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Written by James Robertson Step Two Designs |
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Articles by Month: July 2007
What is enterprise 2.0?Fred Cavazza has written a long post that aims to answer the question: what is enterprise 2.0? To quote: If "Web 2.0" was 2006’s buzzword, we begin to hear much of Enterprise 2.0. To make a long story short, it means using inside an enterprise the successful tools of web 2.0. [Thanks to Bill Ives.] Posted by jamesr at 01:30 PM
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How intranet & portal landscapes evolveJane McConnell has described how global intranets evolve. To quote: Over the past 5 years, I have been working on defining models for different types of intranets and portals. I have reached a set of 6 types that I have tested with both international companies, with government, institutional and non-profit organisations. In this post, I shall attempt to describe each model in a few words, and invite your comments, questions and opinions. I love these diagrams! I've seen Jane use them for some time, and I think they provide a very powerful way of understanding how global intranets can (or should) work in practice. Posted by jamesr at 09:50 AM
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Web redesign is bad strategyGerry McGovern has written an article arguing that web redesign is bad strategy. To quote: A website redesign approach is usually embraced by organizations who are reacting to the fact that their websites have fallen into disrepair. Something is not working and the belief is that a nice redesign, some nice new graphics and colors, and perhaps the purchase of some fancy content management software, will solve it. Posted by jamesr at 11:43 AM
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Is tagging a disruptive innovation?Joe Lamantia has written an article that asks the question: is tagging a disruptive innovation? To quote: Thus, I don't think the Hype Cycle comparison holds. In simple financial terms, I'm not aware of anyone making or losing substantial amounts of money specifically in relation to tagging. For many reasons, tagging has not yet emerged - and may never emerge - as a category of technology investment and activity for businesses. Posted by jamesr at 05:16 PM
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Must-read feeds for intranet teamsThere's a lot happening in the world that is of interest and relevance to intranet teams. More than just satisfying idle curiosity, team members have an obligation to keep up to date on the latest thinking and techniques, in order to maintain (and grow) their level of professionalism. More than ever, organisations are looking to someone, anyone, to help them improve information systems and practices. Intranet teams can meet this need, but only if they have the right knowledge to hand. The best way to do this is to keep track of a good set of RSS feeds. For me, this is a non-optional requirement for all team members. Tracking these feeds provides access to ideas such as information scent, questions about breadcrumbs, the death of the fold, and new approaches to designing portals (to name but a few). So, bust some myths (like the 3-clicks rule), discover new techniques, and uncover new ideas. All you need is a news aggregator, and a good set of links. Here's a few to get you started... Intranets
Content management
Usability and IA
(There are so many good usability/IA blogs, these are just a small sampling!) Plus more...
--- Yes, I know there' some irony at publishing a list of blog feeds on a blog. But still, hopefully the word will be spread to destinations beyond just the direct readers of this feed... PS. apologies for advance to anyone that I've unintentionally left off the list. This is not intentional, but the by-product of writing blog posts while waiting in airport lounges. (I'm sure I'll come back add add another dozen links later, when I realise how many I've forgotten!) Posted by jamesr at 05:52 PM
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What makes a content management system?Gadgetopia has published an article exploring what differentiates a home-grown publishing tool from a CMS. To quote: I got to thinking the other day: exactly when do you have a "content management system?" We've all built apps that manage content, but when do you graduate from a "relational database with an admin section" (RDBWAAS) to the lofty and deserved title of "content management system?" Posted by jamesr at 10:13 AM
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Homebrew CMSSeth Gottlieb has written an article about the perils of writing a homebrew CMS. To quote: I have seen (and replaced) enough home-grown content management systems to know that they are not as easy to build as you would think. As a software architect, I understand the temptation. You just want something simple and you don't want to put up with all the compromises, limitations, and cost that a CMS framework comes with. After all, its just a matter of writing some data to the database and then presenting that same data elsewhere. We have all designed dozens of systems that do that! And look! You can even download a free WYSIWYG editor to make your homebrew CMS usable? This is an excellent list, and it accords with my personal experiences (I actually started my content management journey a decade ago by writing a custom CMS for technical writers). I would just add one extra item to this list:
Posted by jamesr at 10:05 AM
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More on the challenges for intranet managersHelen Day has posted another article on the challenges for intranet managers. To quote: Yesterday I started talking through the intranet managers 'vicious circle'. Today we'll complete the circle and then look at some strategies to break it... Posted by jamesr at 09:55 AM
