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George Ross

With more than a dozen years of experience leading enterprise web projects, George has seen the good, bad and ugly when it comes to CMS deployments. George brings an objective eye and a healthy dose of cynicism in evaluating the role of technology in the enterprise.

Is Your CMS Project a Dead Monkey?

Attempting to do a precise time and cost estimate at the very beginning of a CMS project can be a difficult if not a bad thing.  These type of estimates can come back to bite you, and they can bite hard.
At the heart of the problem statement is that someone—a client, a boss, a procurement [...]

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Speaker quotes from a CMS conference

Last week I spoke at the Content Management Strategies/DITA North America Conference 2009, but I also took the time to attend as many sessions as I could.   In the sessions I attended I gathered some great quotes from the other speakers that really hit home and wanted to share them.
 On CMS Selection: 

"It seems the [...]

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Get your CMS vendor off their script!

In the last month I have talked to a lot of people at the beginning of a CMS selection process.  For the most part these are relatively informal discussions to provide high level guidance and some help about next steps.  I typically get these calls after the first round of product demos and people are [...]

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Professional Services: Do you know what you are really buying?

Professional services are the other half of any CMS implementation, but could the services company you selected pass the same scrutiny your CMS endured during its selection process?  From some of the implementations I have walked into I would say the answer would be a resounding NO.   For every CMS platforms out there, there [...]

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What’s happening with mid-market CMS vendors in 2009?

In general, the Mythbusters are keen on the mid-market web content management space – always looking for those smart solutions that are feature rich, flexible and cost effective all in one (a tall order I know).
We’ve seen CMS success stories with organizations that can grow into (and with) a mid-market solution. Or conversely, enterprise organizations [...]

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Should you throw out the CMS or just the implementation?

Most organizations we talk to are often looking at their second or third CMS implementation, so by no means are they strangers to the promise of web content management.  But almost half the time the specific CMS has nothing to do with problems that are prompting them to start looking for a new one.  In these [...]

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Why switch to a commercial CMS product?

Over the years I have run across an amazing variety of custom and consultingware CMS platforms installed with clients.  One question I get asked almost everytime is should they switch to a commerical CMS product.  Now I know there is an appeal of having something tailor made to your organization, but does that really outweigh the potential issues [...]

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The CMS Myth is alive and well in Oregon

Like it's northwest brother Bigfoot it appears that the CMS myth is alive and well and my job as a mythbuster if far from over.  Last week I spoke to a standing room only crowd about the CMS Myth for a Software Association of Oregon event.  The presentation was followed by a lively Q&A session with several of the [...]

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Does Size Matter with CMS Vendors?

With all the factors to consider when selecting a CMS, how much should the size of the CMS vendor matter?  If you are considering open source options, does it matter how large a community supports it?  In this Mythbuster’s opinion, CMS vendor size really does matter. There are some relevant questions you should ask yourself and [...]

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CMS Myth at Alfresco Road Show

Today I attended the Alfreso road show here in Dallas.  This was a small (about 40 people) half day presentation intended to show off Alfresco and how it has been implemented at a number of larger clients.  Alfresco and their partners did a great job presenting and answering any and all questions. 
The one case study [...]

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