While in college at the semi-prestigious Stetson University in 2001, I took a course that showed us how to create a custom shopping cart application. In doing so I had a thought: “If I can use a database so someone can enter product information and have it displayed on the web, I should be able to do that with web site content as well.” After being invited to work under a frat brothers small web company, I coined the name Custom Online Database Management Systems, or CODBMS for short. Well in that 3 year time frame, I wasn’t the only one that had these ideas. Many people did. Now there are about 10 or so big name Content Management Systems (I still prefer CODBMS…) out there that are widely used.
The philosophy is simple from a business standpoint. Managers say, I can pay a little more and in return, my staff and I get control over my web page and its contents. No having to contact the “webmaster” (that name is for a different blog) or firm and get a quote, send them an e-mail with what I want changed, and having them get it wrong. This makes sense when most changes to websites take less than 15 minutes to do.
There is an inherent problem with this though. That is what I call job role competency. The idea is similar to business core competence: You business focuses on a set list of defined roles and is competent at executing them. It is competent because it does it every day. If you have a random member of the staff be trained in updating the content on their site, its wonderful, generally, until the second time they have to do this, typically, several months after they attempted this in the first place.
The problem is it isn’t part of a person’s every day job task to update the web site. While this is normally not a complex operation, it can lead to several issues.
-The update being completed in a less than satisfactory way – Employee excuse #1 – “Its not like I do this every day. I can barely remember my password to that damn thing. Its been forever since I trained on how to do this… maybe I need more training?”
-The update being performed in an untimely manor – Employee excuse #2 – “It just takes way too long, I couldn’t call someone else because I was busy doing…, and I really couldn’t remember what I was supposed to do.”
-The employee calling the CMS implementer asking for help – Employee excuse #3 – Generally a combination of #1 and #2 with a pinch of salt and frustration.
So am I suggesting that you not get a CMS… NO!!!
First of all I get more money when I install them into your site. Secondly, they aren’t bad. The major problem arises with their use when they aren’t used on a regular basis. So if you are constantly adding or modifying your site, that is when you really need one. If it is just for the occasional website update, save the time and frustration and forget about the CMS…you’ve got better things to do.
