I am a big fan of imploring content folks to walk across the office and get to know their web developers. The more we understand the complementary disciplines in our field and seek out smart partnerships, the better off our web experiences (and our users) will be. (Our post last year about the relationship between content strategy and web development got at some of these ideas.)
But, as with most things, achieving those smart partnerships is easier said than done. Developers and content professionals come from different neighborhoods in the same town, but sometimes even the distance between a few blocks can be challenging to bridge.
Lucky for us, content strategist Nicole Jones has published a how-to for content folks looking to work with developers. She breaks down the steps, including learning the lingo, securing face time, creating content templates and even learning a bit of code on your own. She even recommends using IRC! Hardcore.
Jones, who recently started her new job as a content strategist at developer-heavy Facebook, will surely be putting her own tips to use soon.
You have to understand developers, talk to them, collaborate, and prepare your work for code. After all, how your product is built affects how it works.
Source: Working on Content with Developers by Nicole Jones, Swell Content, Apr. 10, 2012
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