Articles by Month: January 2008

Intranet Planning Day (Canberra, 4 June 2008)

I've just scheduled another one of my Intranet Planning Day workshops, for 4 June in Canberra. As ever, I've packed all my best thinking on intranet management into this workshop, including my unique '6x2 methodology'. I'm only running two of these in Australia this year, so you won't want to miss out.

To quote:

Intranets must succeed. Hidden behind the firewall, however, intranet teams often find it hard to identify the best practices and latest thinking. This workshop on intranet strategy provides practical insights into managing intranets, including the unique '6x2 methodology'. Presented by James Robertson, recognised as an international expert on creating and managing intranets, this workshop has been run across the globe. Don't miss this opportunity to hear James share his thoughts on making intranets work.

[Full workshop details and registration form] (340k PDF)

Posted by jamesr at 10:05 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Intranets

Changing nature of intranet content

Richard Dennison writes about the changing nature of intranet content at BT. To quote:

ALL content is collaborative - what varies is the degree of collaboration involved in the four steps outlined above. So, even content that we had previously defined as 'static' (e.g. an HR policy document) will have involved collaboration in its generation and should have an element of collaboration during its consumption phase (i.e. users should be able to comment on it and/or rate its value in terms of meeting users' needs). What's interesting, is that the pre-publication collaboration used to be done off-line (in meetings or via e-mail) which is why it appeared 'static', but is now likely to be done on-line, for example, in shared workspaces in wikis, which now makes it appear to be 'collaborative' content.

Posted by jamesr at 08:07 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, Intranets

Delivering better intranets in 2008

| View

For the start of 2008, we have further grown the Intranet Leadership Forum, the professional community for intranet teams in Australia and New Zealand.

Following requests from current Forum members, we have now established two levels of membership:

• Corporate: three "seats" at the table, including full membership benefits
• Single: one seat at the table, including full membership benefits

This change allows organisations with larger or more dispersed teams to involve more staff in the Forum, thereby sharing the benefits more widely. Both levels of memberships continue to provide year-long support for the price of a single conference.

For more on this, and on the Intranet Leadership Forum in general, browse through the slides embedded above. Don't hesitate to contact Catherine Grenfell on (02) 9319 7901 or catherine@steptwo.com.au if you have any further questions.

Posted by jamesr at 12:34 PM | Permalink
Categories: Intranet Leadership Forum, Intranets

Trend map for 2008 and beyond

Nowandnext.com and Future Exploration Network have created a trend map for 2008 and beyond, covering key aspects of the online and physical worlds. To quote:

While last year’s map was based on the London tube map, the 2008 map is derived from Shanghai’s underground routes. Limited to just five lines, the map uncovers key trends across Society, Politics, Demographics, Economy, and Technology.

Posted by jamesr at 09:00 AM | Permalink
Categories: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Knowledge management

Librarians challenge Web 2.0 myths

The Register has published results of research into web 2.0 and search amongst youth. To quote:

According to a British Library study many of the assumptions made about the Google generation - defined as those born since 1993 - fail to stack up to the evidence.

Among these, that the Google generation are search experts - something labelled "a dangerous myth". "A careful look at the literature over the past 25 years finds no improvement (or deterioration) in young people's information skills" the report said. Also there is no hard evidence to prove the Google generation needs information immediately and that it has no tolerance for delay in getting such data.

Social networking also comes up short. Around seven per cent of students agreed they were "very" or "extremely likely" to use social networking for a variety of tasks such as online discussions or sharing ideas. But the rest, the study concluded, "are not interested".

Posted by jamesr at 08:07 AM | Permalink
Categories: Collaboration, Enterprise 2.0, Search tools

Collaboration's resurgence

Shawn Callahan has written a post of the resurgence of collaboration as a hot topic. To quote:

Everywhere I turn recently and I hear people talking about the need to collaborate as if the idea was new. Why has collaboration become the capability organisations must have? And why now? I think I have an inkling.

