out of the silos and into the farm with marli mesibov

Marli Mesibov

November 18, 2014

Out of the Silos and Into the Farm

Boston-based

content strategist

Marli Mesibov

@marsinthestars

UX specialist

What does

collaboration

do for us?

@marsinthestars

Successful projects are

run by effective,

collaborative teams.

art

classes

mathletes

choir

speech and

debate

studyingtrack and field

Getting through school

UX

development

marketing

SEO

visual design

UIinteraction design

Driving the customer experience

Your design doesn’t fit my content.

Your content doesn’t fit my

design!

Development didn’t consider

us at all!!It must be his fault.

Let’s go get him!

The customer experience conveyor belt

Rese

arch

Fu

nctio

nality

Co

nte

nt

Visu

al d

esig

n

Develo

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en

t

@marsinthestars

A conveyor belt

process results in a

fragmented UX.

The triangle of success

collaboration

Agile

Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4

Waterfall methodology

Agile methodology

functionality content design development

Iterations: 1 2 3 4 5

Individuals and interactions over processes

and tools

Working software over comprehensive

documentation

Customer collaboration over contract

negotiation

Responding to change over following a plan

That is, while there is value in the items on the

right, we value the items on the left more

-The Agile Manifesto

The 12 Agile Principles

1. Our highest priority is to satisfy the

customer through early and continuous

delivery of valuable software.

2. Welcome changing requirements, even late

in development. Agile processes harness

change for the customer's competitive

advantage.

The 12 Agile Principles

3. Deliver working software frequently, from a

couple of weeks to a couple of months with a

preference to the shorter timescale.

4. Business people and developers must work

together daily throughout the project.

The 12 Agile Principles

5. Build projects around motivated individuals;

give them the environment and support they

need, and trust them to get the job done.

6. The most efficient and effective method of

conveying information to and within a

development team is face-to-face

conversation.

The 12 Agile Principles

7. Working software is the primary measure of

progress.

8. Agile processes promote sustainable

development. The sponsors, developers, and

users should be able to maintain a constant

pace indefinitely.

The 12 Agile Principles

9. Continuous attention to technical excellence

and good design enhances agility.

10. Simplicity – the art of maximizing the

amount of work not done – is essential.

The 12 Agile Principles

11. The best architectures, requirements, and

designs emerge from self-organizing teams.

12. At regular intervals, the team reflects on

how to become more effective, then tunes and

adjusts its behavior accordingly.

Collaboration

Collaboration in 3 easy steps

1. Keep your eye on the prize

2. Set expectations

3. Magic words: “I don’t know”

Keep your eye on the prize

“Different people like to work in

different ways. To get the most out

of your team, you have to respect

and value that diversity.”

– Deborah Holstein,

Marketing Profs

Set expectations

Plan for success:

Set a plan in advance

Touch base often

Write down what is said

“Being busy does not always mean

real work.” – Thomas Edison

Magic words: “I don’t know”

What makes someone a valuable team member?

Experience

Knowledge

Creativity

Subject-area expertise

UX

“The best UX design seems to be coming from designers implementing a ‘release early, release often’ mind set… It favors responsiveness and nimbleness… and for most enterprises [is] incredibly difficult to do.”

- Jon Lax

We will build intuitive user experiences.

We will develop usable guidelines and strategies.

We will adapt to agile methodology.

We will increase cross-team collaboration.

-my content strategy manifesto

The 5 Content Strategy Principles

1. Conduct research before the first sprint

begins.

2. Create a minimum viable content strategy.

Prioritize the most effective and valuable

elements.

The 5 Content Strategy Principles

3. Prepare for spontaneity.

4. Take advantage of iterations to try new

things.

5. Try out pair programming.

“When you decided to become a designer, you accepted the role of gatekeeper with it. You are responsible for what you put into the world, and for its effects upon that world.”

- Michael Montiero

Thank you!

@marsinthestars