The Web Project Guide

Corey and Deane discuss the people and rules that help run a website after launch. Then, David Hobbs, author of Website Product Management: Keeping Focused During Change, joins to talk about transferring a site from a project to a product — what that means to keep the site going after launch, where it most often fails, and how to streamline requests and set reasonable expectations for the future of the site.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 24: Maintain and Improve.

Show Notes:

• David Hobbs Consulting

• Website Product Management: Keeping Focused During Change, by David Hobbs

• Website Migration Handbook, by David Hobbs

• Change Request Flowchart

Corey and Deane talk about the idea of a web operations framework.

Then, Meghan Casey, content strategist and author of The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right, joins to talk about content governance and ongoing maintenance — how humans are nearly always the problem (but not the humans you might think), the things you can do to plan for post-launch content, and how to deromanticize the bit launch in favor of content maintenance.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Show Notes:

• Meghan Casey (Do Better Content)
• The Content Strategy Toolkit: Methods, Guidelines, and Templates for Getting Content Right by Meghan Casey
• Managing Chaos, by Lisa Welchman
• A Project Guide to UX Design, by Russ Unger and Carolyn Chandler
• Designing content for headless, omnichannel, and personalisation — Session Series from Omnichannel X (Noz Urbina, Carrie Hane, Jeff Eaton, Cruce Saunders, Meghan Casey)
• "Talking to your boss (and grandboss) about content strategy" Amanda Costello, Confab

Corey and Deane talk about the concept of the "Nails List."

Then, Bob Davidson, Director of Development at Blend Interactive, joins to talk about how to get your site ready for launch, what makes a good QA practitioner, the role of quality assurance and testing in the development process, and how to prep the site so it doesn't fall over when exposed to the real world. We also spend a lot of time talking up Jenna Bonn, Blend's QA Practice Manager.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

• Bob Davidson, Director of Development
• Bob Davidson on Optimizely World
• Coding with Bob - YouTube
• A Checklist Manifesto, by Atul Gawande
• Jenna Bonn, QA Practice Manager
• "The Happy Path"
• "Devs Watching the QA Process" - YouTube
• The Inmates Are Running the Asylum, by Alan Cooper

Corey and Deane discuss an old migration project.

Then, Carrie Hane, Principal Digital Strategist at Sanity and co-author of Designing Connected Content, joins to talk about preparing content for site migration — how good content modeling helps set up a site for future success, the psychological side of migrations, and a few horror stories from Carrie and Deane. Carrie graciously insists this is not the most depressing episode yet.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 21: Populate and Migrate the Content.

Show Notes:

• Designing Connected Content: Plan and Model Digital Products for Today and Tomorrow, by Carrie Hane and Mike Atherton
• Sanity
• Tanzen Consulting Blog
• "Words, Links, and Centrality: Evaluating 17 Years of Gadgetopia Content" - Deane Barker
• "Content Migration Isn't Like Moving Day" - David Hobbs
• Real World Content Modeling: A Field Guide to CMS Features and Architecture, by Deane Barker
• Content Design, by Sarah Winters

Corey and Deane discuss a high-level philosophy of back-end development.

Then, David Knipe, Vice President of Product at Optimizely, joins to discuss back-end development — how developers and project stakeholders work together to make decisions, the difference (and balance) between technical perfection and audience needs, and the reasons why AI will help, but not take over, back-end development. Deane also equates developers to lumberjacks.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 20: Implement the Back-end Functionality.

Show Notes:

• David Knipe's Blog — david-tec.com
• Optimizely
• "Empathy: Content Strategy's Hidden Deliverable" - CS Forum 2012
• "Yak Shaving Day" — Ren and Stimpy

Corey and Deane talk about how front-end development has evolved past the early days, when it was largely seen as a simple layer on top of more complex back-end development, into something that's as complicated and important as ever.

Then, Ethan Marcotte, author of Responsive Web Design and Partner at Autogram, joins to discuss front-end development and how the world has impacted how front-end design is treated and approached, from the sheer number of devices each design must account for to the impact of those living with permanent and temporary disabilities. We also joke about whether Deane actually "invented" responsive web design. (He didn't.)

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 19: Implement the Design.

Show Notes:

• Ethan Marcotte
• Autogram
• Responsive Web Design
• Responsive Design: Patterns and Principles
• "Responsive Web Design" — Ethan Marcotte, A List Apart
• "A Dao of Web Design" — John Allsopp, A List Apart
• Chris Coyier
• "The WebAIM Million" - WebAIM
• Frank Chimero
• "The Boston Globe" — Responsive Web Design Podcast
• Dive into Accessibility — Mark Pilgrim
• "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." — Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Corey and Deane discuss what clients should look for when selecting an implementation partner.

Then, Tony Byrne, co-author of The Right Way to Select Technology and President of Real Story Group, joins to talk through the implementation partner selection process, including common mistakes, the value of domain knowledge, and how most projects should focus on technology first.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 18: Select an Integration Partner.

Show Notes:

• Tony Byrne (@TonyByrne)
• The Right Way to Select Technology
• Real Story Group
• Episode 16: Select a Content Management System (w/Cathy McKnight)

Corey asks Deane a brutally honest question: as non-developers, why should we care about hosting at all?

Then, Elias Lundmark, product manager for cloud hosting at Optimizely, joins us to talk about website hosting in common terms — cloud versus on-premises, the reality (and politics) of "five 9s," and the things you need to understand before choosing a hosting provider or vendor offering.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 17: Plan for Hosting.

Show Notes:

• Elias Lundmark — Optimizely World
• Optimizely Hosting

Corey and Deane talk about a Donald Rumsfeld quote, and about the concept of "unknown unknowns."

Then, Cathy McKnight, Chief Problem Solver and lead analyst for The Content Advisory, joins us to talk about selecting a content management system — the process for choosing a system, how a CMS selection analyst can help keep vendors honest, and what to do if you're selecting on your own.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 16: Select a Content Management System.

Show Notes:

• Uncharted Journeys
• The Content Advisory
• Articles by Cathy McKnight from The Content Advisory

Corey and Deane discuss the three parts of selecting a CMS: requirements, tool, and development team.

Then, Joe Kepley, chief technical officer at Blend Interactive, joins us to discuss the world of translating design and IA into code within a content management system — including balancing groundbreaking design with realistic engineering — and the need to tie high-level project goals into the real nuts and bolts of code.

The Web Project Guide (webproject.guide) podcast is sponsored by Blend Interactive, a web strategy, design, and development firm dedicated to guiding teams through complicated web and content problems, from content strategy and design to CMS implementation and support.

Read Chapter 15: Determine System Requirements.

Show Notes:

• Joe Kepley (@joekepley)
• Blend Interactive