Posted by jamesr at 07:45 AM | Permalink
Categories: Collaboration

BT Intranet strategy

Richard Dennison has written about the BT Intranet strategy. To quote:

We’ve made a big effort in the last year to ensure our intranet strategy is very closely aligned with BT’s overall business strategy. We looked at the work in this area of the Intranet Benchmarking Forum, and then crafted a set of short-term objectives (1-2 year) and a set of medium term objectives (3-5 year). Without going in to too much detail, these objectives are grouped into four strategic areas, which are:

Posted by jamesr at 07:33 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Information Architecture Essentials (Sydney, Brisbane)

We've started our event calendar for the year with a new round of our ever-popular Information Architecture Essentials workshops:

• Sydney: 9 April 2008
• Brisbane: 18 June 2008

In this one-day workshop, Patrick Kennedy will present the fundamentals of information architecture (IA), the core methodology for organising and designing websites and intranets. Key skills such as card sorting will be taught, and this workshop is designed to build in-house information architecture skills. A must for all web or intranet teams.

During the workshop, you will learn:

• the importance of balancing the requirements of users and business
• techniques to gather information about the needs of your audience
• the meaning behind commonly used IA jargon
• ways that information can be organised
• how to create a taxonomy for your site
• the importance of good labelling to help people find what they need
• how to design navigation methods and page layouts
• processes to follow for IA projects

[Workshop brochure & registration form] (296k PDF)

Posted by jamesr at 03:04 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Information architecture, Usability & user-centered design

Perkins Eastman: Practice Area Communities

This is the last of the video interviews with the inaugural Intranet Innovation Award winners.

This interview is with the Gold Award winning Perkins Eastman (USA), introducing their use of "practice area communities". Covered in this video:

• Why were the PACs established?
• The role of gatekeepers
• Benefits delivered
• Lessons learned
• Advice for other firms?

(Yes, that's New York traffic noise in the background.)

Posted by jamesr at 07:46 AM | Permalink
Categories: Collaboration, Intranets, Knowledge management

Starting a community of practice - fostering relationships

Shawn Callahan has written an entry on starting a community of practice. To quote:

In starting any community of practice, the first objective is to help the members recognise the value they will get from being and working together. Often we will help organisations kick their communities off with a work shop that has a number of objectives but perhaps the most important is to foster deeper connections among the potential members. Here are some of the activities I've used to do that. Would love to hear about activities you have found useful.

Posted by jamesr at 07:45 AM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

International events

The team at Step Two have a busy schedule of international events and workshops over the coming six months. We strongly recommend all these events, and encourage you to drop by to say hi:

Posted by jamesr at 03:18 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Advancing advanced search

Stephen Turbek has written an article on designing advanced search. To quote:

Advanced search is the ugly child of interface design -always included, but never loved. Websites have come to depend on their search engines as the volume of content has increased. Yet advanced search functionality has not significantly developed in years. Poor matches and overwhelming search results remain a problem for users. Perhaps the standard search pattern deserves a new look. A progressive disclosure approach can enable users to use precision advanced search techniques to refine their searches and pinpoint the desired results.

Posted by jamesr at 06:40 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Search tools

Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum 2008 (Sydney, February)

Ross Dawson of Future Exploration Network will be hosting the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum 2008 on February 19 in Sydney. Enterprise 2.0 is an important topic for many organisations, but the challenge is finding how best to deploy these new technologies and ideas.

Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum will provide a pragmatic overview of how Web 2.0 and social media technologies are being applied inside the enterprise to create business value. This unique half-day event will be centred on case studies of how leading Australian and global organisations have benefited from these technologies, and the key factors in successful implementation.

Ross Dawson is a leading thinking in this space and a truly compelling presenter. He has also assembled a stellar cast of thought-leaders and implementers:

• David Backley, Chief Technology Officer, Westpac Banking Corporation
• Peter Evans-Greenwood, Chief Technology Officer, Capgemini Australia
• Brian Haverty, Editorial Director, CNET Networks Australia
• Andrew McAfee, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School
• Sheryle Moon, Chief Executive Officer, Australian Information Industry Association
• Victor Rodrigues, Software Development Manager, Cochlear
• Euan Semple, Former Head of Knowledge Management, BBC
• Jonathan Stern, Business Unit Executive, Lotus Software, Australia and New Zealand

Step Two Designs is a supporter of this event, and I can personally recommend it to anyone looking to explore these ideas. Not to be missed!

[Full event details]

Posted by jamesr at 02:33 PM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations, Enterprise 2.0, Information management, Intranets

Book review: Change to Strange

Change to Strange
Create a great organization by building a strange workforce
Daniel M. Cable

The core idea at the heart of this book is very powerful: if you want to create an extraordinary organisation, you won't achieve it with an ordinary workforce. Instead, you will need staff who are "strange", obsessed with delivering things in a way that drives the unique strengths of the organisation. Equally importantly, you will only get the best possible staff when your desired "strange workforce" is under-appreciated by your competitors.

