Intranets must have a clear strategy, covering ongoing incremental improvements and major redevelopments. This includes a roadmap for the coming 6-12 months listing new functionality which will be delivered to staff, whether focusing on a specific group of staff or the organisation as a whole.

Having a strong strategy allows the intranet team to plan effectively, and allocate resources in the best possible way. Confidence in the intranet will also be higher, as will management support (and funding).

Getting started

Stage Key concepts How/tools End of this stage
Assess Where are you at today? Staff needs and current key challenges in your organisation User needs analysis, Intranet Hive A clear picture of today
Brainstorm What could you do? Create a wish list, research other intranets Target experts & loud mouths, use your contacts Wish list
Consolidate What should you do? Create a vision, set clear objectives, rationalise activities to focus on Intranet concept, 6×2 methodology Concrete & committed plans
Deliver What you will do! Deliver what you commit to, track your progress regularly Chunk the work, assess impact on staff / pilot Evolving intranet

Developing an intranet strategy can be daunting, particularly for a large and complex intranet that has languished for some time. The key is to break the task down into steps, starting with an understanding of the current situation, identifying potential opportunities, and then narrowing these down to a practical approach.

The table above shows the ‘ABCD for intranets’, a step-by-step guide for creating an intranet strategy and roadmap, starting from the very beginning. Use this to untangle the complexities of intranet planning.

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6×2 methodology for intranets

In general, it is not hard to describe what the ‘perfect intranet’ looks like, and each intranet team can generally paint a clear picture of their desired future site.

What is needed, however, is a roadmap that helps intranet teams to get from ‘here’ to ‘there’ within current resource limits and other constraints.

The 6×2 methodology provides a powerful new way of planning that gives intranet teams a concrete and constructive way of tackling the growth of their sites.

Taking a very different approach to the planning process, the 6×2 methodology focuses on the coming six months, asking the question: what are we going to deliver by the end of this six-month period?

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Further resources

Beyond these two key resources, we have published a number of articles on intranet (and information management) strategy.

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