Roger Hart

Content Strategy & Product Management in science education

@RMH40

HartR@RSC.orgTechnical communicationContent strategyProduct marketingProduct management

I’ve done bits of:

That food blog Rahel mentioned:www.louchegastronomique.com

</ShamelessPlug>

www.louchegastronomique.com

Product_____________

Content_____________

strategy?

management?

Image: BrainTraffic, of course

Join in at the chorus

Making sure your website doesn’t suck, by asking:• What is it for?

• Is it any good at that?

a) Something a bunch of copywriters made up in 2007, to

add about £200 to their day rates

b) A set of really useful principles that can seem

operational, and so old white men don’t think of them

as “strategic”

What do people think content strategy is?

Product_____________

Content_____________

strategy?

management?

Image: https://www.departmentofproduct.com/blog/apis-explained-for-product-managers/

“A good product manager is the CEO of the product”

“Bullshit”

Ben Horrowitz & David Weiden Good Product Manager, Bad Product Manager (1997)

Every other blog post on product management ever since

Image: http://www.mindtheproduct.com

Image: BrainTraffic, of course

Usually, this bit is the problemSo we look at the other bits instead

An operational solution to a broken strategy cascade(that you probably can’t affect)

“Mr. Carnegie,’ Taylor said, ‘I would advise you to make a list of the ten most important things you can do.and then, start doing number one.”Richard Rumelt, Good Strategy Bad Strategy

So, strategy then?

So, strategy then?Image: http://gunshowcomic.com/648

HiPPOs are bad for strategy.(they usually just charge around and break stuff.)

Image: https://www.flickr.com/photos/cumulius/2454289874/

It’s hard to have content strategy without a business or product strategy

Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gnomes_(South_Park)

Richard Rumelt

Diagnosis

Guiding policy

Coherent actions

Nature of challenge• What is going on here?• SWOT• Simplify overwhelming complexity• Inductive & subjective

Overall approach• What roughly will we do?• What will we not do?• Easy to refer to

Coordinated steps• Must build on each other• And on strengths• Proximate objectives

A cohesive response to an important challenge

”“

21

21

Example

22

22

Coherent ActionBreak the cohesion of the enemy fleet

Guiding PolicyAvoid traditional tacticsExploit rough conditions

Nelson’s DiagnosisOutnumberedBetter gunners/captains

"The mission of The Walt Disney Company is to be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information.

Using our portfolio of brands to differentiate our content, services and consumer products, we seek to develop the most creative, innovative and profitable entertainment experiences and related products in the world."

Making sure your organization doesn’t suck, by asking:• What is going on here?

• What should we practically do about it?

Geoffrey Moore

User researchWin/loss analysisCompetitor research Risk analysisRevenue forecastingMarket/opportunity sizingWeb & usage stats“Jobs To Be Done”Etc, etc

Also

• to foster and encourage the growth and application of such science by the dissemination of chemical knowledge;

• to establish, uphold and advance the standards of qualification, competence and conduct of those who practise chemistry as a profession;

• to serve the public interest by acting in an advisory, consultative or representative capacity in matters relating to the science and practice of chemistry; and

• to advance the aims and objectives of members of the Society so far as they relate to the advancement of the science or practice of chemistry.

Supports 54,000 membersPolicy influenceOutreach & campaigningSupporting businessesCPD & careers supportGrants & fundingEducation resourcesTeacher training bursariesCertification

The RSC:

and…

Just so much publishing

Databases58 million chemical structures

Education

Education in ChemistryNews (tailored to teaching)Teaching ideas (and resources)Professional developmentBlogsCommentary and community

Learn ChemistryTeacher-focused resourcesStudent focused resourcesOnline CPD courses (£)Periodic table~45 microsites

Schools engagementCompetitions: Olympiad, Top of the BenchOutreach: Spectrometer in a suitcaseCareers adviceSome eventsNewsletters

Learn Chemistry Partnership- Print copies of Education in Chemistry- Outreach visits & events- One teacher membership of RSC- Discounts on Online and Face-to-face CPD courses, posters, freebies

CERPHigh level journal on chemistry education research and practice (online only)Very small but very engaged community. Not read by teachers.

rsc.org- Membership & professional community - Resources and tools- Campaigning & outreach - News and events- Journals, books & databases - Locations & contacts

Edu

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site

So.Much.Content.Seriously. Like, 45 microsites.~7,000 content “components”

My personal favourite

Mature existing content strategy practice

Mature existing content strategy practice

Open access is coming here

Can we fix it all withcontent strategy?

Or:What do they even pay me for?

Workshop all the things

“I think the thing that most strongly drives teachers to our websites/services is the Education Coordinators. Many teachers still find our site incredibly difficult to navigate and find unless they are shown where it is/how to use it

(confusion as they give up before they get to Learn Chemistry if they haven’t had guidance).”

(This arrived in my inbox during Padma’s talk)

WTF?

Education directorate vision & mission

Our vision is that everyone has access to an excellent chemistry education that ensures students have the skills and knowledge to benefit society.

The RSC will aim to improve and enrich chemistry education, and ensure that students are inspired to access learning and engage with chemistry.

Diagnosis: simplified

When people find our stuff, they love it.

They don’t find it easily enough, and it’s often hard to use.

Our outreach activity is awesome, but can be a workaround for findability and usability.

So. Much. Technical. Debt.

TES, much? Bitesize? Yeah, those.

(with the confidential/sensitive bits removed)

“Gave me what I searched for but not entirely what i was looking for. BUT this site has ben really helpful. Thank you and keep up the good work”

“interaction design of site makes it very difficult to navigate. Scrolling through content is too hard.”

“I can't find what i want”

“These are relevant, clear, accurate, and well researched practical resources”

Customer feedback

Net Promoter scores

Commissioned research (SchoolZone)

Organic search

Jira tickets

UX test feedback

Roll it all up into a single, coherent, simpler product and fix its discoverability.

Integrate this with outreach to help teachers get at value and help us learn.

Don’t create (much) more content.

Develop a “volume of value” metric.

Guiding policy

It’s not rocket synergy

But Roger, what about those coherent actions?

Periodic Table app

Register on site

awareness

discovery

validation

purchase

Align withour funnel

http://amzn.to/2l4ian7

One thing to take away?Read the book. It’s awesome.

More references• Good Strategy, Bad Strategy• Dealing With Darwin• The Product Vision Board • Geoffrey Moore on market maturity (video)• Kathy Sierra at Business of Software (video) • The Jobs To Be Done framework website• HubSpot on Inbound Marketing• The Innovator’s Dilemma• Net Promoter