project team
8. Huge internal skepticism
7. Covert foot-dragging / overt turf tussles
6. Taxonomy? What the hell do stuffed animals have to do with
anything?
5. Money, money, money, money
4. What do you mean we didn’t buy workflow?
3. I thought I was in charge? Who are you guys?
2. Site licenses? We don’t need no stinking site licenses!
1. We didn’t know what we didn’t know!
Top 10 key issues facing the project
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The start
Internal discovery/decision process from Jan.-June ’04
Met with Knowledge Advantage Inc. and Infused Solutions early July
Chunked down project into Phases
The fears
Could we speak the same language?
Didn’t want a two-ton pencil with a four-ton eraser
Didn’t want a drive-by delivery
The finish
Launched Phase 1 beta for internal audiences feedback on Oct. 4
Went live on the web on Dec. 7
From zero to 60 in a relative nanosecond
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What happened
No money, honey
What do you mean we didn’t pay for training?
Jettisoning key things to lightening the balloon
Shifting priorities: All consolidation, all the time
Champions leave, vacuum ensues
The impact
Phases 2-on are delayed
Expanding the user-base for the tool is delayed
Project has lost momentum; internal skepticism on the rise again
Reality bites: From 60 back to zero
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We ain’t dead yet
Small-scale innovation and problem-solving
If you can’t change the tool, then change how you use it
Is anybody writing this down?
Build a test VCM as a test/staging server
Necessity is a mother … of invention, even
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The takeaways
Designate an Al Haig; Clear authority on the decisions is paramount
Market to the internal audience, often and then some more; they can kill you,
or make you wish you were dead
Have a high-ranking champion … and a couple of white knights
It’s OK to be stupid; As long as you’re not afraid to ask questions
If you love it, set it free: Don’t get too wedded to a feature or function because
it might not survive triage and fighting to keep it could impact the project
Change hurts: Never underestimate the amount of
training/explaining/education you will have to do with your readers
Always try to break the tool/system as soon as possible
Choose well who you bring to the dance
If we had to do this over again …
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Semper Gumby
or
Keep cool, but do not freeze
But when all else fails … try these words to live by