An involving approach to intranet design

Giacomo Mason – Cristiano Siri

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Intranet challenges:

an involving approach


1. the intranet challenges


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1° ORGANIZATIONAL COMPLEXITY


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Giacomo Mason – Cristiano SiriGiacomo Mason – Cristiano Siri

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2° GOALS’ HETEROGENEITY

1. HR wants intranet to do this


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2. Production wants intranet to do that


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n. Department X wants intranet to do Y


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n. Department X wants intranet to do Y

IT wants just to do less


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3° Legacy and already existent apps

SAP


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SAP, 3 Active Directory


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SAP, 3 Active Directory, E-Procurement tool, Lotus Notes,


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SAP, 3 Active Directory, E-Procurement tool

Shared folders (or autodestruction button)

, Lotus Notes,


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SAP, 3 Active Directory, E-Procurement tool

Shared folders (or autodestruction button)

, Lotus Notes,

and many many more


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2. the technological approach


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TECHNOLOGICAL APPROACH

Thanks to Dilbert!


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Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/theolaphoto/2394966982/



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Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/theolaphoto/2394966982/

A Websphere (or other proprietary software) out of the box installation in your enterprise



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Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/46264733@N00/268156261/in/photostream/

but there’s no that big difference if you bought an open source one:


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Thanks to http://www.flickr.com/photos/46264733@N00/268156261/in/photostream/

but there’s no that big difference if you bought an open source one:

It’s just cheaper


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They are monolith for which have spent $$$ and you can just workship



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They are monolith for which have spent $$$ and you can just workship


(HR) I pray you to simplify the

vacation planning system!

(IT) Please speak to the

Active Directory…

(Production) I need your help to support my

process!


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3. the involving approach


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1. Involve stakeholders

2. Involve users

3. needs first, then technology

4. Permanent beta

INVOLVING APPROACH


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• every intranet is different, since every enterprise is different

• an intranet has a strong organizational impact, be prepared to afford it

• an intranet could change not only the processes but also the approach to work

INVOLVE STAKEHOLDERS

Training talk to Intranet project owner (HR) and to IT


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• to let them know we were working to create an intranet (is not a monolith suddenly and unexpectately coming from the outer space)

• to explain them what an intranet is and how it could affect (and hopely improve) their work (intranet will not be MORE work, just work done simpler and more effective)

• to get their engagement: “we want everyone among you help us with concrete ideas, we want you spread the words to all of your collegues”

• to find champions and evangelist capable people between them to get them involved in the design and test phase.


Brainstorming about “Intranet” with more than 30 people form every Honda’s department


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Project overview to managers

• to let them know we were going to involve a lot of people in our project

• to get their sponsorship


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Brainstorming with more than 30 people from every Honda’s department

INVOLVE USERS

Needs definition

85 ideas for the intranet!


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INVOLVE USERS

Needs definition

Focus group

• people who manage other people and people which don’t

• people from every department

• people working in the offices and people from the assembly line

• people from Atessa and people from Rome (two main Honda locations in Italy)


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INVOLVE USERS

Needs definition

Focus group

• how they use computer and software in their everyday work

• which processes could be improved and how ?

• do they find all the information needed for everyday work ?

• do they need different tools to gain better access and a better way to manage this information ?

and more questions


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INVOLVE USERS

Needs definition

Survey

To all 1000 workers to also have a quantitative analysis


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INVOLVE USERS

Design

Card sorting, many open card sorting sessions were done to build the intranet Information Architecture

Card sorting allowed us to build an user friendly navigation structure, where findability is really high


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As soon as the first working software pieces became available, we started calling back several “champions users” groups:

• to show them the work done• to understand if it met their needs • to fine tune our work and reschedule project priorities

INVOLVE USERS

Testing

Feedback during development


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INVOLVE USERS

We met and talked directly to more than 100 people on 1000


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After brainstorming, focus group and survey we had a clear idea of final users’ needs

So we helped Honda to assign priority to some of those, using a scheme like this one

NEEDS FIRST, THEN TECHNOLOGY

Thanks to Alberto Mucignat http://www.mucignat.com/blog/archives/673-definire-le-priorita-di-un-progetto.html /


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Thanks to Alberto Mucignat http://www.mucignat.com/blog/archives/673-definire-le-priorita-di-un-progetto.html /


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Knowing needs we were able to choose the best fitting technology

Benchmarking:

Proprietary software Open Source software


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Knowing needs we were able to choose the best fitting technology

Benchmarking:

Proprietary software

Open Source software


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Thanks to Dilbert


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• The users define features end evolution roadmap

• Time to market (do i need a feature? I can ask the community or i can do by myself; i’ve not to wait months for a new commercial release)

• Open standard (often easier to integrate)

• Freedom from a unique vendor


Open Source benefit


(IT) Please speak to the

Active Directory…

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No licenses, so all the money is spent not to buy a monolith, but to start answering user’s needs immediately, customizing and tailoring the software to Honda’s needs


Open Source benefit

(HR) I pray you to simplify the

vacation planning system!

(Production) I need your help to support my

process!

$$$


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The launch is a starting point, not an arrival point

PERMANENT BETA


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Intranets have to grow with the enterprise.

If an intranet is unchanged after 6 months lifetime, it is getting obsolete: the enterprise is 6 month ahead.

The launch is a starting point, not an arrival point

PERMANENT BETA


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Intranets are never finished

An intranet is always a work in progress. Although initial intranet builds follow a reasonably

linear path, once implementation has taken place there is no single path forward and the

next steps will largely depend on a combination of organisational imperative and the

constraints the team is operating under.

Cairo Walker Step Two

PERMANENT BETA


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Doing Card Sorting using contents satisfying Needs group 1 (high priority), but also group 2 and 3, will permit the Information Architecture to include future content with no major change, avoiding user’s confusion

PERMANENT BETA


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Choosing a Open Source software will avoid waiting new commercial version to have new features (often not useful) added.

Choosing Open Source will permit to follow the enterprise needs continuously and to adapt better and faster to new challenges (also thanks to what the community create and make public)

PERMANENT BETA


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Intranet Challenges• Organizational complexity• Goals’ heterogenity• Legacy and already existent applications

BRIEFLY


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BRIEFLY


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BRIEFLY

Involving approach1. Involve stakeholders2. Involve users3. Needs first, then technology4. Permanent beta


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Thanks!


AUTHORS

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Cristiano SiriUser Experience [email protected]

friendfeed.com/cristianosiri

www.linkedin.com/in/cristianosiri

friendfeed.com/uxalia


AUTHORS

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Giacomo MasonIntranet [email protected]

www.intranetmanagement.it

An involving approach to intranet design

Technology

Transcript of An involving approach to intranet design