Talk given at Front-end London on the 28th May 2015 Digital projects involve a great deal of choices around products and technologies, with a content management system often being integral. Using this scenario, we’ll explore certain pitfalls around selecting technology for the wrong reasons and discuss important questions that should be considered before choices are made.

1. SALLY JENKINSON · @sjenkinson · Front-end London · 28th May 2015
Choosing the “right” cms
(or other things)

2. Hello!
SALLY JENKINSON
Freelance technical consultant & solutions architect
!
@sjenkinson
sally@recordssoundthesame.com
recordssoundthesame.com

3. @sjenkinson

4. TODO
@sjenkinson

5. Choosing YOUR
TECHNOLOGY

10. a long time ago
in a galaxy far, far away*
*Kent

11. @sjenkinson

12. @sjenkinson

13. @sjenkinson

14. @sjenkinson
Tip 1: don’t put yourself into maintenance hell

15. Disclaimer

16. http://goo.gl/3dU4Hf @sjenkinson

17. @sjenkinson

18. @sjenkinson

19. @sjenkinson

20. Tip 2: Understanding needs

21. As a new developer, I am easily swayed by the
opinions of people I respect, or at least view as
more experienced. […]
!
One person stated that I don’t need to worry
about making open source contributions and I
went “Yay, cool, less pressure”, another seemed
to state that I am of little worth if I don’t
contribute “Fuck, okay, I guess I better get on
that then”. I wish programmers were more
aware of the things they are saying and the
attitudes they express, and how that might
effect a young padawan like me.
Charlotte Spencer
http://goo.gl/Uc2tSl
@sjenkinson
TIP 3: Your choices can influence others

22. THE agency should
always decide

23. @sjenkinson
TIP 4: What’s your motivation?

24. TIP 4: choose solutions for the right reasons

25. THE product can do
everything

26. @sjenkinson
TIP 5: ask the right questions

27. everyone else is
using it

28. @sjenkinson
TIP 6: everyone’s different

29. Is bespoke
best?

31. Back in 2008 (when we started Bearded),
one of our differentiators was that we
built every site on a CMS. At the time,
many agencies had not-insignificant
revenue streams derived from updating
their clients’ site content on their behalf.
!
But we didn’t want to do that work, and
our clients didn’t want to pay for it.
Building their site on a CMS and training
them to use it was a natural solution. It
solved both of our problems, recurring
revenue be damned! It gave our clients
power that they wanted and needed.
Matt GRiffin
http://goo.gl/XPM5kK
@sjenkinson

32. TIP 7: choices can have a business impact

33. Not just for
Developers/designers
TIP 7: you are not your users

34. How do I choose
the right thing?

35. @sjenkinson
?

36. gov.uk/service-manual/making-software/choosing-technology
“You can change your mind”
“Start with capabilities” “Cost”
“Involve everyone”“Testing and deployment”
“Lock-in”
“New vs existing software”
“Commercial or open source”
“Security”

37. Features
Open source
Costs
KNOCK-ON
IMPACTS
Complexity
APPROPRIATENESS
User experience/
experience of
users
Constraints/
flexibility
Product
confidence
LEVEL OF
CUSTOMISATION
NEEDED
fit with your
overall
architecture
migration
vendor support
@sjenkinson

38. TIP 8: explain your choices
@sjenkinson

39. “It depends”
- EveryONE, ever
@sjenkinson

40. @sjenkinson

41. Thank you
Sally Jenkinson
recordssoundthesame.com
sally@recordssoundthesame.com · @sjenkinson