organizational behavior

You do.

I'm more convinced than ever that CMS experts aren't really in the driver's seat when defining the content management system. Experts in the field of content management are more or less observant passengers that are there to help you not get lost and to point out the significant landmarks on the way. This journey takes you to places while you the customer remain in the driver seat with all the privileges and responsibilities of being the driver.

Over the past few years I've realized that my work preference is to keep things as simple as possible. Sometimes when defining information systems keeping things simple works while other times the system is new and remains too complicated to define. Thanks to my reply in a productive rant against CMS by Laurence Hart I'm not only understanding my aversion to being called a CMS expert but also my philosophy and role in defining what is a CMS. This personal philosophy is developing...

Scott Abel convinced me a few years ago on my own blog that the definition of a CMS is never static and always changing. We’re chasing our own tail when we get nit picky in our definitions of a CMS. Somewhere in all the marketing that has been done for terms such as CMS, ECM, and WCM…we have forgotten the difference between information system and information technology.

This week, I spent a lot of time in various discussions on the negatives of Web content management systems (WCM). For all the excitement us CMS enthusiasts have for WCM, there is also associated frustration that threatens to dampen our spirit and kill the mission.

At my day job, we have a WCM that was developed internally and is starting to show its age. This week's conversations made apparent to me that we not only have technical issues with the WCM to resolve but also some significant organizational and leadership issues. Some of the folks involved with the project have started to hit a wall and there is conversation taking place that we should contract the work out. I think there is always benefit to having someone outside the organization looking at the problem with fresh eyes. I'm just not so sure such decisions to contract out the job should be born from frustration alone.

I also wonder what the contractor would think once they realize the expectation is not only for them to fix our WCM but also to fix various organizational issues as well. Most WCM analysts and implementers I talk to find it no fun to work with customers that not only want them to provide a product and content management solution but also to make business decisions the customers should be making for themselves. Let's also not forget that WCM vendors and implementers are just as frustrated that there are answers to questions that still allude them despite all their expertise and knowledge on the subject.

"All too often, however, committees don't work well at all -- resulting in a relentlessly short-term outlook, an inability to stick to strategic plans, a slapdash pursuit of the latest fad and a tendency to blame mistakes on somebody else."

-Jason Zweig, "The Intelligent Investor: How Group Decisions End Up Wrong-Footed", The Wall Street Journal, April 25-26, 2009