Content strategy survey results: part 3

By Richard July 19, 2011 content strategy, open project, survey, visual information

Since, many moons ago now, I conducted a survey of web content professionals I’ve gotten around to displaying the results for gender, age and location as well as revealing where we work and where our talents lie. Now, using a novel combination of see-saws, coloured blocks and gravity, I reveal which tasks content strategists are more likely to take on or, in some cases, get landed with. How do these results compare with the work you do?

The working lives of content strategists (continued)

Q7. To what extent do the following form part of your responsibilities and competencies?

For added clarity, percentage shares have been rounded up and approximated. Fans of extra decimal places should head on down to the table of data at the foot of this post.

Accessibility testing/guidelines

73% of respondents are responsible for very little or no accessibility testing or writing accessibility guides

Key findings
  • Of the combined 23% of respondents who indicated their responsibility for “A great deal” and “A fair amount” of accessibility testing and writing accessibility guidelines, only 62% indicated their competency in accessibility back in question 6
Comments
  • 4% of respondents skipped this question

Back-end development (e.g. PHP, ASP)

68% of respondents are not responsible for back-end development work

Key findings
  • Of the combined 29% of respondents who indicated their responsibility for “A great deal” of, “A fair amount” of and “Not very much” back-end development work, 60% were male
Comments
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

CMS requirements

60% of respondents are responsible for setting out CMS requirements

Comments
  • 1% of respondents skipped this question

Communication plans

74% of respondents are responsible for planning communication efforts

Comments
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Competitive analyses

62% of respondents are responsible for analysing their competitors

Comments
  • 1% of respondents skipped this question

Content auditing

Only 13% of respondents are responsible for very little or no content audit work

Comments
  • No respondents skipped this question

Content delivery plans (channels)

76% of respondents are responsible for planning content delivery efforts

Comments
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Content editing

Only 13% of respondents are responsible for very little or no content editing work

Comments
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Content reuse strategies

72% of respondents are responsible for planning content reuse efforts

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 1% of respondents skipped this question

Content sourcing plans

59% of respondents are responsible for planning content sourcing efforts

Comments
  • 3% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Content style guides

78% of respondents are responsible for putting together content style guides

Comments
  • 1% of respondents skipped this question

Content templating

74% of respondents are responsible for putting together content templates

Comments
  • 1% of respondents skipped this question

Copy/asset production

32% of respondents are responsible for very little or no copy or asset production work

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

CSS coding

Only 19% of respondents are responsible for coding in CSS

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 4% of respondents skipped this question

Editorial planning (calendars)

66% of respondents are responsible for planning editorial efforts

Comments
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Front-end development (e.g. JavaScript)

Only 11% of respondents are responsible for front-end development

Comments
  • 3% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Gap analyses

48% of respondents are responsible for conducting gap analyses

Comments
  • 3% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Graphic design

74% of respondents are responsible for very little or no graphic design work

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Information modelling

62% of respondents are responsible for very little or no information modelling work

Key findings
  • Of the combined 40% of respondents who answered “Don’t know” and “Not at all”, only 47% indicated their competency in information architecture back in question 6
Comments
  • 7% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Interface design

67% of respondents are responsible for very little or no interface design work

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Markup (HTML, XHTML)

66% of respondents are responsible for very little or no HTML or XHTML markup work

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Metadata recommendations

67% of respondents are responsible for making little or not much metadata recommendations

Comments
  • 1% of respondents skipped this question

Page layout

62% of respondents are responsible for laying out web pages

Comments
  • 1% of respondents skipped this question

Policies and guidelines (compiling)

63% of respondents are responsible for compiling little or not many policies and guidelines

Comments
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Research plans

62% of respondents are responsible for planning little or not much research efforts

Comments
  • 2% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Taxonomies

66% of respondents are responsible for little or not much taxonomy work

Comments
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Traffic analyses

67% of respondents are responsible for analysing little or not much visitor traffic

