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Timeless Wisdom For DAM Productivity

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Chapter one:

DAMs tend to mirror the underlying organization

A good DAM structure is much more than an immaculately organized series of folders. It should wrap around your organization and take its shape. The unspoken preferences, habits, and standards already present in your organization show up in how people use the software.

In this way, DAMs adhere to what’s known as Conway’s Law: the idea that companies’ external communications reflect their internal organization. DAMs mirror the companies they serve. A disorganized company will quickly squander even the best DAM whereas a well-organized company will make doubly good use of it.

“Any organization that designs a system (defined broadly) will produce a design whose structure is a copy of the organization’s communication structure. “- Melvin E. Conway

DAM structure

Organization 1

DAM structure

Organization 2

DAM structure

Organization 3

This is all to say that technology usually can’t fix what is fundamentally a people and process problem. A DAM “scaffold” can only accentuate what already exists—for better or worse. If your company is messy, your DAM will likely be messy. That’s how a company can spend years launching and implementing a highly rated DAM only for it to slouch toward retirement as just another expensive archive.

The most effective DAM managers know this and recognize what they can and cannot control. In this guide, we’ll share the most effective wisdom available for doing what you can with what you have, so you can make everyone as productive as the company’s underlying structure will permit.

“Communication is such a huge part of DAM adoption. Setting the right expectations, engaging the right people, proper planning and communication, having alignment on goals. You can’t just implement it and force it on the organization. It needs to be crafted with the org in mind.”

Michael Waldron, Tenovos CMO