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User assistance walkthroughs: helping best practices emergeMike Hughes has written an article on conducting user assistance walkthroughs. To quote: In my previous job as a UX designer, I learned the value of collaborative design walkthroughs. During walkthroughs, the UX designer would step through a user scenario -- using the wireframes or mid-fidelity prototypes -- with a cross-disciplinary team comprising product management, other UX designers, business analysts, developers, product testers, and technical communicators. The motivation for doing these walkthroughs was to reduce the amount of churn around product requirements that was occurring during coding and testing. No matter how well-written a requirement or use case was, it wasn't until stakeholders could interact with a design within a tangible context that the full implications of a requirement or its lack of sufficient specificity became evident. Posted by jamesr at 02:54 PM
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Introduction to the building blocksJoe Lamantia continues his series on the building blocks methodology for designing portals. To quote: Part 1 of this series "The Challenge of Dashboards and Portals" discussed the difficulties of creating effective information architectures for portals, dashboards, and tile-based information environments using only flat portlets, and introduced the idea of a system of standardized building blocks that can effectively support growth in content, functionality, and users over time. In enterprise and other large scale social settings, using standardized components allows for the creation of a library of tiles that can be shared across communities of users. Posted by jamesr at 12:59 PM
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Blasting the myth of the foldMilissa Tarquini has written an article that debunks the myth of the fold. To quote: We are all well aware that web design is not an easy task. There are many variables to consider, some of them technical, some of them human. The technical considerations of designing for the web can (and do) change quite regularly, but the human variables change at a slower rate. Sometimes the human variables change at such a slow rate that we have a hard time believing that it happens. Posted by jamesr at 12:45 PM
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Practical enterprise architectureHenrik Gustafsson has written an article on practical approaches to enterprise architecture. To quote: I was bewildered when I first started working with Enterprise Architecture (EA). To me, so far, the subject had belonged to some strange guys working somewhere in a remote part of the enterprise. Once in a while, a decision or model came in the mail or were posted on the intranet with regards from those guys. Rarely anybody knew how to interpret the much too abstract or detailed directives, and consequently these directives were never followed. If you turned to them for some kind of advice, their advice was always delivered too late or was not applicable to the problem at hand. This is a lovely list of common-sense principles for this type of work, all of which is much needed. (I have a similar list of 10 principles of effective information management.) Posted by jamesr at 09:49 AM
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How is an intranet both globally local and locally global?Jane McConnell has written an entry exploring globally local and locally global in the context of intranets. To quote: I think I have never explained why I named this blog "Globally Local and Locally Global" so here goes. For me, those 5 words represent the deepest, most difficult challenge of all global intranets and portals. And I do mean 5 words, and not 4. The "and" is as important - if not more - than the other 2 sides of the equation! Posted by jamesr at 11:29 AM
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Intranet strategy: the intranet manager's challengeHelen Day has posted an entry outlining the intranet manager's challenge. To quote: Following a survey of nearly 70 large organisations, and analysing the benchmarking data IBF has from all it's Global members, we summarised the potential challenges faced by intranet managers in this area - the 'vicious circle' of intranet management (click on the image below for a larger version). This is a pretty scary diagram! I call this the "downwards spiral", and I always try to pair it with the upwards spiral so intranet managers don't jump of bridges... Posted by jamesr at 09:11 AM
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Is the personalised intranet portal dying?Toby Ward has written an article on issues with personalised intranet portals. To quote: Very few organizations have actually enacted or properly implemented user personalization once they've purchased a portal product. Most employee portal implementations feature customization. The difficulty with personalization is that it requires a phenomenal amount of work and planning; the technology component is relatively simple. Organizations that roll-out personalization have to identify and define multiple roles and content and then map all the content to those roles and ensure that the content is provided on an ongoing basis (writing, updating, publishing, formatting, etc.). Even more troublesome is that while employees like the idea of personalization, few will ever use it. Posted by jamesr at 02:02 AM
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Why is your intranet not delivering its potential?Jane McConnell has written an article on why intranets are not delivering their potential. To quote: "Contrary to the impression one gets at conferences and when reading technology oriented websites and magazines, portals are not yet a reality in many organisations." Posted by jamesr at 01:45 AM
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Six month event calendar (Australia)Ok, to summarise, we've just announce a whole raft of workshops and masterclasses for the the coming six months throughout Australia. To make this easier to follow, here's a full event calendar:
Posted by jamesr at 04:54 AM
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Where collaboration tools fit in (Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney)To meet the huge level of interest in collaboration at the moment, we've organised three more sessions on Where collaboration tools fit in, with dates as follows: To quote: With the rapid spread of collaboration tools such as SharePoint, the opportunity for new approaches to intranets and information management are being explored. These are great afternoon sessions, and at $100 a pop (free for members of the Intranet Leadership Forum) you don't want to miss out! Posted by jamesr at 04:43 AM
