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Our Process

Five phases. Continuous improvement. Inspectable artifacts at every step. We move linearly from Discovery to Enablement, then settle into a continuous improvement loop — every phase ends with a signed-off deliverable, not a status update.

  1. 01

    Discovery

    Stakeholder interviews & content audit

    Surface the constraints the architecture has to obey. Interview producers and consumers, audit existing content, map use cases the system must support.

  2. 02

    Architecture

    Taxonomy & DITA model design

    Design schema, taxonomy, metadata strategy, and reuse model against this client's constraints — not against textbook structured-content principles.

  3. 03

    Migration

    Batch conversion & cleanup

    Recover reusable assets from legacy content; retire or rewrite what isn't. QA harness designed before the first batch runs.

  4. 04

    Implementation

    CCMS config & stylesheet dev

    Wire the architecture into the toolchain — CCMS, publishing pipeline, integration points. Deliver the smallest implementation that runs.

  5. 05

    Enablement

    Training & handover

    Train the team, document the runbook, transfer ownership cleanly. 30/60/90-day check-ins after handover.

Phase by phase

What each phase produces, how long it usually takes, when we know it's done, and how often you'll see progress.

  1. 01

    Discovery

    We don't move past Discovery until the constraints that would otherwise sink a content model have surfaced. That includes interviewing the people who will produce, edit, and consume the content, auditing what exists today, and mapping the use cases the system has to support. The goal isn't to gather requirements; it's to find the constraints the architecture has to obey.

    Example profile

    Deliverables
    Stakeholder interview synthesis · Content inventory and audit · Use-case map · Constraints register
    Typical duration
    2–4 weeks, depending on content corpus size and the number of stakeholder groups
    Exit criteria
    Constraints register signed off; use cases mapped to capabilities; no surfaced blocker remains unresolved
    Client touchpoints
    Weekly working session with content owners; one full readout at end of phase with stakeholder review
  2. 02

    Architecture

    The architecture is the leverage point. Schema design, taxonomy, metadata strategy, and reuse decisions made here determine what's possible in every downstream phase. We design against the use cases Discovery surfaced, not against generic structured-content principles. The architecture has to work for this client's content, not for a textbook example of DITA.

    Example profile

    Deliverables
    Information model (DITA specialization, schema, subject scheme) · Taxonomy and metadata strategy · Reuse model · Publishing target spec
    Typical duration
    3–6 weeks
    Exit criteria
    Schema validates against a representative content sample; metadata fields enumerated; reuse boundaries explicit; client team can author a topic in the model and have it validate
    Client touchpoints
    Weekly schema review with editorial leads; one mid-phase prototyping checkpoint with sample topic walkthrough
  3. 03

    Migration

    Migration is recovery, not transcription. The conversion engine identifies reusable assets in legacy content and lifts them into the target schema; what isn't recoverable gets retired or rewritten with intent. We design the QA harness before the first batch runs — failing migrations fail because the validation strategy was an afterthought.

    Example profile

    Deliverables
    QA harness · Conversion pipeline · Migration batches (typically iterative) · Per-batch recovery report
    Typical duration
    4–12 weeks, proportional to corpus size; the first batch often spans 2–3 weeks alone
    Exit criteria
    QA harness passes on a representative sample; recovery rate target met; rejected content categorized for retirement or rewrite
    Client touchpoints
    Weekly migration status reports with batch metrics; per-batch review of QA failures
  4. 04

    Implementation

    Implementation makes the architecture operational across the toolchain — CCMS configuration, publishing pipelines, integration points. The discipline at this phase is to resist scope expansion: every feature added during implementation is a feature the team has to maintain afterward. We deliver the smallest implementation that runs.

    Example profile

    Deliverables
    CCMS configuration · Publishing pipeline (containerized DITA-OT or equivalent) · Integration points (API connectors, webhooks) · CI/CD wiring · System documentation
    Typical duration
    6–10 weeks
    Exit criteria
    End-to-end publish from CCMS to all target outputs; production push tested; rollback procedure validated
    Client touchpoints
    Biweekly sprint reviews with engineering and content stakeholders; UAT with author cohort before go-live
  5. 05

    Enablement

    Enablement runs through every phase, not at the end. Discovery teaches the practitioner how the program works. Architecture documentation becomes the team's runbook. Migration training transitions authors. CCMS rollout becomes the operating manual. The handover isn't a phase — it's a discipline applied throughout.

    Example profile

    Deliverables
    Author training materials · Schema runbook · Troubleshooting guide · Ongoing-support playbook (escalation paths, common issues)
    Typical duration
    Runs through every prior phase; concentrated 3–4 weeks at the close of Implementation for formal training
    Exit criteria
    Authors produce valid topics independently; CCMS operations team resolves 80%+ of operational tasks without Extense; runbook captures known issues
    Client touchpoints
    Continuous from Phase 1; formal training events at end of Implementation; 30/60/90-day check-ins post-handover

Typical client outcomes

Aggregate improvements measured across recent engagements. Numbers reflect the methodology applied — not best-case projections.

  • 60% Faster publishing
  • 72% Translation savings
  • 45% Content reuse rate
  • 90% Fewer support tickets

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