Seth Gottleib asks: are content managers ready for personalization? To quote: It is easy to get excited by this functionality. But then you think of the difficulty your average organization has with even the basic aspects of content production and you wonder if they ready for these tools. How can ...
Monthly Archives: December 2009
December 23, 2009
Are content managers ready for personalization?
Categorised under: Content management
December 23, 2009
Why your business needs an intranet
Kim Komando has written an article about why your business needs an intranet. To quote: One thing I like about running a small company is the ability to act quickly. Decisions are not bogged down by layers of management. In fact, most moves are made with the interested parties meeting ...
Categorised under: Intranets
Tags: business case, Intranets
December 22, 2009
The culture of collaboration and what it means for your intranet
Maish Nichani writes about the culture of collaboration, and its relevance when planning projects. To quote: Many organisations are waking up to the fact that collaboration is a key piece of the intranet puzzle. I have spoken to many such people in charge of collaboration in their organisations and what ...
Categorised under: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0
Tags: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
December 22, 2009
So you want to be a user researcher?
Patrick Kennedy provides a useful introduction on learning user research techniques. To quote: While I teach whole workshops on the subject of user research, in essence it really is very simple. User research is about understanding an audience; what they need, what they want, what they think, how they interact ...
Categorised under: Usability & user-centered design
Tags: user research
December 22, 2009
Future proofing intranet governance
Jane McConnell writes about future proofing intranet governance. To quote: If you do not already have a cross-organizational ownership model in place, move in that direction. The Global Intranet Trends for 2010 showed that 14 % of the nearly 300 participating organization have this model. In Stage 3 (more mature ...
Categorised under: Intranets
Tags: governance, Intranets
December 21, 2009
The problem with social (the term)
Thomas Vander Wal has written about the problems with the word social (as in social media, social tools). To quote: I have run into the connotation of social as a term that has associative connotations to the hippy movement (the slide image Andrew uses with his presentations), socialist (non-capatalist or ...
Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0
Tags: social media, social software
December 19, 2009
When “global & local” becomes “common & specific”
Jane McConnell, who has often talked about "global & local", now introduces "common & specific". To quote: How do you handle global and local content on global portal? A question that has as many answers as intranets! However, in my work with many complex, global organizations, I have developed 8 ...
Categorised under: Intranets
Tags: governance, Intranets, strategy
December 18, 2009
Intranet 360 checklist
Jane McConnell has written about running an intranet 360 degree evaluation. To quote: When you organize workshops to explore new directions for the intranet, or when you choose people to participate in a user’s panel, you need to include a range of ages and seniority. The views will be complementary. ...
Categorised under: Intranets
Tags: governance, Intranets, strategy
December 17, 2009
An elevator pitch for you and your intranet
It's an old web tale: if you work at Apple's headquarters, One Infinite Loop in Cupertino, California, you may find yourself in the lift one day with Steve Jobs, Apple's billionaire CEO. It's reputedly one of Jobs's tendencies to say to any unlucky lift passenger, 'What do you do for ...
Categorised under: Intranets
Tags: business case, elevator pitch, Intranets, marketing
December 17, 2009
The three clicks myth
When designing intranets or websites, it is helpful to have some rules of thumb to follow when making decisions. Over time, many of these have become elevated into principles or rules, widely used throughout the industry. The best-known is the 'three clicks rule', which says that all content should be no ...
Categorised under: Intranets, James' articles, Usability & user-centered design
Tags: Information architecture, Intranets, myths, usability, websites
December 17, 2009
How to empower authors
In most organisations authors are vital to the effectiveness of the intranet. Despite this, authors are often given the task of updating content with little or no thought to their skills, suitability or desire. Intranet teams generally have little influence over who becomes an author. As intranets mature and become ...
Categorised under: Intranets
Tags: authoring, communities of practice, governance, Intranets
December 16, 2009
Gold winner: ChTPZ (Russia)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="ChTPZ's 'Mobile Employee' service is an easy-to-use, custom-designed SMS system that's housed on the intranet and tightly integrated with the organisation's corporate directory."] Post 10 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into ...
Categorised under: intranet innovation awards
December 14, 2009
Participation vs. adoption
Christy Schoon writes about the difference between participation and adoption when it comes to enterprise 2.0. To quote: These days in the Enterprise 2.0 world everyone talks about adoption. Adoption is important if you are going to see business results (more to come in future blog post about adoption ...
Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0
Tags: Enterprise 2.0
December 14, 2009
Gold winner: COWI (Denmark)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="COWI's project sites have enabled faster and more effective working across teams and departments, while maintaining compliance with the organisation's strict methodology."] Post 9 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's ...
Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0, intranet innovation awards, Intranets
December 11, 2009
Tree testing: a quick way to evaluate your IA
Dave Obrien has posted details on tree testing, a mechanism for evaluating a draft information architecture. To quote: As we started experimenting with “card-based classification” on paper, it became clear that, while the technique was simple, it was tedious to create the cards on paper, recruit participants, record the results ...
Categorised under: Information architecture, Usability & user-centered design
Tags: card-based classification evaluation, tree testing, usability testing
December 11, 2009
Are big CMS vendors hungry enough?
I'm working with a state government agency to help them select a CMS at the moment. The product is for their intranet, as part of a wholesale site redevelopment (much needed!). They have an incumbent provider of enterprise solutions, one of the large vendors, who they'd like to evaluate alongside other ...
Categorised under: Content management
December 11, 2009
Sketchy wireframes
Aaron Travis writes about the benefits of making wireframes look rough. To quote: When it comes to user interface documentation, wireframes have long been the tool of choice. However, using traditional diagramming tools like Visio, OmniGraffle, and InDesign, most wireframes today look the same as their ancestors did from a ...
Categorised under: Usability & user-centered design
Tags: design, Information architecture, usability, wireframes
December 10, 2009
A summary of user research methods
Patrick Kennedy has posted a great summary of user research methods. To quote: There are many user research methods one can use, and there are even more variations and names for them. But regardless of what name they’re given, methods should be chosen that are suitable for the situation at ...
Categorised under: Usability & user-centered design
Tags: user research, user-centred design
December 10, 2009
iGoogle-like intranet start page to the rescue
Stimmt have shared several Swiss case studies on iGoogle-like intranet start pages. To quote: Just as can be seen with iGoogle, the intranet Start page features several tabs containing widgets (or ‘gadgets’, to use the iGoogle term). The tabs are pre-populated with a general set of useful widgets. The user ...
Categorised under: Intranets
Tags: Intranets, personalisation, portals
December 10, 2009
Gold winner: American Electric Power (USA)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="599" caption="AEP's 'Now Ideas' helped the company identify $8 million in savings in five months."] Post 8 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's Intranet Innovation Award winners. American Electric Power’s ...
Categorised under: intranet innovation awards
December 9, 2009
Get ready for intranet 3.0
Sarah Bates writes about the concept of intranet 3.0. To quote: It seems that intranets--and the related online communities within them--are being viewed by senior management as drivers of efficiency and productivity, and as "cultural glue," during turbulent times. Let's get rid of the people handling travel booking and automate ...
Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets
December 8, 2009
Future scenario: starting a new job
Another year, another job. After 18 months in the last job, and a few months looking for work, Sarah is starting into her new role. The firm seems sounder than the last one, and its consumer products are red hot right ...
Categorised under: Enterprise 2.0, Future intranet, Information management, Intranets
December 8, 2009
5 future intranet trends
Jane McConnell shares a video a presentation on her 5 future intranet trends. To quote: The organizers of Brazilian Intranet Portal Award 2009 event kindly posted the video I made for them on YouTube and I'd like to share it with you. I talk about the 5 future intranet trends.
Categorised under: Intranets
December 7, 2009
Gold winner: NYK Group (UK)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="599" caption="NYK's wiki News Room provided a cost-effective, global and user-friendly solution to sharing and distributing Group news. Screenshot courtesy of NYK."] Post 7 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's ...
Categorised under: intranet innovation awards, Intranets
Tags: intranet innovation awards, Intranets, wikis
December 2, 2009
Returning to Europe in March 2010
Now that I've got my last international trip done for 2009, I can look forward to a good break over Christmas. Planning the next trip to Europe in March 2010 already beckons however. At this point, I know I'll be starting with keynoting the IntraTeam conference in Denmark on March 2-4, ...
Categorised under: Conferences & presentations
December 2, 2009
Catherine Grenfell on successful intranet managers
Jane McConnell has conducted a podcast interview with our very own Catherine Grenfell on successful intranet managers. To quote: When dealing with the legacy of intranet initiatives that have failed, Catherine says: "You can't undo the past; you can influence the future." Establishing communication channels and setting expectation when everyone ...
Categorised under: Intranets
December 1, 2009
Slidecast of the 2009 Intranet Innovation Award winners
Last week we held an awards ceremony at the KMWorld conference in San Jose. In addition, I gave a 50 minute presentation that shared plenty of detail on a number of the winners. The ...
Categorised under: Conferences & presentations, Enterprise 2.0, intranet innovation awards, Intranets
December 1, 2009
Video marketing of the intranet
It's not enough just to redevelop the intranet, it also needs to be relaunched. The challenge, like all marketing, is to reach the intended audience and capture their attention. While many intranet teams are too shy for their own good, a few are not afraid to do something interesting. Thanks to ...
Categorised under: Intranets