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Information Architecture Fundamentals (Sydney + Canberra)After quite some time, we've finally found the time to restart our hugely popular Information Architecture Fundamentals workshops. These are great sessions to build in-house skills within web and intranet teams. The two dates planned for 2007: To quote: In this one-day workshop, Patrick Kennedy will present an introduction to information architecture (IA), the core methodology for organising and designing information-rich websites and intranets. Fundamental principles will be covered, along with a hands-on exploration of practical techniques. A must for all web teams. Note: the early-bird date for the August workshop is rapidly approaching, so you'll want to book your places quickly! Posted by jamesr at 06:45 AM
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Innovative Information Management Planning (Melbourne + Canberra)We've also organised two new dates for Cairo Walker's Innovative Information Management Planning masterclass. The inaugural event was very well received, and there's more to come: To quote: In this one-day masterclass, Cairo Walker will present an innovative methodology for information management planning that will ensure that above-the-waterline benefits will be realised within the first six months. Drawing on extensive IM and project management experience, this masterclass will present practical solutions to real-world situations and challenges. Posted by jamesr at 06:32 AM
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Intranet Planning Day (Canberra, August)We've just announced another date for my Intranet Planning Day masterclass, to be held in Canberra on 30 August 2007. To quote: Chart a course to a more successful intranet, and take a fresh look at what it takes to be a more effective intranet team. This one day masterclass is the latest in a series of events run throughout Australia (and internationally), further enhanced with the addition of the brand-new '6x2 methodology' for intranet planning. Full event details, including registration form Posted by jamesr at 06:12 AM
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Comparing UXD Business ModelsJim Nieters and Garett Dworman have written an article on business models for in-house usability teams. To quote: We presented these four organizational models as examples of business models that we could analyze during the SIG. We then opened the discussion for ten minutes to allow a free exchange about which models people had experienced or would like to know more about. Following this discussion, SIG participants chose the following three business models on which to perform SWOT analyses... Posted by jamesr at 10:24 AM
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It's not not about the technologyAndrew McAfee talks about the problems with the phrase "it's not about the technology". To quote: People usually mean one of two things when they say INATT; one of them is correct but somewhat uninformative, and the other conveys a lot of information, but is incorrect and even dangerous. The correct-but-bland meaning is "It's not about the technology alone." In other words, a piece of technology will not spontaneously or independently start delivering value, generating benefits, and doing precisely what its deployers want it to do. Technologies have to be managed in order to do any of these things; they're not magic bullets or miracle cures. I started reading this post expecting to disagree with the contents, but ended up agreeing strongly with it. One difference I would highlight is that perhaps Andrew has only met with more enlightened organisations when he says: "I very rarely come across anyone these days who thinks that technologies are magic bullets." In my direct personal experience, I'm sadly still coming across plenty of organisations that are definitely still following the "magic bullet" approach... Posted by jamesr at 05:35 AM
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Avoid long-term strategiesWhen it comes to information management or content management strategies, particularly at the enterprise level, there is a strong tendency (and desire) to create long-term plans. These plans may outline activities more than of 18 or 24 months in advance, starting with the deployment of base infrastructure, through to the final delivery of strong business functionality. These plans mostly fail, and few ever end up delivering the hoped-for benefits. While this is not an argument for abandoning strategic planning entirely, it raises a question whether long-term plans are the most sensible approach. This briefing will explore some of the issues encountered when creating and executing long-term plans, and will argue for an approach that delivers benefits on a much more frequent basis. Source of long-term plans Two- or three-year strategies are common in the domains of IT and IS. These types of strategies arise as a natural result of working backwards from the final objectives:
Each of these steps takes three to six months to complete, making the total project at least 12-24 months in total. [CM Briefing 2007-12, read the full article] Posted by jamesr at 03:30 AM
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In-house recruitment of users for researchGetting participants for website research can be difficult, but a few simple steps can help make the process go much more smoothly. This article outlines steps modelled on the approach taken to recruiting users for a recent website redevelopment project for a tertiary education institution. The research activities included interviews, focus groups and usability testing. Gather available information As outlined in the previous article Start user research by talking with staff, an ideal place to start is with a series of staff interviews. These can provide an excellent initial picture of website users and some of the relevant issues. Staff are also able to suggest users who might participate (in our case, students). Your marketing or customer service department may very well have lists of clients (and other groups of users) that you can make use of. For instance, there may be a regular newsletter on which you can piggyback a message. There may also be less well known channels to your audience, for example through student clubs, industry associations or partnerships. [CM Briefing 2007-11 written by Patrick Kennedy, read the full article] Posted by jamesr at 03:22 AM
