Building high quality WCM sites - part 1

I've helped build a few WCM sites the part couple of years, and for each project learned more about what it takes to a) be predictive, b) be interactive and lastly c) produce high quality sites. To me those three are the key things to focus on build WCM sites (or any SharePoint solution for that matter, but it's especially true for WCM sites). And not supprisingly - its not the technical tasks and skills that prove difficult -- often times its more about the process and meeting the right expectations.

I thought that I would spend some time in a small series to post about findings, experiences and also share some of the tooling that help support build high quality sites.

Be Predictive -- So this is very most a process thing. Build the vision and scope based on requirements, and take the time to do A PROPER Logical Design and Information Architecture analysis.

Be interactive -- NEVER do waterfall projects on SharePoint. It is so much more valuable to iterate and have interaction on smaller releases. SharePoint customization is a great fit for this.

Produce high quality -- Do not underestimate the value of investing in proper release and build management in a SharePoint project. For any larger project it will be a lifesaver in the end. Releasing and building WCM artifacts in a larger team of developers and UX designers can be a challenging task, and form my experience, it cannot be done without incorporating and build test content.

Look out for the next posts where I'll dive into each of these...