Empowering IBM technical content creators to easily publish demos, tutorials, and other sales assets

In a nutshell

On December 6, 2018, we launched a robust content management system and documentation for IBM DTE authors. This replaced the previous content creation process that we quickly built out in January 2018 and that worked well enough to get DTE assets flowing onto the public internet all year.

We completed this work in about 5 months, using an agile process with an emphasis on visibility and focus. We asked for an OM and had the pleasure of getting to work with Rick Buglio. Together, we planned work items, estimated timelines, prioritized our backlog, and met regularly with stakeholders.

Problem statement

The existing content contribution process is complex and time-consuming. It could take weeks for a DTE author to get an asset created, reviewed, and published. The process required multiple tools and authors encountered many bottlenecks along the way.

Desired outcomes

• Single place to contribute DTE content, have it reviewed, and approve it to be published
• Less technical contribution process, with no requirement to use GitHub or markdown files
• Have the flexibility to display content on any number of websites via API
• Ability to contribute content in other languages

My contributions

• Content modeling for CMS
• Overhauled review workflow
• Ran 3 pilots to conduct evaluative research and incorporated user feedback ahead of launch
• Onboarded all authors and reviewers, as well as developing self-service onboarding for future new users
• Developed documentation and published it on a new website

I ran a three-phase pilot to conduct evaluative research and integrate user feedback before the GA launch. Users had a LOT of feedback!

My team was able to implement many of my design recommendations from the pilot research, which helped lead to a very successful launch.

Solution

A single content management system and streamlined contribution process for DTE authors.

The content management system is a one-stop place for DTE authors to contribute content, get it reviewed, and have it published.

There is also a robust set of documentation to help new users ramp up with the CMS.

Where the project is now

The DTE CMS is in active use by IBM DTE authors and their collaborators. The DTE CMS docs are available to IBMers at ibm.biz/dte-cms-docs (IBM confidential).

As of December 17, 2018, the CMS included:

• 81 products (as of 12/17 on ibm-dte.mybluemix.net)
• 140 demo environments in the CMS (of those, 124 are published)
• 76 product tours in the CMS (of those, 65 are published)
• 77 tutorials in the CMS (of those, 71 are published)
• 260 videos in the CMS (of those, 232 are published)
• 51 active users (have logged in at least once in the last 2 months)