The code base for a headless CMS is complex, more so than a traditional, monolithic solution. While it would be ideal to have a development team consisting of people with existing, overlapping skills in all of the pieces the headless CMS project will touch, the reality is typically quite different. Rather than viewing this as an obstacle, however, the broad scope of headless CMS projects offer an opportunity for growth in an environment of siloed development. Because a headless CMS application often houses several communicating services, it is absolutely necessary for the entire team to be in sync with where certain data lives, how content is structured, and how each delivery point communicates with other delivery channels and/or the central service. To accomplish this, it is crucial to intentionally build a well-thought-out, cross-functional headless CMS team that will naturally tear down the existing silos between team members who would otherwise work on only a specific, small portion of the application. The team can then learn areas outside of their comfort zone and ensure the development team remains in sync, all while delivering a valuable product to a customer.

Architecture of the Application

Planning Phases

Steps to building a strong cross-functional team begin early. During the planning phase for a headless project, if possible, ensure that the entire development team is involved in designing the architecture and selecting the technology stack for development. This will give engineers an opportunity to ask questions and explore learning materials regarding topics outside of their area(s) of expertise. Adding planning time into early sprints to invest in the growth of the technical team will pay off later in the development lifecycle. Beyond simply improving future work on the current project, expanding the abilities of the team now naturally leads to a larger bench of engineers who are experienced in the industry-wide practice of headless CMS development. It will also foster increased trust from both clients and the development team to have an entire team of developers fluent in the entire technology stack of an application. This allows for greater flexibility within both the space of a client’s availability and allotted work within a sprint.

Building the Codebase

Within the later phases of planning, consider the importance of structure and documentation within the API(s) that extend the functionality of the central microservice and deliver content. Building in the time to create solid documentation is a clear winner, both from the point of view of helping “future you” recall how a system works but also by making it dramatically easier for a teammate to pick up work in a new area and quickly get up to speed. Again, this expands the bench of engineers that are able to work in a traditionally siloed area, increasing productivity and mitigating the worry of technical debt. Engineers who are heavily involved in planning will feel more comfortable contributing code when development starts since they will be familiar with the architectural goals of the application. Because a Headless CMS is built with the ideal state able to implement limitless supported devices, building a codebase to house structured, flexible content, and clean points of communication results in a maintainable application and a well-prepared group of engineers. This also reinforces best practices of multiple languages/technologies during application development. As a result, engineers will better understand how to contribute scalable, well-commented code without the need for upskilling later on in the development process.

Development Processes

Team Code Reviews

In many aspects, code reviews within the agile development process of a Headless CMS remain the same. However, to integrate the continuing theme of team cross-functionality, it is important to include the entire development team in the code review process. As multiple features are being added to the application in a sprint, it is crucial to ensure each team member maintains their understanding of the codebase. When reviewing code, keep in mind the structure of the application. Consider how the content should be structured in delivery and storage. Furthermore, keep in mind that the structure of said content may also be transformed upon delivery through APIs. In this way, it is most efficient to have the entire development team involved with all reviews of delivered code, not just those who have expertise in that area of development. With good communication and team synchronization during the process of review, there will be less time needed for upskilling. This allows all involved engineers to add features without the necessity to take time reviewing content delivery or general points of communication between services housed in the Headless CMS application.

Consider having synchronous code reviews when code is added that will affect or extend the communication between APIs or any of the APIs with the central microservice. At the very least, make sure all developers have a chance to review all contributions made to the application as a whole to mitigate the scope creep caused by avoidable technical debt from upskilling later on.

Version Control Workflows

Another crucial aspect of Headless CMS development is the Git Workflow the application follows during a sprint cadence and production releases. It is surprisingly easy for a team’s Git Flow to fall out of sync in the midst of building features and making changes, especially when tasked with engineering such a large application. It is crucial for the entire team to understand what format their feature, bugfix, or hotfix branches must follow and where they should be branched from. This is especially important in the scope of building a Headless CMS application, considering all the possible points of failure between points of communication within the technology stack, channels of content delivery, and proper structure of stored data. If a team’s workflow falls out of sync, the possibility for portions of the application to fall behind or creep ahead increases. Accordingly, the imbalance of incurred technical debt may alter the development timeline of the application as a whole.