This book makes a strong and reasoned case for this unusual perspective on workforce management, and it is underpinned by a solid basis of HR strategy. In the times when organisations are looking to innovation to generate success, the message of this book is timely and important.

All that being said, this book does feel like it was written in a hurry. Perhaps most frustrating is the US-centric language and examples used throughout. The informal style of writing includes expressions such as "put the hurtin' on your competitors", which I fear will be mysterious to many international readers.

One of the central examples used is also the differing strategies of two baseball teams, not easy to follow if you don't know how the game is actually played. (We play "football" and "soccer" in this part of the world, called "rugby" and "football" elsewhere.) Other examples also feel a little thin to strongly support the central arguments of the book.

Still, the first edition of this book still holds enough value to warrant the price of purchase. I look forward to a thicker, more solid and better edited second edition. This, I think, will be a truly great book.

Score: 6/10

Posted by jamesr at 06:15 AM | Permalink
Categories: Book & product reviews

The elements in the social software stack

Thomas Vander Wal has presented a model of the elements in the social software stack. To quote:

When thinking through social software (also known as social computing, social media, and social web) I have been influenced by many ideas, but at the core there are two things that stick in my head: 1) Good visualization; and 2) Object-centered sociality. Getting the two to mesh, while accounting for most of the important components of social software has been really difficult for me to square for quite some time.

Posted by jamesr at 06:00 AM | Permalink
Categories: Collaboration, Knowledge management

Enterprise intranet predictions for 2008

Toby Ward writes his intranet predictions for 2008. To quote:

Your intranet home page is poorly designed and far too busy (well, for most). Employees are screaming for simpler home pages, with fewer links, more white space, and less color. Time and time again when I test different home page designs and concepts in employee focus groups the most simple designs test highest.

Posted by jamesr at 08:00 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information management, Intranets

What is an ‘intranet’?

Richard Dennison asks the question: what is an 'intranet'? To quote:

The idea behind such a broad ranging definition is that when a BT person turns on their PC, they should be offered an integrated, seamless on-line experience - essentially, they don’t care what is or isn’t part of your intranet (depending upon the definition you choose to adopt), nor who manages what bit of your on-line estate … it is all the same to them and should meet the same standards of design, information management, usability etc.

Posted by jamesr at 07:00 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Self-service publishing: Implement with care

Abigail Lewis-Bowen writes about carefully implementing wikis and other enterprise 2.0 tools. To quote:

First of all, it's important to provide Wikis and Blogs only after processes for publishing “formal” information channels to the Intranet are well established. If the right people are publishing to the right place on the Intranet, and there is good editorial workflow and governance, then the Intranet is sturdy enough to add an open, less-structured layer of content. If there are no good controls in place, then handing everyone a Wiki to use will blur the lines between informal and formal communication. What’s worse, it may threaten the information structure needed to support robust personalization and effective information discovery.

This is an interesting post, and I agree with Abigail about the potential dangers of collaboration tools (see my article Collaboration tools are anti knowledge sharing?). Abigail also makes some excellent, and very practical suggestions. Yet I was also uncomfortable about the overall approach.

Thinking about it further, these are my concerns:

• Abigail recommends waiting until the intranet is well-managed before rolling out tools such as wikis. We don't have that long. Like it or not, these tools are rapidly spreading and we have to put in place some management models as a matter of urgency.
• The suggestions are written as rules designed to be "barriers to entry". The problem is, we can't actually enforce them, as no-one reports to us.
• Worse yet, some of these rules are written as if wikis are the "enemy" that must be boxed in. Do we have automated expiry of content on our intranets, as we are suggesting for wikis? I think not.
• The danger is that by adding a large amount of extra work (such as mandatory metadata), collaboration tools will simply fail to take off.
• At the end of the day, we need to find ways of engaging with the wider organisation on these topics, rather than being seen as "gatekeepers".

Again, though, some great suggestions. The more we discuss these topics the better...

