Tips and techniques for engaging your organisation in an intranet rebuild. Presented at the Australian and New Zealand SharePoint conferences, July 2014.
1. S H A R E P O I N T
CONFERENCES
2 0 1 4
Rebecca Jackson
Intranet Specialist
Melbourne Water bit.ly/1nAJJhK
@_rebeccajackson
2. #auspc #nzspc
Intranet Specialist at Melbourne Water
Sketchnoter
Social media and marketing
Find me on:
Twitter: @_rebeccajackson
Blog: rebeccajacksonblogs.wordpress.com
Yammer group: bit.ly/1nAJJhK
3. #auspc #nzspc
Overview of our project
Why bother with engagement
How you can engage your organisation
Tips for success
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Victorian government
owned
850-2500 staff
$9.4 billion in assets
Looks after
water supply catchments
removal / treatment of
sewage
rivers, creeks, major drainage
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Key issues:
Technology end of life
Lack of innovation
Under-resourced and under
funded
Ownership/governance
confusion
Out of date content
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Current project:
• New platform
• Governance
• Up-to-date content
• Improved usability
Post project:
• Collaboration
• Social networking
• Mobile
• Forms
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It’s their intranet, you need to know what they NEED
Builds initial awareness about the project
Do it through
Focus groups
Surveys
Interviews
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Representation from
across the business
Keep updated about the
project
Input into key project tasks
Quick access to what the
business needs
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Represent your typical intranet users
Basis for design decisions
Quick reference to user perspective
Tool when talking to project
stakeholders
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Natalie the
New Starter
Anita the
Author
Karen the
Knowledge Worker
Peter the
People Manager
Austin
the Operator
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Take every opportunity to talk
about the project
Show designs and progress
Don’t be afraid about
feedback
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Based on clear principles
Users do the work
Card sorting
Tree testing
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Users follow scenarios
Issues are recorded
Where practical, worked
into development or the
upgrade path
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Project team follows formal
scripts
Users do ‘exploratory testing’
They become familiar with the
system
Find issues that scripts don’t
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It’s their intranet
Supports a solid business
case
Early buy-in leads to
project success
Different perspectives
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Requirements gathering
Business Representative
Group
Personas
Information architecture
Usability testing
User acceptance testing
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Ask what they need… not
what they want
Involve early and throughout
Budget for design activities
Be clear on expectations
Treats go a long way
Make it fun
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How you can find me:
Connect zone
Yammer group: bit.ly/1nAJJhK
Twitter: @_rebeccajackson
Blog: rebeccajacksonblogs.wordpress.com/
Primary reason we build, redevelop and improve on intranets is for staff.
Intranets support business processes, bring staff together, make their jobs easier (ref essential intranets).
An intranet built without engaging staff, might have a purpose but is unlikely to serve core staff needs.
One of the hardest tasks with an intranet build or redevelopment is the business case, getting the funding.
Starting with user research can help to identify areas of quick win or big bang for buck.
Finding where efficiencies can be gained, what peoples issues are, is the starting point for your project.
Compelling evidence and strong figures will speak to senior executives and assist in getting the resources required to build or improve.
While doing a huge unveiling of the intranet and surprising staff with a dazzling new system might sound great for marketing, from a change management perspective it’s a big risk.
By involving people in the project early
A project team can get a bit of project tunnel vision
If not for professionals, ensure time/resources to DIY
If you are asking people for their time, you need to be clear exactly what you need them for.
You should also be really clear what you DON’T need them for.
Feed them and they will come
Meme of the day
Chicken chilli zilla
Feel free to jump into the Yammer group to ask questions
Don’t forget to fill out the conference feedback form