A few years back, I actually recommended to different academic departments in our institution that they build out content around this question in relation to life (day-in-the-life) as a medical student, resident, fellow, nurse in training, and surprise! It does really well.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n So, in lieu of my sometimes so-deep-we\u2019re-gasping-for-air posts<\/a>, I\u2019ll just stick to something simple: Day in the life!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Background<\/strong>: I\u2019m\ncoming up on year five of being resident web content manager at University of\nUtah Health. The journey has taken me through many sidewinders and close to\nsome fascinating dead drops, but through it to date, I\u2019ve kept these skills\nsharp and picked up some new ones: <\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point in time, my team manages roughly 30K webpages\nacross five (give or take) subdomains. At any time we are each (there are three\nof us and an SEO\/digital analyst) managing 15 clients personally in a\nparticular week, but that client list rotates. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The work we do is assist in structuring content governance (as we can\u2019t manage all the pages personally), information architecture, new website set ups, and then conduct more in-depth content work for department priorities (that hopefully align with business goals), such as writing, auditing, and optimizing various webpages\/content types<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Every morning when I get in and turn on my computer to check\nmy email inbox, I make sure my water bottle is filled up. I also usually say hi\nto anyone else on the floor or around me. I may not have time or be in the\nmindset to start a conversation, but individually acknowledging co-workers by\nname as I see them throughout the day is really important to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As I review any emails that came in after I left the\nprevious day, I use this as a way to orient myself to the day\u2019s work load. I\nalso double check the day\u2019s calendar. The best days are mornings with just a\nfew newsletters and few to no client responses. That means I can begin work on\nsomething substantive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Then there are the days that I have meetings right away. I\ntry to keep meetings first thing to a minimum\u2014and our culture begets a\nlottttttt of meetings\u2014but I really need those first few organizational minutes\nturning on computer and reviewing my calendar for the day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ll answer any truly important emails or emails with quick-Q answers. Now I\u2019ll take time to review my task list from yesterday. These are items to follow up on from that I didn\u2019t answer yet or small maintenance Qs that I want to follow up on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If I have a high priority project, however, I\u2019ll start work on that in the morning, as usually I\u2019m a bit sharper mentally at this time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n High priority projects could include writing or editing\nsomething, QA\u2019ing a website, continuing a content audit, keyword research, work\nin the content management system updating CTA (call to action) links that\naren\u2019t working or have changed for some reason. Anything I have scheduled to\ncomplete in the sprint* or for a meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Depending on the day, I\u2019ll either be in meetings or I might\nbe taking care of any of the following five levels of work types:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meetings may involve various clients or stakeholders. Often\nif I have to travel to campus to meet with a client (our office is located in an\nadministrative area further from campus, which is, however, better for lunch dine-ins\nor drive-throughs!), I\u2019ll usually have to schedule two to three weeks out as\ntravel time adds 40 minutes on to the meeting time and requires planning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are also interdisciplinary team meetings for priority\nand department projects as well as phone meetings\/check ins for ongoing client\nprojects. Then there are administrative meetings, like sprint planning meetings\nor project check-ins where we may be working with the devs, UX, or UI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lunch is usually on the fly. I have long given up on packing\na lunch as I never remember it. So, sometimes I\u2019ll order in (I claim credit\nhere for identifying a particular sandwich delivery service-to-my-desk option\nthat the entire building uses). If I go out, it will usually be for a\nnetworking lunch with colleagues. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If I have a less intensive week with projects or deadlines, I use lunch as an excuse to keep up with friends in the department or do genuine networking. This also helps me remember to take some time for a break as even if I\u2019m dug in to a project; my productivity is better if I take a breather.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s the same after lunch, except I stop answering emails.\nAnything that arrives in the email inbox after two or three gets pushed into\nthe to-do task list that I answer on the following day. This helps me finish a\nproject that needs doing or remain focused on a task. Around three I usually\nhit a slump period, so I may walk around (in an ideal world) or stop to chat\nwith co-workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I also may *not-ashamed-to-admit* have hit up the caffeine machine\nfor some Dewy goodness. (I do have a balance though \u2013 more water than other\nbeverages goes in throughout the day.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Towards the end of the day I usually get a second wind, but I may not be as clear headed, so I might work on optimizing a piece, keyword research, editing, reporting<\/a>, but generally projects that are less cognitively demanding. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When I\u2019m ready to wrap up, I\u2019ll check what\u2019s on the calendar for the next day. I rarely, rarely check or answer emails at home, so unless someone texts me, I\u2019m off for rest and relaxation (AKA: cat feeding, grooming, and entertaining\u2026<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n And that\u2019s a wrap! I really value the physical separation of\nwork and home life. It helps me keep burn out at bay. Obviously there is no way\nto completely keep the two separate, but some boundaries always help in the\npursuit of happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, as they say in Zombieland**, I try to take time to enjoy\nthe little things. <\/p>\n\n\n\n *We use sprints in this case to denote bi-monthly cadences rather than in the true Scrum sense. The reason for this is to give us reporting periods. As a content practitioner, I find Kanban to be a bit more our style, but there are particular periods, like when working with developers, that sprints fit a work load.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n I also find the terminology and concept of sprints a great way to communicate deadlines and work load to clients. If I indicate to them that we have a workload queue and give them some sense of measure to it, they are far likelier to have balanced expectations on project delivery.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n **Random, I know, but I recently saw the reboot, Zombieland: Double Tap, and nearly cried I laughed so hard. Little things\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My department has recently been conducting interviews for new marketing specialists and even a content specialist. One of the smartest questions I think a candidate can ask is: What\u2019s a typical day like for you in this job? A few years back, I actually recommended to different academic departments in our institution that they build … Continue reading Day in the Life of a Content Manager<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,23],"tags":[27,12],"class_list":["post-701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-content","category-management","tag-worklife","tag-writing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":709,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701\/revisions\/709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Screen-Shot-2019-11-03-at-11.09.03-AM.png?fit=660%2C482&ssl=1\")
First Things First: Pacify the Inbox (9\u20139:30 am)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Calendar](\"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/monday.jpg?fit=660%2C949&ssl=1\")
Mid-Morning<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Lunch Time! Or Mid-Day Networking (11:30 am\u20131 pm)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
The Dismount (5:30-6 pm)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Bitmoji](\"http:\/\/jenbrassjenkins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/days-end.jpg\")