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Chatting bolsters businessNo longer the antithesis of working hard, online chat has become an integral part of core business processes in some organisations. Across both the public and private sectors there is a trend toward online chat as a valid business tool, particularly in call centre environments. By using online chat to supplement traditional information sources such as intranets and training folders, staff are provided with answers to specific problems and questions and access to specific staff in real-time. Online chat can be used to:
This article explores the use of online chat in business and describes a case study of the use of instant messaging within a national enquiry centre for a government department that fields calls from the public across Australia. What's all the chatter about? Online chat is a text-based communication tool. Whereas email is to an electronic version of sending letters through the post, online chat is more like having a conversation with one or more people. Information is passed in real time and users can see whether others are available to chat. By setting their status as 'available', 'away', 'on a break' etc, users signal their availability to others. It is relatively unobtrusive and, unlike a telephone call, users are not forced to respond immediately. Online chat supports both one-to-one and one-to-many relationships and communities. Users can have several chat sessions going at one time with different individuals and groups. Typically within the call centre environment there is one team chat session that is open all day running alongside one-to-one sessions. [July KM Column by Cairo Walker, read the full article] Posted by jamesr at 03:15 AM
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Open Publish 2007 (Sydney, August)Just a quick reminder about the upcoming Open Publish 2007 conference, to be held in Sydney on August 1-3. This has grown into the main content management conference within Australia, and it's run with a very strong practitioner focus. To quote: Covering critical ideas such as wikis, blogs, single-sourcing data and content management, Open Publish will discuss these topics from the perspective of best practices, project methodologies and human / usability factors rather than simply technology. I'm co-chair of the conference, and will be running a pre-conference tutorial. Some of the Step Two team will then be presenting in the conference itself. Considering how little this conference costs compared to other events, it's not to be missed! Posted by jamesr at 09:50 AM
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ECM and integrationAlan Pelz-Sharpe has written a blog entry on the issues with ECM and integration. To quote: "Integration" is a hot topic with Enterprise Content Management vendors these days. But just like terms such as BPM or SOA, integration can many things to many people. The current focus on integration stems in large part to vendor repositioning work. They are starting to recognize that for long term survival they have to play nicely with other business applications and -- whether they like it or not -- other ECM systems. (There are few rip and replace projects these days.) So its a worthy area of focus. However, when you hear an ECM vendor mention the importance of integration. to what exactly are they referring Posted by jamesr at 10:42 AM
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Book review: Organising Knowledge -- Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organisational EffectivenessOrganising Knowledge:
Taxonomies are often surrounded by an air of reverence and mystique. Traditionally seen as the domain of librarians, recordkeepers and botanists, they are now hot property in business circles, but no better understood. Patrick Lambe's book sets out to systematically address these issues, by introducing, explaining and exploring taxonomies. Coming from a background as a librarian, knowledge management expert and consultant, Patrick draws together many topics to provide a rich view of taxonomies in the real world. This is not a how-to manual. While a strong overall methodology is outlined for creating and maintaining a taxonomy, there is not enough detail to allow the uninitiated to walk this path unaided. This book does, however, achieve two very important aims. Firstly, it introduces taxonomies and their use to a business audience. Through many current and historical examples, often presented engagingly with great wit, Patrick lays the groundwork for understanding taxonomies. He then builds on this foundation to show how many different types of taxonomies can be put into practice in typical business situations. The mini case studies used throughout are particularly instructive. Secondly, this book is a call to action for those typically associated with taxonomies (such as librarians and records managers) to take a broader view of the world. Encouraging these specialists to venture outside of their bounded domains, Patrick shows that taxonomies are not a theoretical exercise, but a practical approach that must be tempered by the pragmatic realities of organisations. Still, I would've liked to see a few more concrete techniques introduced into the book, drawing more strongly on information architecture approaches such as card sorting, card-based classification evaluation and usability testing to support the creation of taxonomies. While I am wiser on the meaning and use of taxonomies, I still don't know that I could create one confidently myself. By the time the last page is reached, however, this book has become much more than just an introduction to taxonomies. Instead, it has grown into an exploration of many interrelated topics around knowledge, and how to put it to work. For this, Patrick Lambe is to be commended. Score: 7/10 Posted by jamesr at 07:25 PM
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