Carpenters, of all people, have a great saying, one that everyone responsible for a CMS project should tattoo on their forearm, or at least write on their office wall in big red letters:  “Measure twice, cut once.” It’s just four simple words, but oh-so-rich in wisdom and rife with pragmatism.

Precision matters to carpenters. So their little saying about measuring and cutting clicks inside their brain every time they’re about to rip into a new sheet of plywood or saw a 2x4. It reminds them: you have one shot at getting it right, or it’ll cost you time and money.

And, just like it’s impossible to fix a botched cut (well, unless you can afford an endless supply of plywood, or if right angles don’t matter in the house you’re building) it’s similarly hard to straighten out a CMS initiative whose first few “cuts” are ill-measured or hastily accomplished.

Every web project manager has had one misadventure to know: long days/sleepless nights, plus an added tariff of missing your timeline, killing your budget, shedding your internal credibility and executive support --- and for some, shedding your job.

We continue to advocate that, to do CMS right, you need at the very least a vision, a plan, and a well-defined process  --remember, measure twice, cut once -- to deliver a successful CMS outcome. Early steps of a project may seem mundane or easy to bypass for efficiency’s sake – say, astutely defining visitor personas, or properly defining content taxonomy.  But keep in mind: these are your 2x4’s and plywood, so saw them at your peril.