In Summary

To ensure the most efficient delivery of a headless CMS application, it is absolutely crucial to break down the silos of a development team throughout both the planning and development processes of a large application. Investing in the growth of developers and keeping a strong focus of synchronization regarding the whole product mitigates numerous risks of the development timeline of a headless CMS application. With the proper approach and correct mindset to leverage the opportunities of growth presented by this new development practice, a maintainable product can be delivered in the most efficient manner. Simultaneously, the development team involved with building the product will achieve growth and more opportunities to learn contemporary practices in the space of application development through hands-on practice.

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In this episode of the Knowledge Cast, Joe Hilger speaks with Joe Pairman, Director of Product Management at RWS Group. RWS Group is a world-leading provider of technology-enabled language, content management, and intellectual property services. Joe is in charge of Tridion Docs, one of the most innovative headless CMS solutions on the market, and has been at RWS for 4 years.

Before RWS, Joe designed and led the development of a personalized guidance app that helped millions of users without requiring any of their data. He also integrated a knowledge model with granular structured content to automatically give data integrators a broad overview of their available implementation options and next actions.

If you would like to be a guest on Knowledge Cast, Contact Enterprise Knowledge for more information.

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In this episode of the Knowledge Cast, Joe Hilger speaks with Michael Andrews, Content Strategy Evangelist at Kentico. Kentico is a global software vendor with two award-winning products, Kontent and Xperience. Michael has been at Kentico since 2019 and focuses on advising global enterprises on how to innovate their content practices and operations, providing fresh thinking on how to address future digital publishing challenges.

If you would like to be a guest on Knowledge Cast, Contact Enterprise Knowledge for more information.

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Motivation

Motivation is a complex factor to understand, but psychologists, neuroscientists, and learning theorists have amassed quite a body of research. We know that motivation can be positively influenced by intrinsic motivation, experiences of success, and overall positive system user experience.

Learning ecosystems that leverage curiosity and interest to drive intrinsic motivation create much better learning outcomes than learning ecosystems which depend upon compulsory training or fear. There are obviously a lot of process and cultural elements that influence curiosity and interest-driven learning, but knowledge management technology has a role to play as well. In knowledge management, we talk a lot about the findability and discoverability of information:

• Findability describes the ability of a system user (in this case a learner) to find the information for which they came to the system. If I want to learn the basics of graphic design, I might execute a search for “graphic design basics.” Findability refers to my ability to find a beginner eLearning course so I can get started.
• Discoverability describes the ability of the learner to discover new information in the system which is useful – but for which they weren’t even searching. In the example above, I search for “graphic design basics” and find an eLearning course, but I also find an entire training plan with multiple levels of graphic design proficiency and supporting learning assets for each. I didn’t know those additional resources were there, but I’m thankful to discover them as they provide me not only with the course, but with a roadmap to continue advancing my skills.

A well-designed knowledge management portal supports both findability and discoverability of learning assets. Enabling the discoverability of additional learning assets and learning paths inspires curiosity and helps create an intrinsic motivation to learn.

Research shows that learners who experience success are also motivated to keep learning. Knowledge management technology can build success experiences into your organization’s learning ecosystem by automatically conferring certificates when learners complete metadata-enabled learning paths. Knowledge management technology can also create personalization of feedback by leveraging some of the same tools we use to deliver a multitude of content personalization experiences – componentized content and a robust metadata strategy.

Motivation is also strongly linked to the overall user experience a learner has with the learning technology. Learning is a process which requires sustained attention and effort, and if a learner is frustrated with outdated information, a lack of cues to guide attention, or visual clutter which creates cognitive overload, motivation is greatly reduced.

Attention

It is difficult for learners to sustain attention, and many learning activities take place in an online environment where there is fierce competition for that attention. Many traditional training approaches rely on unrealistic expectations of our ability to pay attention. Full-day, instructor-led workshops or even hour-long webinars are examples where learner attention can drop off drastically.

