David Dylan Thomas

David Dylan Thomas studies human behavior to develop better content strategies. His cognitive-bias hacks help you tame counter-productive thought processes to create less biased content experiences.

David and I talked about:

his evolution from filmmaker to content strategist

the introduction of content strategy as a discipline at Think Company

how awareness and knowledge of cognitive biases can inform content strategy

the origins of his Cognitive Bias podcast

cognitive biases that content strategists need to be on alert for: the framing effect, for example

how insidious and persistent cognitive biases are: "Even when you're aware of a bias, you'll probably still do it."

how to slow down your thinking to have a fighting chance at eliminating bias in your work

how to apply the scientific process to design and content strategy

how the "Red Team, Blue Team" method can identify problems with your content strategy, before you ship it

the importance of evidence-based design

the benefits of a good content strategy (internal process improvements, etc.)

the percentage of UX work that is done for internal processes vs. for end users - about 50:50 in his experience

the three rules of productive discourse and how they can improve your strategy work

how content strategy hacks like the "eight-up exercise" can build genuine buy-in from collaborators

an innovative resume-blinding process to remove bias from your hiring process

David's Bio

David Dylan Thomas has developed digital strategies for major clients in entertainment, healthcare, publishing, finance, and retail. He serves as Principal, Content Strategy at Think Company, helps organize Content Strategy Philly, and teaches content strategy for Girl Develop It Philly. The founder of Content Camp, he previously consulted at the Corzo Center for the Creative Economy and is the creator, director, and co-producer of Developing Philly, a web series about the rise of the Philadelphia tech community. He is the creator and host of the Cognitive Bias Podcast and has given standing-room-only presentations at TEDNYC, SXSW Interactive, and the Wharton Web Conference on content strategy and emerging content trends.

Video

Here's the video version of our conversation:

https://youtu.be/ZtT62UBykXY

Transcript

Larry:

Hi everyone. Welcome to episode number 27 of the content strategy interviews podcast. I'm really psyched today to have with us David Dylan Thomas. Dave is principal of content strategy at Think Company in Philadelphia. And I'll have Dave tell us a little bit more about his background.

David:

Sure. So, I got into content strategy in a very weird way, though I don't know that there's a normal way to get into content strategy, but the content part, I guess, came from being a film maker, going back to when I was in high school and just editing together movies with two VHS recorders. Very old school. And then around 2000, I started getting into distance education. Working for Johns Hopkins University's Center of Talent and Youth program. So, college level courses delivered on CD-ROM, no less, to junior high and high school kids who tested really well for writing. I kind of fell in love with the web then, because it could connect people from all over the world. Then the content strategy part really started when I got to Philadelphia and I was working as an online editor in chief at a publishing company. Basically, the online presence of four or five different print magazines and trying to figure out what is going to stay in print, how to move this stuff from print to web, what's going to be web exclusive. All of this strategizing around content. So even though my title wasn't content strategy,