take control of your website migration
DESCRIPTION
Presented as CM Pros Webinar on November 10, 2011. See screencast at http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=emgdfR5kWuATRANSCRIPT
Take Control of Your Website Migration
@jdavidhobbs
10 November 2011
Your migration control knobs
• Raw heft • Distance • Quality • Content handling Most organizations don’t think enough about these controls and run into related issues as surprises
@jdavidhobbs 2 hobbsontech.com
Control Knob: Raw Heft
1) Migration is a perfect opportunity to better focus your site and improve quality by dropping content
2) Less weight is easier to migrate
@jdavidhobbs 3 hobbsontech.com
Yeah, but how?
Main points: • Set weight loss as a goal and track it • Separate out what’s easy from what you want! A couple approaches: • Natural attrition • Rules-based
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Set goal and track it
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Rewrite Moving As-is Staying inplace
Dropping
Remaining
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Rules-based culling
Inventory Define Rules Confirm Implement
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Rules-based culling example
Inventory Define Rules Confirm Implement
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For more, see Rethinking the Content Inventory series at bit.ly/rethinkinventory
Rules-based culling example
Inventory Define Rules Confirm Implement
Example rules: If business focus is high, then edit If less than six page views in the last month, then drop If the page is in version 2, then move as-is If the page is in version 1 and more than 100 page views in the last month, then as-is Otherwise, drop
@jdavidhobbs 8 hobbsontech.com
Rules-based culling example
Inventory Define Rules Confirm Implement
@jdavidhobbs 9 hobbsontech.com
Raw heft final thoughts
• Don’t yo-yo diet • Attempt to cut based on rules • Remember the vision for your project overall
when cutting content
Impact: More focused site and an easier migration
@jdavidhobbs 10 hobbsontech.com
Also see The Web Diet at bit.ly/webdiet
Control Knob: Distance
If you already have a base station on the moon, then moving to the next crater might be easy. If you live in a cardboard box, then moving into a condo down the street may be difficult.
@jdavidhobbs 11 hobbsontech.com
@jdavidhobbs 12 hobbsontech.com
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Other Distance Decisions
• Other distance decisions: – Amount of structural changes to content – IA changes – New content required – New functionality – Number of content types / templates
Impact: less planning and transformation required
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Control Knob: Quality
One of the most important knobs you have at your disposal is quality level, and it isn’t just a simple yes / no toggle switch
@jdavidhobbs 14 hobbsontech.com
Some Quality Level Questions
• What elements that currently are unmanaged will be managed?
• How will links within the content be handled? How will redirects happen?
• In general, what HTML transformation needs to occur?
• How accurate does placement and tagging need to be?
• What backend structure should be in place? What default values will be used?
@jdavidhobbs 15 hobbsontech.com
Important Quality Tidbits
• Even if you go with the incumbent team / tool capabilities, you should ask yourself what level of quality you expect.
• Talking about quality early avoids expectation surprises when it’s too late
• When reviewing quality expectations, consider who is responsible for attaining that quality level and also who will test that this is done
Impact: Better quality as well as improved QA process
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Control Knob: Content Handling
Don’t just consider the movement of content – there are important steps before and after @jdavidhobbs 17 hobbsontech.com
Six Steps of Content Handling • Consider what needs to happen at each step • Look at cost of each step
Impact: Understanding manual effort earlier, reducing effort, and improving quality
@jdavidhobbs 18 hobbsontech.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/migrationhandbook/6289099459/ Also see Content Handling Process at bit.ly/contenthandling
Avoiding Frankenstein’s Monster
• Many orgs wind up with Frankenstein’s monster quickly after launch
• Product manage for ongoing quality, and consider the product management process during migration itself
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You Sit At The Controls!
• Raw heft • Distance • Quality • Content handling
@jdavidhobbs 20 hobbsontech.com
You Sit At The Controls!
• Raw heft • Distance • Quality • Content handling
Special Offer for CM Pros: 50% off Website Migration Handbook v2.0 Go to http://migrationhandbook.com/v2 and enter the code cm pros are cool to buy before the handbook is generally available
@jdavidhobbs 21 hobbsontech.com