Compelling Vision for a Large CMS Migration

Large site migrations are messy, and it's easy to lose one's way in the muck. One way to help keep everyone moving in the same (productive) direction, and to set things up for better success in the first place, is to define a compelling vision of what you want your site to be.

What is a Compelling Vision?

A compelling vision is a simple statement, in terms that all stakeholders can understand, of how the migration will result in a substantially improved site. This vision must be concrete enough to prioritize tasks / functionality / content during the migration, and also motivating enough to mobilize everyone (and tolerate the inevitable hiccups).

How do you know you have a compelling vision?

• Most stakeholders will say it's compelling. In other words:
  • It can't just benefit a small group of internal users (although potentially it could just satisfy a small group of customers!)
  • It will be understandable to all levels and functions within the organizations (which may mean it's written slightly different for different groups). This may be what differentiates the compelling vision from the business case, which may just be interesting to upper-level folks.
• The vision is for a substantial improvement from the current site.
• Translates to a prioritization for moving forward (so that you're always moving toward your priorities and not meaningless busy work).
• Justifies doing the migration.
• Short (a sentence to a page max).

Some stakeholders will not find it compelling, at least for large and complex migrations. Some will lose out. An obvious (although usually not honestly confronted) issue is some may lose some control that they currently have. For instance, a group may have been publishing their own sub-site when it does not make sense institutionally. Or someone that's been used to working in Dreamweaver and uploading the site may feel that they are severely limited (they may even declare that the system is lame, and their boss who may not know any better may believe them)

Using a Compelling Vision

Having a compelling vision that no one knows about or uses is not especially helpful. So what do you do with this inspirational statement once you have it?

• Broadcast the vision widely. Everyone should have the same understanding. Of course, hopefully folks were directly or indirectly involved in creating the vision, so it should not be a total surprise. That said, this vision should be repeated frequently (at the beginning of status reports, presentations, etc) to remind everyone what the migration is attempting to accomplish.
• As migration moves forward, refer to the compelling vision. This isn't just about communicating it (the previous point), but to anchor the ongoing work. For instance, when working on functionality or content, make sure that it moves toward the compelling vision. Or when deciding how to phase the migration, consider ensuring that each iteration inches forward toward satisfying the compelling vision.
• Prioritize based on the vision. When weighing how to proceed during the migration, try to justify based on the goals.
• Clearly articulate that downsides (see above).
• Set metrics to evaluate the migration based on the vision.

Some migrations' "compelling" vision goes something like: "You must move in or else, mandated by management". Obviously this doesn't deeply meet any of the checks of a good compelling vision, and those that it partially meets it distorts. For instance, if the only goal is to get content into the new system, then you'll wind up pushing for maximum progress on the percent of content items that have been migrated (which may mean moving in the 90% of easy but less essential content and setting up a train wreck for the 10% that requires more complex functionality and potential re-tagging of the initial 90% of content).

A more compelling vision would be something like "Authoritative source on large repository of information available via a variety of channels (web, RSS, API), different types (raw data, analysis), and selectable by topic pulling from a variety of back-end systems. Topic pages should be meaningful, consistent, and relevant to the public." This vision drives another type of migration, where you might start with those topic pages, iterating on the content and rules to improve the quality.

In summary, a compelling vision clearly articulates an end state for your site after your migration is complete, to help focus the team and project to success.

Have you had success in creating a compelling vision for your large site migration? I'd love to hear about it.