Content Strategy & Governance

Content Strategy

Professional definition:
A structured approach to planning, creating, organizing, maintaining, and retiring learning content to support business goals.

Client-friendly explanation:
A plan for what training exists, why it exists, and how it’s managed over time.

Content Governance

Professional definition:
The framework that defines ownership, standards, review cycles, and decision-making for learning content.

Client-friendly explanation:
Rules for who owns training and how it stays accurate.

Content Lifecycle

Professional definition:
The stages content moves through from creation to maintenance to retirement.

Client-friendly explanation:
How training is created, updated, and eventually removed.

Content Owner

Professional definition:
The individual or role accountable for the accuracy, relevance, and upkeep of specific learning content.

Client-friendly explanation:
The person responsible for keeping a course up to date.

Subject Matter Expert (SME)

Professional definition:
An individual with deep knowledge of a specific process, role, or topic who contributes to content accuracy.

Client-friendly explanation:
The go-to person who knows the job inside and out.

Content Review Cycle

Professional definition:
A scheduled process for evaluating and updating content to ensure continued accuracy and relevance.

Client-friendly explanation:
A regular check to make sure training hasn’t gone stale.

Version Control

Professional definition:
The practice of managing and tracking changes to content over time to prevent confusion or outdated usage.

Client-friendly explanation:
Making sure people are using the latest version of training.

Content Standardization

Professional definition:
The use of consistent formats, templates, and naming conventions across learning materials.

Client-friendly explanation:
Keeping training consistent so it’s easy to understand and manage.

Content Taxonomy

Professional definition:
A structured classification system used to organize and categorize learning content.

Client-friendly explanation:
How training is grouped so people can find what they need.

Archiving

Professional definition:
The process of removing outdated or irrelevant content from active use while retaining it for reference or compliance.

Client-friendly explanation:
Cleaning up old training without permanently deleting it.

Content Reusability

Professional definition:
Designing content so components can be reused across multiple courses or programs.

Client-friendly explanation:
Building training once and using it in multiple places.

Content Sourcing

Professional definition:
The process of obtaining learning content from internal development, external vendors, or third-party libraries.

Client-friendly explanation:
Deciding whether to build training, buy it, or adapt existing content.

Curated Content

Professional definition:
Externally or internally sourced learning materials selected and organized to meet specific learning needs.

Client-friendly explanation:
Hand-picked training instead of creating everything from scratch.

Content Quality Standards

Professional definition:
Defined criteria used to evaluate the effectiveness, accuracy, and usability of learning content.

Client-friendly explanation:
What “good training” looks like for your organization.

Knowledge Management

Professional definition:
The systematic capture, organization, and sharing of institutional knowledge within an organization.

Client-friendly explanation:
Making sure important knowledge doesn’t live only in people’s heads.