Knowledge management technology can provide solutions to this problem. Componentized content can enable the chunking of educational content in such a way that the same core components of content are reusable across multiple learning contexts. SCORM packages promised this benefit, but SCORM was only designed for reuse within eLearning courses. With ever-increasing demands on learner attention, we know that diverse learning opportunities – including informal learning and social learning – are absolutely critical. Componentized content in a CCMS can actually enable the reuse of content in any context – not just in courses.

A Headless CMS delivery architecture can provide further benefits and allow for the personalized delivery of these reusable learning asset components across multiple learner experiences. If you’ve created a reusable learning asset that explains how to create a budget report, a Headless CMS would enable you to publish that information to:

• A checklist that provides context for a project manager to create and update the report; and
• An explanatory reference sheet for a department director that explains how to apply the information in the report for department-level strategic planning.

When we leverage the latest knowledge management technology to create reusable, componentized learning assets, which can be reused across multiple learning experiences, we allow ourselves to create shorter, varied, and personalized learning experiences, which will help our learners sustain their attention and improve learning outcomes.

Summary

A modern workforce faces many demands for their time and attention and it’s easy for learning to get put on the back burner – even for those of us who love learning. When designing a learning ecosystem, it’s important to remember the learning theory that helps us best support learners and set them up for successful learning outcomes. Supporting learner motivation and attention are key. Knowledge management technology has the potential to improve the motivation and attention of learners – and thereby increase learning outcomes. If you’d like to apply knowledge management best practices to the design and development of your learning ecosystem, EK can help.

The post Knowledge Management Technology to Improve Learning Outcomes appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

Enterprise Knowledge (EK) is a Core Sponsor of Drupal GovCon 2021! The virtual conference will take place from October 13th to the 15th. This year five EK experts will lead two half-day training sessions at the Drupal GovCon conference. Drupal GovCon brings together people from all over the country who use, develop, design, and support the Drupal platform. Although there is a focus on government, there is also a heavy representation of attendees from the private, non-profit, and education sectors. 

Andrew Ratner, Consultant, will lead a training session with Yanko Ivanov, Principal Solution Consultant, and Nick Sacoman, Drupal developer, on “Designing User Experiences for Headless Drupal” on Wednesday, October 13th, 2021 from 9 AM to 1 PM ET.

Their session will focus on the principles of user-centric design that should be leveraged when designing multi-channel user experiences. Additionally, the session will discuss where the future of content management is going and how to best leverage content components in Drupal. With instructional guidance from EK’s experts, participants will have an opportunity to create and design a user journey map to deliver targeted omnichannel content, restructure large documents for content reuse, and perform semantic content modeling.

Lisa McCray, Senior Drupal developer, and Corinne Aherne, Senior Analyst, will lead the training session “Designing Custom Content Models and Search HIT Types” on Thursday, October 14th, 2021 from 9 AM to 1 PM ET.

Their training session will focus on industry best practices for developing a successful content strategy, including how to use elements of content structures to both build content types and design content models. McCray and Aherne will guide participants through an analysis of unstructured content to identify important semantic patterns and will then teach participants how to apply the findings when defining content types. Participants will also learn skills for intentionally structuring their content to improve search. 

Register first for the conference by creating an account here: Drupal GovCon 2021 in order to access EK’s half-day training sessions Designing User Experiences for Headless Drupal and Designing Custom Content Models and Search HIT Types.

The post Enterprise Knowledge to be a Core Sponsor and Training Leader at Drupal GovCon 2021 appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

The webinar “Headless CMS in Action: Understanding What it is and How it Can be Used in Your Organization” was facilitated by EK’s Technology Solutions Lead Rebecca Wyatt on Friday, June 18th. The webinar’s three panelists are award-winning journalist John Collins (Senior Content Architect on the Platform Team at Atlassian), digital experience futurist Preston So (Product Leader at Oracle), and Omnichannel X co-founder and customer journey pioneer Noz Urbina (Urbina Consulting). All three global experts have a wide variety of experiences implementing and interacting with headless content management systems (CMS) and bring their expertise to the table for discourse on CMS.

