"If we gave you a team site, would it be useful to you?" We've said before that the breadth of SharePoint is both its strength and weakness. Intranet and project teams now have a powerful new tool to help the organisation ...
Articles tagged: needs analysis
What intranets can do for … engineers
Organisations, like people, are often successful because of their strengths. These strengths may sometimes also have a shadow side. Understanding that within these shadows lie openings for the intranet team, provides win-win opportunities for all concerned. Consider the case of a medium-sized heavy industry organisation, where much of the workforce are ...
Intranets for call centre staff
In the years since the article Knowledge management for call centres was published, call centres have come to play a critical role in many organisations, but the needs and challenges remain the same. Intranets have matured and grown in this time, and more than ever have the capacity to ...
What drives my passion for intranets
I'm very passionate about intranets, and the opportunities they provide. Where does this passion come from? I've spent a lot of time in organisations with staff who do the actual work, particularly in front-line and operational areas. I've interviewed countless staff, including nurses, accountants, call centre operators, consultants, engineers, sales people, ...
Collaboration: questions to ask
Staff and business areas often identify a need for collaboration tools, without knowing what the best solution would be. They may have some familiarity with a handful of tools, but not know how others work. As discussed in the earlier article Successful collaboration requires support, there needs to be a ...
Web teams, go meet your end-users
Peter Erik Bang Nissen highlights the importance of understanding user needs. To quote: One problem with this approach is, however, that many organisations omit the second part of “launch and learn”. Another is that as the organisation’s web presence matures, the quality of solutions comes to the fore. If users ...
The elevator interview – ultra quick intranet user research
Patrick c Walsh has written about using elevator interviews to uncover intranet needs and issues. To quote: Want to get some fast feedback on your intranet but both time and resources are very limited? Try the user research version of the elevator pitch – the elevator interview.
Intranet user research: a methodology for contextual enquiry
Patrick C. Walsh has written an extensive article on conducting contextual inquiry for an intranet. To quote: Its motivating simply because you get to meet your users face to face. When I think of a change in design or when problems are reported I don’t think of my users as ...
Needs analysis from a distance
How do you address the needs of staff that work in a different city, state or country? Visiting each of these offices may not always be practical. Therefore different techniques need to be employed to conduct research and gather information about their needs. Principles The same principles apply as for face-to-face interviews: involve a ...
User Interviews – analysis simplified
Alistair Gray has written about analysing user interviews. To quote: After interviews you'll find that you've lots of interesting thoughts and ideas bouncing around your head, but probably in no clear structure. The results will be much easier to understand and convey to others if they are ordered into a ...
4 common themes from intranet reviews
Alex Manchester writes about 4 common themes from intranet reviews that he has been conducting recently. To quote: The findability of information has perhaps been the biggest challenge worked on to date, especially in the two projects I'm working on closely. The typical situation includes lots of systems, knowledge bases ...
Is it worth asking people what they want on your intranet?
Allen Huish asks the question: is it worth asking people what they want on your intranet? To quote: A great example of this bias in surveys was when British Airways was designing its new 'Raid the Larder' concept in Club World. The team involved did the right thing and got ...
