As any industry develops, statements are made that become well known and accepted. The problem is they are not always true. Picking the facts from fiction can be difficult. This is particularly true in web development and now, content management development. Most of these myths are based on ignorance; that's why it's important to understand the nature of what we are dealing with so we can see through the lies.
Content management can ignore the rules of traditional project management.
This was the mistake that the cowboys of the early web era made, and it was a costly mistake paid for by clients who didn't know any better, many of whom paid ridiculous amounts of money for very little. Unfortunately, the same has happened in content management for similar reasons. The basic principles of understanding the project objective, properly capturing requirements, scoping the project, and establishing clear roles and responsibilities were too easily forgotten simply because it wasn't a normal project. Regardless of the fact that content management projects have a number of differences, the basics still apply. The question is how to apply them appropriately.
Content managed sites are just like a static website.
I have to admit, I only discovered this myth by believing it myself and then learning the hard way. There is a linear mindset in most websites; a page is a page, that's it. It might be linked to and from different pages, but a website is made up of a series of pages and functions. Content managed sites are different; pages are constructed dynamically from content elements, which can appear on many parts of the sites in different ways. It's a different mindset altogether that takes time to appreciate and understand. A content managed site is not just another website; it's a web publishing system, an application in its own right.
It's easy, it's only a website, it can't be THAT expensive!
This is the hardest myth of all to convince people is wrong. Websites appear simple, a site created using a content management system should appear simple to the user, but that doesn't mean that it's simple to achieve. The best designs are often simple, but making them that simple takes great skill. That's what many people fail to appreciate when it comes to content management, it looks and sounds easy. Just install the software and away we go. That's like saying, just install Word and you can write a book. The system is just the tool, a means to an end.
In the case of content management systems, the end can be the automation of a business process that used to be handled manually. A static website just presented information; a content management system can be a business tool that allows a business to interact with its customers in a more effective and efficient manner. Whenever business processes are involved, great care and attention needs to be taken in defining exactly how that business process will be automated via a website. Getting this wrong can mean the business could end up loosing revenue and customers rather than increasing revenue and gaining more customers.
It takes a lot of thought and planning to deliver a solution that works well and looks simple.
Software developers are great at implementing content management systems.
It's a bit like asking a fighter pilot to fly a helicopter, sure, he might know how to fly but a helicopter isn't quite the same as a jet fighter. It also doesn't mean that a fighter pilot couldn't learn and adapt to flying helicopters but it would require training and understanding as to how helicopters work as opposed to jet fighters. The point is making sure the right people are playing the right roles on the project. Just because a content management system is a piece of software, it doesn't mean it isn't specialized and therefore needs a specialized approach.