Twelve Common Pitfalls to Avoid (and Best Practices to Follow) When Embarking on a Web Content and Experience Management Project

Pitfall 4: Not involving internal Web CXM stakeholders from the very beginning

Best Practice:

Involve actual system users in the design, implementation, and testing of the system.

There is a temptation among IT and Marketing departments to shield domain specialists from key decisions on how things like information architecture and workflow are going to work.

However well intended, this is a mistake. Only the content owners themselves can put meaning and context to the information that is being published, so they must be engaged in the design of taxonomies, sitemaps, and even page component layouts. If they participate in the selection of the solution, they will be much more likely to participate actively in "selling" it to the rest of the enterprise and engage fully for a successful implementation.

Also, there is a growing consensus that the most usable applications result from a truly user- centered design process, with users involved from the very beginning in the shape of the ultimate solution.

Note that sometimes there are inherent conflicts between capability and usability. For example, the distinction between "power users" and "casual contributors" that is widely held among CMS vendors can become immediately problematic within your particular enterprise. Is a power user an author who needs an efficient interface to accomplish the same thing repeatedly and often, or a kind of managing editor who needs a control panel to accomplish a variety of oversight tasks, such as move pages and sections or administer taxonomies?

Those are two very different personas who will likely find comfort in very different interfaces. Your high-powered editors may come to despise the "super-user" interface that was ostensibly designed for their needs.

Very often simple works better. That's good news for developers, but it places a premium on finding the specific product whose "out-of-the-box" orientation happens to match your needs.

Pitfall 1: Selecting a Web CMS package before developing solid requirements and a business case. Read the details of Pitfall 1 here.

Pitfall 2: Not getting a clear mandate from the top. Read the details of Pitfall 2 here.

Pitfall 3: Thinking a web content management package will provide a full CMS solution. Read the details of Pitfall 3 here.

Pitfalls 5-12: Coming soon...