Introduction
I’m fairly new to the game of creating Salesforce content. Others are way more experienced and create so much better stuff than I do. Nevertheless, I found it helpful to have a process in place. Like with everything, if I do something twice, I standardize it. The same rule was applied to my content production process.
The goal of my content production process is to produce good quality content in a reliable, repeatable fashion while having fun doing. This post is based on the process which works for me, I’m sure others come up with a way that works better for them.
Not every content is created the exact same way. For some content I apply higher standards, for other I sometimes skip certain steps.
Table of Contents
- 1. Theory, Idea, Concept
- 2. Research
- 3. Pre-Alpha: First Drafts
- 4. Closed-Beta: Final Feedback
- 5. Full release
1. Theory, Idea, Concept
Via questions, ideas, feedback, or other means I get ideas for content. The ideas come from unexpected places at unexpected times. As soon as I have an idea I write it in my “Ideas” backlog, usually just a headline and where I got the idea from.
Most ideas never make it out of the idea backlog. But whenever I have some spare time I go to my Idea-Backlog and start working on an idea.
2. Research
Most of my posts need some kind of research in form of reading or interviewing people. This phase can be between a few hours and weeks. Again, not all topics which make it into the research phase make it out. Most topics turn out to be not as interesting as I thought initially.
I collect the notes of my research phase usually in a Word document. This document becomes the basis for the content.
3. Pre-Alpha: First Drafts
After I finish research, I create a series of “Alpha” versions of my content. This is often not more than a rough structure and some core ideas. I use that early-stage content to discuss it with at least two experts and one or more random people. This is done most often in 1-on-1 meetings or via comments on a Word document.
During this process, I usually remove 30% of the content and add a lot of clarifications.
The experts are important because they make sure I don’t publish completely wrong stuff.
The random person feedback is also very, very helpful. This person makes sure my content is as understandable as possible. These random people are truly random, usually people I have a call with that week anyway. I’ll just ask for quick feedback.
4. Closed-Beta: Final Feedback
I create and publish/present the content to a smaller group like a local user group or publish in forums like the Architect Trailblazers Community.
These smaller releases provide me with valuable feedback which I use to improve the content. I repeat that until I feel my content is ready.
5. Full release
Once all previous release stages are done the day of the full release is come.
The feedback I get after the full release is not added any more to the content itself but is again the starting point for the next piece of content.