Posted by jamesr at 07:30 AM | Permalink
Categories: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets

Bottom-up approach to taxonomy development

Simon Goh has written about a bottom-up approach to taxonomy development. To quote:

In my previous post, I brought up a topic on the implementation challenges of taxonomy and suggested a few points on overcoming pitfalls for multi-faceted taxonomy implementation. This time round, my reflection is based on ground 0, where there is no corporate taxonomy design to start with. This idea requires incremental and continuous investment and its not a short project period affair. Like the Chinese saying goes, "Cast a long line to catch a bigger fish".

Posted by jamesr at 07:00 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, Document & records management, Information architecture

Intranet resources: numbers, ways of working, what next with 2.0?

Jane McConnell has written a post on the size of intranet teams, in comparison to the overall size of the organisations they serve. To quote:

The third source is my own Global Intranet Survey of 2007 where I reached the average of 1 headcount for 2,300 employees. This is based on data per size category going up to very large organisations of over 100,000 people. When I look at the smaller sizes within the survey population, the figures are similar to StepTwo and IntraTeam.

Posted by jamesr at 07:35 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Look how far intranets have come...

Paul Miller has written on the history and growth of intranets. To quote:

At the start of 2008 we have already seen a good deal of trends and predictions from the intranet industry (from myself included) but it strikes me that before the year gets into full velocity, this is a good time to reflect on just how far intranets have come in the past 10 or so years.

Posted by jamesr at 07:00 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

BT web 2.0 adoption case study

Richard Dennison has written about the adoption of web 2.0 at BT. To quote:

The power of social software is undeniable in the free, anarchic world of the global internet. But what happens when you bring these tools into the constrained, policy-driven, risk-averse world of the corporate intranet where the user population is small, where expressing oneself as an individual and on a personal level can feel threatening, and where management is watching your every move? Well, that’s just what one of the world’s leading providers of communications solutions, BT, has chosen to do. Richard Dennison, BT’s Internal Programme Manager, tells the story.

[Thanks to Alex Manchester.]

Posted by jamesr at 06:20 AM | Permalink
Categories: Enterprise 2.0, Intranets

Nycomed: product collaboration

The third in the series of video interviews of the Intranet Innovation Award winners...

Products are clearly the core of any pharmaceutical company. When the business is global in scale, however, it can be almost impossible to bring together all the relevant product details in a single location, and to present them in a coordinated way.

The team from Nycomed did exactly that. Working closely with teams in research development and marketing, the intranet team was able to assemble a single, cohesive set of product documentation. While plain in design, this nonetheless represents a valuable innovation for organisations of this nature.

For more information, obtain a copy of the Intranet Innovations 2007 report. Also see the previous videos on the award-winning entries from Fiat (Avanti e Veloci portal) and Environment Agency (personas pack).

Posted by jamesr at 08:42 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Doing KM one person at a time

Patrick Lambe writes about a fascinating approach of doing KM one person at a time. To quote:

Yesterday, for the first time in my KM consulting career I did something that I had not had the chance to do before. My colleague Paolina and I held a “clinic” at our client’s office; people were invited to come talk to us to figure out how they could apply knowledge sharing tools and techniques in their project or work area (this organisation has put some people through a programme which equips them with a suite of knowledge sharing techniques). This is not the usual high-level stuff that we do with clients, eg, KM strategy and roadmap development, but for some reason it felt very satisfying.

Posted by jamesr at 07:00 AM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

Are you making the right CMS promises?

The CMS Myth has written a piece asking: are you making the right CMS promises? To quote:

We talk a lot about the expectation gap between vendors that beat the drum of 'out of the box,' and 'easy' compared to the reality on the ground of a complex implementation. But it's time to take a closer look at what promises we're making internally inside the organizations before deploying a CMS.

Posted by jamesr at 06:50 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Intranet masterclass in London (7 March 2008)

I'm pleased to announce that I'll be running a once-off intranet masterclass in London on 7 March 2008. The workshop is being organised by Martin White of Intranet Focus, UK's foremost intranet expert and a close working partner of Step Two Designs.

This is the first time that I've run a masterclass in the UK (I've run them everywhere else!), and maybe the only time this year. The main topics that will be covered in this masterclass will be:

• Managing the evolution of intranets
• Intranet innovation -- critical success factors
• Establishing effective collaboration
• Improving intranet search

I will also be sharing some of the lessons learned by the award winners in the 2007 Intranet Innovation Awards. The masterclass will conclude with a Q&A session led by Martin White and myself (two gurus for the price of one).

