Escape the content ops hamster wheel

You’re probably tired of reading my articles about the business case for content ops. Here’s a more personal perspective as you consider a content ops initiative.

“I just want to get off the hamster wheel.”

— Anonymous client

One of our clients (you know who you are, hi!) said this in a meeting a few years ago.

Inefficient content ops looks like this:

• Because content exists in multiple disconnected copies, even small content updates take a lot of time and attention.
• Verifying content means checking multiple identical or near-identical instances.
• Moving content from one format to another requires tedious manual corrections.

Everywhere you look, there is waste. Work is repeated, quality is iffy, and everything takes far too long.

Getting off the hamster wheel is hard. In part, this is because the content keeps coming. You can’t just climb off and let everything spin down while you figure out your next step. Rather, you have to keep running in the old, inefficient wheel while you build out the shiny new system. The fact that building out a new content system actually increases your work in the short term is one of the top reasons that Scriptorium exists. Our team can supplement your available bandwidth to get the project done.

The other, more difficult challenge in getting off the hamster wheel is a problem with perspective. When you’re been running full tilt your entire (work) life, it’s hard to envision a world where you just…stop?

The idea of content ops is that you build out a system that uses automation in appropriate ways. The most obvious things are:

• Moving content from one place to another
• Creating content once and reusing where appropriate (with links, not copies)
• Leveraging technology to ensure compliance (whether with regulations, style guides, or other frameworks)
• Transforming content from one format to another
• Creating content variants and localized content

Ultimately, we want to make sure that we apply human energy to the hard, creative problems:

• What’s the best way to explain this new idea?
• How can we best translate this creative metaphor in other languages? (see: hamster wheel)
• Where should I provide examples to help people understand?

Ready to spin with purpose? Contact our team today!