A recent episode of the WP Tavern podcast featured K. Adam White of Human Made discussing one of the thorniest problems in enterprise WordPress work: migrating large volumes of content from legacy content management systems into the block editor.
White, whose agency Human Made specializes in high-scale WordPress builds, described how organizations moving off platforms like Sitecore face a tricky balance. Content teams want the flexibility to keep editing pages the way they always have, but businesses also need consistency across thousands of pages and brand guidelines that hold up at scale.
Patterns as the Bridge
According to White, block patterns and core blocks have matured enough to serve as a practical bridge between old and new systems. Instead of manually rebuilding every page, Human Made builds bespoke tooling that maps legacy layouts onto patterns, preserving design intent while giving editors a native WordPress experience going forward.
This approach lets teams retain what White called an “artisanal” level of care in migrating complex layouts, while still achieving the efficiency enterprises need when dealing with large content libraries.
AI’s Growing Role
The conversation also touched on how artificial intelligence is increasingly used during migrations, not just to move content but to audit it. AI tools can help identify inconsistent formatting, outdated structures, or content that no longer fits current standards, then assist in transforming it into cleaner block markup.
Permissions and Workflow Hurdles
White pointed to real-world friction points that come up during these transitions, including permissions structures that do not map cleanly from one CMS to another, and workflow limitations that can slow editorial teams down after launch. Guiding clients through these technical and organizational changes, he said, is as much a part of Human Made’s job as the migration work itself.
For site owners considering a similar move, the episode is a reminder that a successful migration to the block editor at scale requires more than a content dump. It requires tooling, planning, and often a rethink of editorial workflows to make the most of what WordPress now offers.