To ensure that all delegates have an opportunity to share ideas and issues, workshop places will be limited and early registration is advisable. The masterclass will run from 9.30am to 4.30pm. The registration fee will be £250 plus VAT, to include a hot lunch, refreshments and documentation.

For more information and a registration form send an email with Intranet Masterclass in the Subject line to martin.white@intranetfocus.com or call (+44) 1403 267030.

Posted by jamesr at 11:55 AM | Permalink
Categories: Conferences & presentations

Attitudes & activities for intranet managers in 2008

Jane McConnell has written an entry on attitudes & activities for intranet managers in 2008. To quote:

As an intranet manager, you are in a unique position: you may well be one of the few people in your company who realise the full potential value of the intranet, how close your organisation is to achieving this or how far away you are. Above all, you have a good idea of what can be done to transform the intranet into the strategic asset it should be.

Posted by jamesr at 11:01 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Account sign-in: 8 design mistakes to avoid

Jared Spool has written an article on designing account sign-in. To quote:

Designing an account registration and sign-in process that doesn't frustrate users turns out to be very difficult to achieve. It looks easy at the outset, but a pile of subtleties can sneak up on your experience, making something that should be simple become stressful for the users.

Posted by jamesr at 09:40 AM | Permalink
Categories: Usability & user-centered design

Is this preaching rebellion against IT?

Michael Sampson has written a post on the Forrester survey into collaboration. To quote:

Forrester reports that 68% of its respondents indicated plans to invest in "real-time collaboration software", a phrase which generally means instant messaging. Technology for enterprise instant messaging has been widely available for many years, so what's with the high interest now? My sense is that the employees at these firms have already fully embraced free public instant messaging services, and IT is in catchup mode to deliver an enterprise-class and enterprise-secure IM and presence service. They wouldn't do it if they didn't have to, but those on the business side are so fully invested in it that they won't let it go. It has proven its value, and is now being demanded.

Posted by jamesr at 07:20 AM | Permalink
Categories: Collaboration

Implementation challenges of taxonomies

Simon Goh has written an entry on the implementation challenges of taxonomies. To quote:

The number one issue now is to avoid complex metadata profiling. It is a nightmare for staff to browse the tree of each taxonomy facet to profile a document uploaded. Profile it once, twice and if he is patient enough, he will stop at the third time. And thereafter, you will expect the remainder of the documents to be in his local drive, circulated through emails. How do we avoid this pitfall?

Posted by jamesr at 07:15 AM | Permalink
Categories: Document & records management, Information architecture

The life of a knowledge manager: nasty, brutish and short

Patrick Lambe has shared the results of a global survey into KM initiatives. To quote:

Last October we ran a global survey through iKMS to find out how much organisations invest in their KM initiatives – in terms of the senior management attention and support they get, whether they invest in building the qualifications and experience of their KM staff, and whether they consciously protect the KM experience they are building by providing career paths for their knowledge managers. The results overall are extremely depressing, and the “new kids” on the block in Asia apparently do far better than the supposedly more mature environments of North America, Europe and even Australasia. Here’s a table summarising the key findings (click on the image for a larger version). Green boxes indicate the better performers and pink boxes indicate the worse performers.

Posted by jamesr at 07:03 PM | Permalink
Categories: Knowledge management

10 best intranets of 2008

Jakob Nielsen has announced the winners of their intranet awards for 2008. To quote:

Consistent design and integrated IA are becoming standard on good intranets. This year's winners focused on productivity tools, employee self-service, access to knowledgeable people (as opposed to "knowledge management"), and better-presented company news.

It's particularly pleasing to see Kate Needham from New South Wales Department of Primary Industries on the list, amongst large international corporations. Kate is a member of our Intranet Leadership Forum, and it's always great to see the such hard work being recognised. Well done Kate!

Posted by jamesr at 06:31 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

To structure or not to structure

Gadgetopia have written a superb post on the pros and cons of structuring content in a CMS. To quote:

We were meeting with a client the other day about applying some content management to their Web site. We came upon a page of “business partners.” It had a repeated HTML structure consisting of a logo for the partner, their name, their URL, and a few paragraphs about them. There were maybe a dozen or so partners listed.

I agree with everything written in this post, and I've had this discussion many times as part of the CMS selection work I do with clients. I would add, however, another downside to the template approach ("Structured as a single content object"). All too often, I've seen the number of templates multiple like rabbits, to cover each small variation on a theme. Before you know it, you have 150 templates that the authors have to choose between before publishing a page. Hardly an ideal solution.

