Good communication has always been about understanding your audience — shaping your message to match how they think, what they need, and what they’ll do with it. Information typing, the “IT” in the technical documentation standard DITA, codifies that practice into a design discipline that organizes content around its function rather than its form. Rob […]
Digital Practice Insights (formerly Content Strategy Insights)
Edifying conversations with digital practitioners of all types: content, design, engineering, product, etc. (formerly Content Strategy Insights and Content + AI - now in one channel).
Hosted by Larry Swanson.
Complete list of podcast episodes
Subscribe in your favorite podcast app, and watch video versions of the interviews at YouTube.
Melanie Seibert: Managing Content Design Teams – Episode 214
Few people have advanced the craft and management of content design as much as Melanie Seibert. She’s been designing content experiences and managing design teams for more than 25 years. She recently captured the best of her insights in a new book, “Managing Content Design Teams.” We talked about: her work as a content design […]
Manny Silva: Docs as Tests for Resilient Technical Documentation – Episode 213
Technical documentation of software products is critical work that needs to accurately inform end users, regardless of how quickly and substantially the software might be changing. Manny Silva has created the Docs as Tests, a system that integrates a set of well-developed practices and a collection of engineering tooling, to help technical communicators streamline and […]
Jeff Eaton: Content Observability in Complex Systems – Episode 212
Modern content systems are complex and abstract, presenting problems for managers who want to understand how their content is performing. At Autogram, Jeff Eaton and Karen McGrane have developed a content observability framework to address this complexity. Their framework evaluates the composition, quality, health, and effectiveness of content programs to help enterprises measure the return […]
Jeffrey A. “jam” McGuire: The Value Map Content Framework – Episode 211
Aligning and orchestrating product content for complex business use cases is much easier when you have a framework to structure and guide your efforts. Jeffrey A. “jam” McGuire and his business partner developed the “value map” framework to structure and organize product marketing information. This helps them to align internal stakeholders on strategy and messaging […]
Greg Dunlap: Designing Content Authoring Experiences – Episode 210
Experience design for readers of online content gets a lot of attention. The authors who create the content and get it ready for publication aren’t as well served. In his new book, Designing Content Authoring Experiences, Greg Dunlap addresses this situation, showing content-system creators how to design better interfaces, streamline workflows, and otherwise improve the […]
Sarah Johnson: Moving Content Forward with “Content-first Design” – Episode 209
Sarah Johnson asks, “If a digital experience is a conversation with a user, how can you have that conversation if you don’t know what the words are?” Sarah addresses the crucial role of content in her new book, “Content-first Design,” tackling both the pragmatic aspects of a content-first approach to design as well as how […]
Leah Buley and Joe Natoli: The UX Team of One – Episode 208
Both UX and content professionals routinely find themselves on teams where they are the sole practitioner of their craft. Leah Buley and Joe Natoli recently revised “The UX Team of One” (use code ELLESS15 at checkout to get 15% off through then end of February) to share their pragmatic take on solo UX practice, deftly […]
Rob Punselie: Content Jobs to Be Done – Episode 207
A truly customer-focused content strategy is the cornerstone of good customer experiences. Over the past 25 years, Rob Punselie has developed and honed content discovery research methods based on time-tested usability knowledge and the Jobs to Be Done product-development framework. This approach has helped him consistently deliver to his clients effective and durable content and […]
Alan J. Porter: Storytelling for Enterprise Content Strategy – Episode 206
Storytelling is the oldest content practice. Alan Porter helps enterprises and content practitioners improve their story craft. Alan shows how better stories both convey the unique benefits of a business to their customers and improve cross-functional communication within organizations. We talked about: Content Pool, the enterprise content services organization he runs and its recent focus […]