On December 13th, we held our first CMS Summit. We conducted a survey to gain some internal insights on this topic. When I designed this survey, I aimed for the answers to give us some oversight that we currently lack - at least in a structured manner. To fully benefit from this, without oversimplifying nuanced answers, I chose scaled questions, divided into experience and opinion questions. Both are valuable, but our relationship to them as individuals and as an organization may differ. Here are the questions I asked:
Questions about Experience; These questions were answered on a scale from "never" to "always", 1 - 10:
- "In your daily work, how much are you affected by CMS in general?"
- "How many clients request CMS capabilities in some form?"
- "How often do you think using a CMS would be a good fit for a project?"
- "Which CMS have you developed with/for before?"
Questions about Opinions; These questions were answered on a scale from "disagree" to "agree":
- "The choice of CMS impacts the quality of the project's output."
- "The choice of CMS should be based on the needs of the project/client."
- "The choice of CMS affects my individual DX."
The Answers
Without further ado, let's see how we answered these:
In your daily work, how much are you affected by CMS in general?
This was one of the initial questions. It aims to find out how much of our regular activities are influenced by any form of CMS. From what we can see, this topic does affect the vast majority of us regularly, in various ways.
How many clients request CMS capabilities in some form?
From this, we can conclude that most clients have this topic on their minds. We specifically asked about "CMS capabilities" because while some clients clearly have specific CMS in mind, others simply express a desire to change some content on their website. For that, we don't necessarily need to rely on a full CMS.
How often do you think using a CMS would be a good fit for a project?
These answers reveal some benefits of using a CMS. They not only provide utility but can also reduce complexity by limiting architectural or programmatic choices from the start. This can sometimes speed up the development process!
Here we specifically asked about CMS, not "CMS capabilities". To gain more insight, it would have been wise to differentiate between these aspects. How do we know if a project is a good fit for a CMS? But we didn't address that question this time.
What CMS have you developed with/for before?
We don't all have the same level of experience with every CMS. The choice of CMS is a significant variable for us. Let's look at some answers regarding CMS choice:
The choice of CMS impacts the quality of the project's output.
Here we can see a consensus on this question. We all agree that the quality of the output is influenced by the CMS itself, with varying opinions on how strongly it does so. If it does, shouldn't the CMS be primarily determined by the project itself?
The choice of CMS should be based on the needs of the project/client.
For this question, we didn't distinguish between client needs and project needs, which can often differ or even conflict. Our clients may have specific needs that might clash with the project's needs. In such cases, the CMS has the challenging task of bridging this gap. Success with a CMS is heavily influenced by the capabilities of the individuals using it, and we believe the choice of CMS should reflect this.
The choice of CMS affects my individual DX (Developer Experience)
An interesting follow-up question would have been whether individual DX should also influence the choice of CMS. And what would be more important - the needs of the client/project, or the developers?
This is a captivating question because the client/developer relationship is often shaped by technological constraints and/or freedoms. It would be intriguing to find out where we see more success and higher quality output: by adapting the choice of CMS to our individual needs or to the needs of the project/client?
To Conclude
We're eager to adapt and revisit these questions after some time. As experiences evolve, ecosystems shift, and more projects and clients refine our understanding of CMS in these processes, so will our relationship with CMS.
We learned some key takeaways during the CMS Summit and continue to process them:
- Most clients want CMS capabilities.
- CMS can sometimes simplify our lives.
- Not all CMS are created equal, so...
- ... the choice of CMS needs careful consideration.
