SPIEGEL Verlag
TYPO3 Coaching
The majority of the Spiegel Group's websites have been converted to TYPO3. To ensure that SPIEGEL IT can optimally manage and further develop the many websites, coaching was initiated by the sitegeist TYPO3 experts.
The SPIEGEL Group
The SPIEGEL Group is one of the most respected media companies in Germany. In addition to SPIEGEL ONLINE and the news magazine DER SPIEGEL, the publishing group includes a large number of other journalistic print and digital products.
The publishing house is currently undergoing the biggest structural change in the company's history to date: the two large editorial teams are becoming a joint editorial team for online and print. At the same time, the SPIEGEL Group is adopting a new uniform brand image.
Based on the associated design system, sitegeist has been supporting SPIEGEL-Verlag with the conception and implementation of a series of corporate websites since 2018. Content Management System is the company of choice here TYPO3. The publisher's strategic goal is to be able to develop all of its smaller websites using a standardized platform. This should save resources in the development of functionalities, the maintenance of the infrastructure and the training of editors. In the long term, it should be possible to take over all these activities in-house. However, external service providers will continue to be used for special technical requirements or staff shortages.
Coaching TYPO3 Teams at SPIEGEL
The first step was to get to know the SPIEGEL IT employees responsible for TYPO3 and to develop a coaching roadmap:
- Overview of the TYPO3 universe
- Joint discussion and development of a standardized, but at the same time flexibly expandable platform based on TYPO3
- Communication of the concepts behind TYPO3 based on specific problems
- Conception, requirements analysis and time planning for the first joint project
- Iterative development from coaching appointment to coaching appointment
SPIEGEL-Verlag benefited from the many years of extensive project experience of sitegeist. We did not impart theoretical knowledge, but developed pragmatic solutions for specific use cases. In doing so, we drew heavily on best practices from the TYPO3 community as well as from our own project pool. We weighed up the risks together and came up with viable solutions together with the SPIEGEL employees. Different collaboration methods were used depending on the task at hand:
- Live coding by the coach
- Live coding by a SPIEGEL employee
- Pair programming
- Code reviews via merge requests
- Coworking
Depending on the specialist area, various sitegeist experts were also brought in for coaching, so that the SPIEGEL employees gained an insight into Frontend workflows and server administration in addition to pure TYPO3 knowledge.
An elementary part of the coaching was working with isolated Frontend components and the Living Styleguide. In close cooperation with the SPIEGEL employees, we further developed the workflows and solutions already used at sitegeist and created a new tool for TYPO3 that can be used to build Living Styleguides. Significant parts of the development were sponsored by SPIEGEL-Verlag. This Fluid Styleguide has now been published by sitegeist as an open source extension and can also be used by others in the TYPO3 community:
Highlights
- Standardized, modern, flexible and expandable platform with TYPO3
- Existing pages (e.g. SPIEGEL Group)
- new projects (e.g. SPIEGEL Ed)
- Coordination with design team
- Coordination with infrastructure team
- Coordination with internal customers (e.g. editor training)
- Components and Living Styleguide
- Goal: automation, standardization
- Focus on the essentials: Target groups and content
Beyond TYPO3: Infrastructure & Strategic Support
However, the coaching with sitegeist went far beyond the topic of TYPO3. Among other things, we worked collaboratively with employees from the SPIEGEL infrastructure team to create a cloud-based hosting solution for the TYPO3 projects. The coaching was therefore not a one-way street: the knowledge transfer took place in both directions.
Together with SPIEGEL-Verlag, we took a critical look at existing structures and processes and tried to optimize them. We provided support both in the design of the websites and in operational project management, whether by attending customer meetings or setting up project plans and milestones. We were also in close contact with the SPIEGEL design team when it came to translating the new brand image into concrete Frontend components and the living style guide.
Results & Outlook
Thanks to the intensive collaboration in the coaching sessions and regular strategy meetings, SPIEGEL-Verlag and sitegeist are real partners at eye level. Pioneering decisions for future projects are often discussed and decided jointly. In the projects, we are in the same boat and work together to find the best and most pragmatic solution.
Now that we have done a lot of groundwork and successfully completed two projects, we believe we are well equipped to tackle future projects on the platform we have created. We look forward to many more joint projects with SPIEGEL-Verlag.
