Managing with a Green Thumb: Tools and Practices for Growing a Content Strategy Team
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Alicia Dougherty-Wold
Content Strategy Director, Facebook
facebook.com/aliciadougherty
@aaliciaa | #ConfabMN
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Managing With a
Green ThumbTools and Practices for Growing a Content Strategy Team
11. “Content strategy is the practice
of defining the big idea (or ideas)
that drive a content initiative—
any kind of content initiative.
!
— Melissa Rach, “Content Strategy and Its Cousins,” UX Magazine (Article No. 946: January 28, 2013).
13. The world’s content initiative
!
More than 802M people
More than 609M people on mobile
!
More than 1.28B people
More than 1.01B people on mobile
!
~81.2% outside the US and Canada
!
Today
This
month
18. Defining the big ideas
Company-wide
Set guiding principles
Define voice and tone
Document content patterns
Create naming systems
Structure ideas, info, content
Share lightweight processes
Set workflows
Share a vision for quality
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19. Defining the big ideas
Company-wide
Set guiding principles
Define voice and tone
Document content patterns
Create naming systems
Structure ideas, info, content
Share lightweight processes
Set workflows
Share a vision for quality
!
!
20. Defining the big ideas
Product-specific
Audit landscape
Inventory concepts
Set nomenclature
Shape interactions
Structure messaging
Test with real people
Communicate
21. Defining the big ideas
Product-specific
Audit landscape
Inventory concepts
Set nomenclature
Shape
Structure messaging
Test with real people
Communicate
22. Defining the big ideas
Feature-level
Partner in design
Write for the interface
Tie to bigger patterns
Build consistency
Add delight
Measure
Learn
Make things better
23. Defining the big ideas
Feature-level
Partner in design
Write for the interface
Tie to bigger patterns
Build consistency
Add delight
Measure
Learn
Make things better
29. What kind of team do you need?
How does company culture define success?
How does work get done at your company?
How has content been made in the past?
What do stakeholders think they want?
What do stakeholders need?
What do people deserve?
!
! Align with your landscape
31. What kind of content do you need?
Sound human
Offer great service
Be lightweight, conversational
Recede into the background
Make people comfortable
!
Align on vision for content quality
34. What values will get you there?
Share work every day
Learn from each other
Be constructive, collaborative
Always be building… relationships
Stay flat
Align on team values
40. Magic of content strategy
T. Voekler, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Sacred_lotus_Nelumbo_nucifera.jpg, cropped.
41. Magic of content strategy
Plan Create Learn Improve
T. Voekler, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ed/Sacred_lotus_Nelumbo_nucifera.jpg, cropped and desaturated.
45. “Yes, AND means…whatever the
problem, be part of the solution.
Don’t just sit around raising
questions and pointing out
obstacles.”!
— Tina Fey, Bossy Pants (New York: Reagan Arthur, 2011), 83-84.
Say Yes, AND…
46. How does Yes, AND work for
content strategists?
!
Be strategic—whether
stakeholders ask or not.
!
Offer a Why with every What
65. Organizational climates vary
Company A
Bias towards action
Make decisions, move on
Move fast and make things
Ship, learn, iterate
Done is better than perfect
Solve problems in person
See a problem? Fix it.
Make an impact
Build relationships
66. Organizational climates vary
Company A
Bias towards action
Make decisions, move on
Move fast and make things
Ship, learn, iterate
Done is better than perfect
Solve problems in person
See a problem? Fix it.
Make an impact
Build relationships
Company B
Everything reviewed
Stakeholders approve
Stakeholders solve problems
Hierarchies matter
Communicate ideas through
email and presentations
Don’t ship until perfect
Org charts reflect decisions
Build processes
70. Company A
Bias towards action
Make decisions, move on
Move fast and make things
Ship, learn, iterate
Done is better than perfect
Solve problems in person
See a problem? Fix it.
Make an impact
Build relationships
Interview for being…
Curious
Entrepreneurial
Proactive problem solver
Near perfect, quickly
Diplomatic
Thrives on bringing order
Creates structure as needed
Strong sense of agency
Assumes the best of people
!
What behaviors lead to success?
71. Interview for being…
Patient
Methodical
Comfortable with hierarchy
Sees projects through long
timeframes
Diplomatic
Detail-oriented
Prefers planning
Prefers external structure
!
What behaviors lead to success?
Company B
Everything reviewed
Stakeholders approve
Stakeholders solve problems
Hierarchies matter
Communicate ideas through
email and presentations
Don’t ship until perfect
Org charts reflect decisions
Build processes
72. Success Factor Behaviors Questions
Proactive Sees a problem and
takes action
What would you do if you ran into a difficult
problem involving a stakeholder?
Comfortable with
ambiguity
Works independently
without direction
If you had to work with several product
teams, what would you do?
Entrepreneurial Creates processes
where none existed
Let’s say you were going to create a
process for giving context to the translation
team. How would you do it?
Before: future-focused
73. Success Factor Behaviors Questions
Proactive Sees a problem and
takes action
What would you do if you ran into a difficult
problem involving a stakeholder?
Comfortable with
ambiguity
Works independently
without direction
If you had to work with several product
teams, what would you do?
Entrepreneurial Creates processes
where none existed
Let’s say you were going to create a
process for giving context to the translation
team. How would you do it?
74. Success Factor Behaviors Questions
Proactive Sees a problem and
takes action
Tell me about a time you addressed a
difficult problem at work. How did you go
about doing this?
Comfortable with
ambiguity
Works independently
without direction
Tell me about a time you had to set your
own priorities. How did you decide what
was important and what not to do?
Entrepreneurial Creates processes
where none existed
Tell me about a time when you created a
process from scratch. How did it go? What
did you learn?
After: uncover real behaviors
75. Success Factor Behaviors Questions
Proactive Sees a problem and
takes action
Tell me about a time you addressed a
difficult problem at work. How did you go
about doing this?
Comfortable with
ambiguity
Works independently
without direction
Tell me about a time you had to set your
own priorities. How did you decide what
was important and what not to do?
Entrepreneurial Creates processes
where none existed
Tell me about a time when you created a
process from scratch. How did it go? What
did you learn?
76. Interview to build teams
Interview for…
Curiosity
Entrepreneurialism
Proactive problem solving
Near perfect, quickly
Diplomacy
Thriving on bringing order
Creating structure as needed
Strong sense of agency
Assuming the best of people
Interview for…
Patience
Methodical approach
Comfort with hierarchy
Seeing projects through long
timeframes
Diplomacy
Attention to detail
Preferring planning
Preferring external structure
82. What is a strength?
You show “consistent, near perfect
performance…” and you “can fathom yourself
doing it repeatedly, happily, and successfully…
You will excel by maximizing your strengths,
never by fixing your weaknesses.”
!
— Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton, Now, Discover Your Strengths (Electronic Edition: Gallup, Inc.), 25-26.
Strengthening work energizes you
83. “At work, do you have the
opportunity to do what you do
best every day?”
38% more likely to be highly productive
44% more likely to earn high customer satisfaction
50% more likely to have high employee retention
Strengths energize your team
Source: The Marcus Buckingham Company http://www.tmbc.com/assets/tmbc_business_case_for_strengths.pdf?x2