Posted by jamesr at 07:19 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management, Information architecture

Sketchboards: discover better + faster UX solutions

Brandon Schauer has written an article on "sketchboards" as a design technique. To quote:

The sketchboard is a low-fi technique that makes it possible for designers to explore and evaluate a range of interaction concepts while involving both business and technology partners. Unlike the process that results from wireframe-based design, the sketchboard quickly performs iterations on many possible solutions and then singles out the best user experience to document and build upon.

Posted by jamesr at 07:16 AM | Permalink
Categories: Information architecture, Usability & user-centered design

Preparing content for an intranet redesign project

Simon Goh write about preparing content for an intranet redesign. To quote:

In my experience, preparing content authors through web writing trainings and briefings on how and which templates they should be using is not enough. Most content authors will normally chuck what they have learn aside, and if we're lucky, they give us content based on the correct template. When this happens, an unplanned web editor needs to emerge to make it all right!

Posted by jamesr at 10:04 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Pick the right content management approach

Tony Byrne writes about picking the right content management approach. To quote:

The lines between all content technology families are notoriously blurry. This is especially true of portals, Enterprise Content Management (ECM) systems and Web Content Management (WCM) system, where there's lots of overlap in vendors, product functionality, and marketing messages. For example, if you're looking to implement Intranet-based document management, you could conceivably use any of these three types of products. Yet some consultancies will try to sell you all three types of solutions, with an obligatory (and expensive) integration project.

Posted by jamesr at 09:24 AM | Permalink
Categories: Content management

Book review: Strategy and the Fat Smoker

Strategy and the Fat Smoker
David Maister, 2008

David Maister is the undisputed guru of professional services firms, and this is his greatest work yet. The premise is very simple: every professional firm has much the same vision, strategy and operating principles. Yet few firms ever deliver on these promises.

This is the metaphor of the "fat smoker": we know what we need to do as individuals (and as organisations), but the hard part is actually doing it. Drawing on 20+ years of work in this space, Maister has seen far too many organisations struggle to do what they know they must.

The goal of this book is to explore the reasons for these failures, and to address the primarily cultural barriers that prevent the success of strategy in professional services firms. Despite the low-key and relaxed tone, this book is nothing short of revolutionary, calling for a major rethink in how we run professional firms.

Chapter by chapter, Maister works through the various aspects of strategy, culture and operation within professional firms. In each, he offers piercing insight and practical suggestions. The result is a handbook for any CEO (or senior manager) who wants to create a radically more successful (and sustainable) business.

The material in this book is drawn from articles previously published on Maister's website. Despite being an avid follower of his blog, I had read only a few of the pieces (the price of a busy life). Crucially, each article has been carefully adapted to fit the overall narrative of the book, giving a coherent whole.

This is an easy and enjoyable read. The thoughts contained within will require more digesting. A must-read for anyone involved in running (or working in) a professional services firm.

Score: 10/10

Posted by jamesr at 04:54 PM | Permalink
Categories: Book & product reviews

Why intranet news is under threat

Paul Miller writes about the decline of news on the intranet. To quote:

My prediction for 2008 is that communicators and those generating news specifically will be under mounting pressure to prove the business value of news in intranets. I also predict that many people in these roles will fail to show real value and that news and news generation roles will decline steadily in 2008 - 2009.

It's always interesting to look at news on the intranet homepage. What's the primary purpose of the homepage? Navigation. What gets the most space? News.

This mismatch can't continue forever, and Cairo has written an a great article on this. I think we will definitely see a slow (very slow) shift in the use of intranet homepages, but resisted by tradition and some internal comms teams.

Posted by jamesr at 09:32 AM | Permalink
Categories: Intranets

Records management and KM

Julian Carver reports on a talk in New Zealand on records management and knowledge management. To quote:

Sarah Heal presented today for NZKM in Christchurch on Records Management as a part of KM Strategy. Over the last year she has detected some unexpected and at times inconvenient signals, a growing body of anecdotal evidence that something is not quite right in information management. There have been lots of failed IM/KM initiatives, and EDRMS is the “Emperor with no clothes”. There just aren’t any really good exemplars in NZ of very successful deployments. With project budgets often ranging from $0.5 million to $1 million, this is an expensive problem.

Posted by jamesr at 09:27 AM | Permalink
Categories: Document & records management, Knowledge management