ALA 259: Career and Content
In Issue No. 259 of A List Apart, for people who make websites:
The Cure for Content-Delay Syndrome
by Pepi Ronalds
Clients love to write copy. Well, they love to plan to write it, anyhow. On most web design projects, content is the last thing to be considered (and almost always the last thing to be delivered). We’ll spend hours, weeks, even months, doing user scenarios, site maps, wireframes, designs, schemas, and specifications—but content? It’s a disrespected line item in a schedule: “final content delivered.” Pepi Ronalds proposes a solution to this constant cause of project delays.
Why Did You Hire Me?
by Keith LaFerriere
Landing a new job or client is difficult in this economic climate. Undelivered contractual promises and work environment shortcomings can transform that challenge into a long-term nightmare. Keith LaFerriere shows how to get paid what you’re worth; how to fight for control of your projects using management tools corporate cultures respect (even if they don’t understand your work); and how to tell when it’s time to jump ship.
Tags: alistapart, webdesign, tips, content, writing, editors, editorial, control, career, client services
Filed under: A List Apart, Career, Design, business, client services, content, work, writing
Is there something wrong with me, or, does the A List Apart homepage still show issue 258?
Oliver: Refresh and look again?
Touché, my friend.
Au contraire, the touché is on me. Thanks for alerting me to the problem. A quirk in the works.
I just got hired to do some freelance projects for a local company. We did the paperwork and contract thing and I’ve been waiting all week for them to send me the first project.
Nothing yet… so I am asking myself “Why’d they hire me?”
Great article and great content as usual from ALA. :)
Jeffrey,
Thank you for the vehicle. I’m proud to be included.
Todd,
The article should resonate with just about anyone who’s had a job. I’m obviously quite appreciative for comments such as yours and I hope that not only “employees” read this, but that employers and hiring managers read it and think about situations that require change.
Great articles, I’ve had to deal with Content-Delay Syndrome on almost every site I’ve done to date. I can’t think of anything other than the one redesign and expansion where any of the content was ready before the lay out and back end code was done, and even on that one all the new expanded content was the last thing to get done.
The “Why did you hire me” article is also very timely since I’m looking at possibly getting two of my biggest contracts ever, which while not that big in the grand scheme of things, still are bigger than any site I’ve done to date. With all my work being internal sites behind a firewall as an employee of the company, the advice on handling freelance work in the first part was just the sort of thing I was looking for. Quick concise points based on years of experience I don’t yet have.
I just gave this presentation at Adaptive Path on Tuesday night:
http://www.slideshare.net/khalvorson/content-strategy-by-brain-traffic
It’s a high level, “Can’t-we-TALK?” argument for content strategy.
Web editing also gets the shaft regularly, but I find that throwing around the word “strategy” with the UX crowd tends to get us more attention earlier in the process.
Really, we just want someone at the table from day one who cares about the content – not the IDEA of the content, but the REALITY of it.
Typically, our first engagement with clients is coming in at the last minute when they’re in a content crisis (you know, like, always) and saving the day. Then, we introduce the concept of content strategy … and next time, they call us earlier.
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Re: Content Delay – This is the best article on ALA for quite some time; and that’s saying something. We are continually banging our heads against the content wall, but it’s *our* fault for not understanding that sometimes clients need more help than they say they do. Enter copywriters and editors, stage right.