Facilitator Rebecca Wyatt and the panelists discussed practical applications of headless CMS for product documentation, knowledge management, marketing, and learning & development. Their discussion also examined common use cases and business outcomes that headless CMS brings to these varying initiatives. The panelists offered practical advice on how to approach headless CMS conceptually. In addition to focusing on defining headless CMS, detailing common use cases, and framing CMS’s business value, the panelists also explored “the art of the possible” for headless CMS.

Some informational highlights from the online webinar include:

• Current trends impacting the CMS market and how consumer demands drive the future of headless CMS.

• Practical applications of headless CMS in less common domains like business to employee (B2E) use cases.   

• Considerations for a successful interdisciplinary approach to headless CMS.

Watch the video below of the webinar, “Headless CMS in Action: Understanding What it is and How it Can be Used in Your Organization,” to learn more and contact us for assistance in getting your organization started with headless CMS.

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Enterprise Knowledge Senior Developer Lisa McCray, CMS Solutions Architect Matt Fleury, and Developer Nick Sacoman will present at an upcoming web conference — Decoupled Days. Their presentation, Real-time Collaborative Content Creation and Multichannel Distribution, will include a real-time demo of a decoupled Drupal product they built which enables:

• The collaborative creation of content;
• The distribution of content to multiple methods of presentation including web, PDF, and email.

Join the conference from July 14th and 15th to learn and share about best practices in the headless CMS space, as well as discuss solutions to common issues in implementing headless architectures.

Register for the conference!

The post McCray, Fleury, and Sacoman to Speak at Upcoming Decoupled Days Web Conference On Real-time Collaborative Content Creation and Multichannel Distribution appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

In this discussion, our guests talk about what a Headless CMS is and how to leverage headless technology to share the right content, with the right people, in a highly customized and contextualized way.

If you would like to be a guest on Knowledge Cast, Contact Enterprise Knowledge for more information.

The post Knowledge Cast – KM Trends: Exploring Headless CMS appeared first on Enterprise Knowledge.

The panel will discuss practical applications of headless CMSs for product documentation, knowledge management, marketing, and learning & development. The discussion will explore the common use cases and business outcomes that headless CMS can bring to these varying initiatives, offering practical advice on how to get started within your organization.

The online webinar will be held on June 18, 2021 from 11 AM – Noon Eastern.

Register

Panelist Bios

Rebecca Wyatt (Host)
Rebecca has spent her career at the intersection of Learning, Knowledge Management, and Information technology. With over twenty years of experience across the public, private, and non-profit sectors, Rebecca is an expert in project management and design, development, and implementation of Knowledge Management and Learning and Development (L&D) systems and educational content. She is particularly excited about the ways in which decoupled and headless content management have the potential to be transformative for the ways in which organizations grow and nurture the talents of their most important assets – their employees.

John Collins
John Collins is senior content architect on the Content Platform team at Atlassian. Long ago, John was an award-winning community journalist, but he made the move to the software industry more than a decade ago and has extensive experience with content strategy, technical writing, UX writing, and localization. He has spoken internationally, but John is still learning and exploring content, design, and how best to get users the content they need.

Preston So
Preston So is a product architect and strategist, digital experience futurist, innovation lead, developer advocate, three-time SXSW speaker, and author of Voice Content and Usability (A Book Apart, 2021), Gatsby: The Definitive Guide (O’Reilly, 2021), and Decoupled Drupal in Practice (Apress, 2018). He has been a programmer since 1999, a web developer and designer since 2001, a creative professional since 2004, a CMS architect since 2007, and a voice designer since 2016.

A product leader at Oracle, Preston has led product, design, engineering, and innovation teams since 2015 at Acquia, Time Inc., and Gatsby. Preston is an editor at A List Apart, a columnist at CMSWire, and a contributor to Smashing Magazine and has delivered keynotes around the world in three languages. Preston is based in New York City, where he can often be found immersing himself in languages that are endangered or underserved.