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Translation

82% of respondents are responsible for very little or no translation work

Key findings
  • Of the combined 13% of respondents who indicated they were responsible for “a great deal”, and “a fair amount” of translation work, 60% hailed from outside the United States.
Comments
  • 3% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Usability testing

54% of respondents are responsible for very little or no usability testing

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

User profiling

68% of respondents are responsible for little or not much user profiling work

Comments
  • 3% of respondents skipped this question

Wireframing

62% of respondents are responsible for little or not much wireframing work

Comments
  • 1% of respondents answered “Don’t know” to this question
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question

Workflow recommendations

64% of respondents are responsible for recommending workflow changes

Comments
  • 2% of respondents skipped this question
Data summary for the extent of each responsibility and competency area
Numeric and percentage shares for the extent of each responsibility and competency
Responsibility and competency A great deal A fair amount Not very much Not at all Don’t know
# % # % # % # % # %
Accessibility testing/guidelines 19 7.45 42 16.47 121 47.45 72 28.24 1 0.39
Back-end development (e.g. PHP, ASP) 8 3.1 11 4.26 58 22.48 179 69.38 2 0.78
CMS requirements 47 17.94 112 42.75 74 28.24 29 11.07 0 0
Communication plans 81 31.15 115 44.23 51 19.62 12 4.62 1 0.38
Competitive analyses 62 23.57 103 39.16 76 28.9 20 7.6 2 0.76
Content auditing 110 41.83 119 45.25 29 11.03 4 1.52 1 0.38
Content delivery plans (channels) 102 39.08 102 39.08 49 18.77 8 3.07 0 0
Content editing 155 59.62 70 26.92 30 11.54 5 1.92 0 0
Content reuse strategies 96 36.64 95 36.26 53 20.23 15 5.73 3 1.15
Content sourcing plans 68 26.56 87 33.98 63 24.61 29 11.33 9 3.52
Content style guides 104 40 104 40 42 16.15 10 3.85 0 0
Content templating 98 37.4 97 37.02 55 20.99 11 4.2 1 0.38
Copy/asset production 94 36.29 77 29.73 58 22.39 27 10.42 3 1.16
CSS coding 26 10.2 25 9.8 57 22.35 144 56.47 3 1.18
Editorial planning (calendars) 86 32.82 89 33.97 62 23.66 24 9.16 1 0.38
Front-end development (e.g. JavaScript) 14 5.43 17 6.59 48 18.6 172 66.67 7 2.71
Gap analyses 48 18.68 80 31.13 69 26.85 52 20.23 8 3.11
Graphic design 19 7.28 43 16.48 74 28.35 121 46.36 4 1.53
Information modelling 22 8.56 53 20.62 76 29.57 87 33.85 19 7.39
Interface design 30 11.58 48 18.53 76 29.34 102 39.38 3 1.16
Markup (HTML, XHTML) 39 15.12 39 15.12 71 27.52 103 39.92 6 2.33
Metadata recommendations 63 24.05 100 38.17 78 29.77 20 7.63 1 0.38
Page layout 71 27.1 93 35.5 74 28.24 24 9.16 0 0
Policies and guidelines (compiling) 61 23.37 90 34.48 77 29.5 31 11.88 2 0.77
Research plans 38 14.67 74 28.57 91 35.14 52 20.08 4 1.54
Taxonomies 43 16.54 95 36.54 79 30.38 42 16.15 1 0.38
Traffic analyses 35 13.51 86 33.2 94 36.29 42 16.22 2 0.77
Translation 8 3.07 27 10.34 70 26.82 148 56.7 8 3.07
Usability testing 37 14.12 78 29.77 99 37.79 46 17.56 2 0.76
User profiling 46 17.76 89 34.36 90 34.75 33 12.74 1 0.39
Wireframing 46 17.69 81 31.15 83 31.92 48 18.46 2 0.77
Workflow recommendations 75 28.85 96 36.92 63 24.23 26 10 0 0

What can you do with this data?

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