Summary


This chapter has not been so much about technology as psychology and interaction with people. It is also about managing change within a technological environment, but above all, common sense in dealing with people in your organization.

We started off by defining an overgrown intranet and how we have come to inherit one. Then we looked at a variety of methods for consolidating the information, making it more widely available, reducing duplication and bringing the structure into a more coherent whole, all the while maintaining good relationships with the users and people who developed the information in the first place. The decision-making and refinement process was examined in some detail as well as looking at the involvement of some of the stakeholder groups, managers, and decision-makers, and justifying the changes you are proposing. The continuing case study and perspectives highlighted some of these processes in a real-life situation, and in some of these cases where the process went noticeably wrong.

The processes discussed can only be described as iterative - there is no one fix, there is not one way of getting it right first time. You have to define a strategy that encompasses change and allows for changes in company direction, not the easiest thing to plan for as people who design intranets are usually not party to the level of discussion that affects company policy. Companies also react to national and world economic changes so changes of direction or emphasis are likely. Planning for this type of change is difficult if not impossible. Budgetary constraints may limit your freedom of action, but by showing what benefits reorganization of the intranet can bring to the company, you will gain friends within the hierarchy.

The most common theme of this chapter is the adoption of a strategy with inbuilt review processes at defined periods and not being afraid to hone the goals and direction that the intranet takes. Rigidity of approach has been proven not to work. Life's not like that. Along with the involvement of the users and site developers you can win - but it's neither easy nor straightforward with plenty of potential pitfalls on the way.

If you have this problem and want to solve it please accept my heartfelt wishes of good luck.




Practical Intranet Development
Practical Intranet Development
ISBN: 190415123X
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2006
Pages: 124

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