Noz Urbina
Noz Urbina is one of the few industry professionals who has been working in what we now call “multichannel” and “omnichannel” content design and strategy for over two decades. In that time, he has become a globally recognized leader in the field of content and customer experience. He’s well known as a pioneer in customer journey mapping and adaptive content modelling for delivering personalized, contextually-relevant content experiences in any environment. Noz is co-founder and Program Director of the OmnichannelX Conference and Podcast. He is also co-author of the book “Content Strategy: Connecting the dots between business, brand, and benefits” and lecturer in the Master’s Program in Content Strategy at the University of Applied Sciences of Graz, Austria.

Noz’s company, Urbina Consulting, works with the world’s largest organizations and most complex content challenges, but his mission is to help all brands be able to have relationships with people, the way that people have with each other. Past clients have included Microsoft, Eli Lilly Pharmaceuticals, Mastercard, Barclays Bank, Abbott Laboratories, RobbieWilliams.com, and hundreds more.

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A headless CMS, one in which the content authoring “body” is separated from the content distribution channels (or heads), allows an organization to:

1. Author once and publish to multiple channels; and
2. Reuse the same content in multiple contexts.

This relatively new type of content management system offers several points of business value over its traditional cousins. When is it worth it? What business problems can a headless CMS help you solve? Why should your organization adopt a headless CMS solution?

Create More Compelling Content With Audience Segmentation

We all want to create engaging content that grabs the attention of our audiences. But the reality is, that is nearly impossible unless you define your audiences and write to their specific needs. When you try to create generic content for everyone, you end up creating dull, flat content that isn’t exciting for anyone.

That seems like common sense, but when you break it down further there are some implied technical requirements:

• You probably have more than one audience.
• If you’re going to create content which meets the specific needs of each audience, you’re going to need similar versions of the same content.

Supporting similar versions of content is a tricky content governance issue (we’ll get into governance below), but with the right content engineering, you can maximize your ability to create custom content to meet audience needs, while minimizing the burden of maintaining similar versions of the same content.

Consider this example. If you’re creating content to teach staff members in your organization how to follow a process, you’ll likely document the process step by step. If, instead of creating one single Word document that outlines the entire process, you create structured content where each step of the process is a unique field, you are then able to more effectively reuse each step for multiple audience needs.

When you break down the document paradigm and craft reusable content components, a headless CMS can deliver them for multiple audience needs.

KEY POINT:  In all of these examples, the core content (the steps) is the same. It is the context surrounding the core content which must be customized for the audience. Rather than maintaining the core content in multiple places, a headless CMS with properly engineered content models allows for the reuse of the core content to meet the needs of audience segments. This is the foundation of effective content personalization and localization. It’s the building blocks of more engaging content.

Improve the Efficiency and Accuracy of Content Updates

As noted above, effective audience segmentation, content personalization, and content localization, all require contextualizing content for a unique audience and purpose. If you’re not careful – and your CMS is not well-designed – this could result in a lot of duplicate content. Generally speaking EK recommends avoiding duplicate or similar content because it is a nightmare to maintain and govern.

Let’s look again at the content reuse example from above. We’ve created step-by-step documentation of a process and we’ve reused that process documentation for three different audiences. If we’ve done this the “old fashioned” way, this means we’ve probably created three different documents or web pages. What happens in that scenario when there’s a change to the process? We’ll have to update the content in three different places (and, inevitably, we’ll lose track and forget to update at least one of the three).

So let’s pause a second and break down the business problems here:

• Time Wasted: Content creators maintaining content in three places instead wastes time. Multiply that over all of the content your organization maintains and this is a very expensive problem.
• Inaccurate Content: When your team remembers to update content in only two of the three places, the overall perception of accuracy and reliability of your content are eroded.

KEY POINT:  A well designed headless CMS enables the reuse of content so that your content creators only have to make updates in one place when content inevitably needs to change. This improves the efficiency of your team, and improves the overall accuracy of your content.

Summary

A headless CMS enables the efficient reuse and re-contextualization of content for multiple audiences, platforms, and purposes. Reusing content can help your organization realize a ton of benefits including better audience engagement with segmentation and personalization, saved staff time and money when content updates can be made in one place instead of many, and improved accuracy of (and subsequent trust in) content. Need help architecting and deploying a headless CMS? EK’s team of engineers can help.

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