Developing a content model that informed the design of an in-house CMS
The problem
When I joined Lirio, I was storing, editing, and managing content in spreadsheets. Obviously this was not sustainable. Our team needed a way to manage thousands of unique content “items” (subject lines, headlines, body content, CTAs, etc.) so we could export client content libraries, tag content appropriately, manage revisions, and push updates with ease. Additionally, this model needed to account for the machine learning platform that delivered our content to users.
The project
I was tasked with creating a core content model that would then inform the design of an in-house content management system (CMS). The two main parts of this project included developing the content model and then co-designing the user experience of the CMS system alongside a product designer.
The Opportunities
Building a content model from scratch for a machine learning platform was a beast I had never tackled. The opportunities and challenges included:
Taxonomy work. Organizing, classifying, and defining relationships among content items so content could be reused across multiple platforms.
UX design for different use cases. Conducting user research about how internal teams needed to use the CMS and access content, identifying permission levels, and creating UX flows that served different user needs.
Information architecture Building simple and cohesive IA into the design of the CMS while accounting for multiple user needs and workflows.
Scaling content management. Understanding how the content model needed to account for new content types, subject matter, or potential use cases in the future.
Deep cross-functional collaboration. Working closely with engineers, product designers, UX researchers, and client-facing teams to understand how the content model/CMS work could improve their workflows.
The wins
Creating a content model for an in-house CMS dramatically increased productivity. We reduced time spent on content management workflows by 29%. The work also enabled 5 new user groups (engineering, sales, customer support, research, and marketing) to leverage content for their needs at will. Moreover, the organization of content allowed us to build 3 new products in 50% of the time normally required over the course of a quarter.
The “What ifs”
Looking back, what would I do differently? Content modeling is an extremely complex aspect of product design. While I was eager to prove that I could rise to the occasion, I wish I had engaged more experts or advocated for getting help from people in my discipline outside of the organization. This would have sped up the work, provided objective insights, and given me the support I needed to delegate certain areas of this project.