Today is my first day as an independent ECM consultant.

I’ve spent the past 10 years at Thomson Reuters, managing the intranet and helping out with a variety of other web communications projects.

Thomson Reuters was a wonderful place for me to learn and grow. I signed up fresh out of MBA school as a communications specialist. Prior to that I had worked as a technical writer, so the communications path felt like a natural fit for me.

Once there I found myself increasingly involved in both internal and external web communications projects. When the opportunity to manage the intranet came up, I was in the right place at the right time.

Now as I venture outside the company, there opportunities everywhere I look. In fact I’m very close to being able to announce not one… but two very exciting collaborations.

This is the right time for me to step out, and I’m thrilled (and a little bit scared) to see how I do my own. But I’m not really on my own. I have an amazing network of people in the profession who have given me a great deal of encouragement over the past few months. 

And I feel like I’m standing on an exceptionally solid foundation built up from my experiences at Thomson Reuters. I gained insights into literally every aspect of managing a large intranet. And I will always feel the most profound gratitude toward all the people at Thomson Reuters who inspired me to always keep learning and growing. 

So…. here’s to big changes [glasses clinking]! 

I would very much like to stay in touch. My contact information is as follows:

Email: cheryl@workflowpeople.net
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/cllesser
Twitter: http://twitter.com/cllesser

Just starting to unwind now from #GilbaneBoston. So much to absorb, so much to process… so much food for thought as I venture out into the big exciting world of WCM consulting! Here are my highlights:

THE BENEFACTOR AND AGITATOR

@Robert_Rose was the one who made it possible for me to attend the conference via a super-generous scholarship. IS THAT AMAZING OR WHAT??? Robert’s not only super-generous, but he’s also a really,really good speaker… like he’s done this once or twice before. @Irina_Guseva wrote an excellent recap of his session.

What sticks in my mind from Robert’s session is his challenge to Marketing folks to create their own online marketing processes. Marketers don’t have the luxury to wait 12 or 18 months for a traditional IT CMS solution. Amen to that. But I can just hear my IT friends (including my husband): “So who’s going to support it? Who’s going to manage the vendor? What happens if they get acquired?” And believe me, I’ve had my share of mopping up after overly-enthusiastic marketers, so I get where they’re coming from.

So are there two polar opposite types of IT folks? The innovative, agile, ones… and then the responsible ones? Or is there a happy middle ground?

A DITA SURPRISE

Who knew technical writers were on the leading edge of content strategy? I certainly didn’t. I guess I’m late to the party, but tech writers are using standards such as XML and DITA to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time. That’s what content strategy aims to do, too, right?

After several XML sessions on Wednesday I read the Gilbane report: Smart Content In the Real World: Case Studes & Results. Pretty heavy reading, but well worth the effort. Content standards allow you to start with the customer. “Leading organizations now start by considering the best possible experience with consuming that content and working backwards, building their content management and authoring processes to support the end-goal instead of the other way around.” It’s all about breaking the content down into components and assembling them when and how it makes sense for any given situation. Another great quote from the report: “…IBM is changing the paradigm for technical documentation from books to buckets.”

A call-out to a some very cool XML people at the conference who took the time and patience to explain some basic XML & DITA concepts to me: Barry Schaeffer from Gilbane Group; Elizabeth Fraley @SingleSourcing; Doug Gorman & Erin Freeburger from Simply XML; and finally Donald Smith from Crowell Solutions (RocketSled).

BASKING IN THE GLOW

When you have a super opportunity like this to go to a conference where there are tons of really smart people, don’t be shy. Just walk up and start talking to them! After getting over my initial feelings of “What the hell am I doing here with all these super-smart people,” I got the chance to meet face-to-face some of the CMS rock stars I follow on twitter!

