Preston So: The Case for a Universal CMS – Episode 197

Content Strategy Insights

Preston So The CMS landscape has evolved a lot over the past couple of decades. Recently, headless CMSs and decoupled content architectures have appeared to address the need for omnichannel content experiences. While their separation of the management of content from its presentation offers many benefits, these systems have left many users dissatisfied and disillusioned. Preston So argues that the solution to this situation is universal CMS. We talked about: the unique place in the software world that CMSs occupy how the need for cross-functional collaboration in a CMS drives the need for something like a universal CMS how the focus of headless CMSs on the developer experience has affected the end-to-end experience in content architectures his thoughts on the need for "a single UI to rule them all" the trends that have driven the move to decoupled architectures and headless CMSs the disconnect he sees between the need to address omnichannel content delivery and the expectations of content authors and editors the need in decoupled architectures for some level of "recoupling" of functionality so that "people understand what they're doing" the challenges of managing content for omnichannel delivery the need to orchestrate content activities across functional teams the resistance in the market to complex architectures that require a variety of solutions the importance of constraining the number of mental models that people using CMSs have to hold in their heads the Universal CMS Summit that his company is hosting August 5 in Montreal Preston's bio Preston So (he/they) is a product executive with over 25 years in software, 17 years in content technologies, and 9 years leading product, design, engineering, and developer relations functions at organizations such as Oracle, Acquia, dotCMS, Time Inc., and Gatsby. He is Vice President, Product at dotCMS and the author of Immersive Content and Usability (A Book Apart, 2023), Gatsby: The Definitive Guide (O'Reilly, 2021), Voice Content and Usability (A Book Apart, 2021), and Decoupled Drupal in Practice (Apress, 2018). Named “the smartest guy in the field” by Content Strategy for Mobile author Karen McGrane in 2024 and “probably the smartest person working in this industry right now” by Web Content Management author Deane Barker in 2020, Preston is a globally recognized authority on the intersections of content, design, and code. He is an editor at A List Apart and former top-read columnist at CMSWire. Preston is a frequent presenter with 17 years of speaking engagements spanning over 50 conferences, including SXSW Interactive (2017, 2017 encore, 2018) and An Event Apart (2020–22) and keynotes in three languages. He is based in New York City, where he can often be found immersing himself in languages that are endangered or underserved. Connect with Preston online Preston.So LinkedIn Video Here’s the video version of our conversation: https://youtu.be/XZXBBrWtFFg Podcast intro transcript This is the Content Strategy Insights podcast, episode number 197. The tech world is in constant flux. And content management technology is no exception. Over the past decade or so, we've seen the arrival of headless CMSs and the introduction of decoupled content architectures. While that decoupling appeals to developers and offers new content-delivery opportunities, its abstractness and complexity have left many CMS users disillusioned and disoriented. Preston So argues that the solution to this situation is a universal CMS. Interview transcript Larry: Hi, everyone. Welcome to episode number 197 of the Content Strategy Insights podcast. I am really delighted today to welcome back to the show Preston So. Preston's my first three-time guest. And pro-tip for anybody trying to do that, just write a bunch of books and do interesting things and you also can be on three times. Preston is currently the VP of Product at dotCMS,