• Scott Liewehr @sliewehr
• Tony Byrne @TonyByrne
• Cheryl McKinnon @CherylMcKinnon
• Irene Guseva @Irina_Guseva
• Lisa Welchman @lwelchman (okay, I had already met her in person, so that’s not quite fair, but it was great to see her again!)
• Colleen Jones @leenjones
• Margot Bloomstein @mbloomstein
• and of course Robert Rose @Robert_Rose

And these were just the speakers I got to meet in person. There were a host of other wonderful speakers whom I didn’t get to see or meet, but heard all about on the twitter stream. 

RANDOM LOGISTICAL NOTES FOR NEXT YEAR

• The iPad is a great consumption platform. It’s not great for taking notes & blogging. I’ve been skeptical about the keypad from day #1, so I challenged myself to leave my laptop in my hotel room and only use the iPad. Next time I bring my laptop. Also, the smudgy fingerprints are really starting to get on my nerves. There, I said it.
• Wear a down jacket. Boston is really cold. I’m from Minnesota, so I was thinking no problem, and I only brought my wool coat. I’ve never been colder in my life.
• If you get a chance, walk around the Boston Commons. Wonderful, beautiful park that feels like real old New England. People out ice-skating and walking around in tweed jackets. It would have been better if I had brought my down jacket.
• Bring a Suduko or crossword puzzle book. I thought I’d try going totally paperless to this conference. I forgot that in the airplane they make you turn off all electric devices 20 minutes before takeoff until 20 minutes after takeoff. That’s 40 continuous minutes w/o my iPad. Don’t get me wrong… I LOVE SkyMall (have been fascinated with that HairMax LaserComb for years now), but who needs to read it 5 times in one trip (MSP - Chicago - Boston - Chicago - MSP)? There, I said it.

#GilbaneBoston

Moderator: Andrew Bredenkamp, CEO, Acrolinx

Colleen Jones, Founder, Content Science
Margot Bloomstein, Principal, Appropriate, Inc.

Understand your communication goals, then research & analyze your content, research & analyze your audience, research & analyze your metrics, then research & analyze it all again!

Content strategy needs to be on core web team from the get-go

Consistency is NOT repetition!

Resources:
Knol content strategy group
Google groups
Content strategy meet ups

Moderator: Mary Laplante, Vice President & Lead Analyst, Outsell’s Gilbane Group

Andrew Lawless, Principal, Dig-It! Consulting
Debra Lewis, Web Content and Localization Manager, OCLC Online Computer Library Center. OCLC Online Computer Library Center has served member libraries around the world for years, but became a truly global organization four years ago with the merger of a European partner

This session is nuts! Globalization is NOT for the faint of heart. My knees are wobbly, and I’m not even planning a globalization project. If you are, get a good consultant and take a deep breath.

Suggested resources:
John Yunker
Global Watchtower
Real Story Group
Gilbane research
A good consultant!

@LisaWelchman, Co-Founder, WelchmanPierpoint
The Digital Deca, 10 Management Truths for the Web Age

The organizational dynamics behind bad websites
“Wait! Don’t leave. You haven’t visited all my 25 content silos.”

10 management truths for the web gar:
1. Your Web presence is a digital manifestation of your organization
2. In a digitally transforming business environment, bold leadership is vital
3. Decision making must be based on expertise, not power
4. The business framework must be inclusive
5. Standards enable collaboration
6. The web is an asset
7. The organization owns the web presence
8. Management should embrace impermanence
9. Know your customer but own your mission
10. Measure twice, execute once

Simon Lande, CEO, Magus
Joining the Dots: Creating an Enterprise Framework for Website Governance

This isn’t about technology, it’s about people

Defining web standards. 
11 types of standards, both company-specific and general
Use simple, clear, actionable “Do and don’ts” format for standards
Visual and brand
Editorial, e.g. Keep to one idea per paragraph
SEO standards
Usability standards
Accessibility standards

Implementing standards
Publication framework: common or diverse platform
Lockdown vs flexibility

Managing standards
Ongoing editor support
Maintain dialog… Standards change
Measure and monitor

All websites are not equal
Philips: strategic decisions about amount of localization in each of the 70+ sites
Philips: 80% corporate, 20% local