Understanding User Perspectives
We have talked a lot about project success factors, what company expectations should be – how these can be phased, how intranet return on investment can be measured.
But at the end of the day we sometimes don’t pay quite enough attention to the individual employees of the client that have a role to play – as a general advocate – or as departmental editor/content generator.
At a personal level these people need to be engaged with, planned for, mentored, coached and trained. They need to have what to us are relatively basic concepts – like permission dialog boxes – demonstrated and explained until they are very comfortable. When that is achieved they are more than capable of pushing their department forwards.
Sometimes, on both sides – the intranet software supplier and the client – the individuals a level below true system administrators, but those who really understand what is important to make a departmental area more efficient – get poor attention in our shared excitement to deliver against client management goals. But these are the foot soldiers that make things happen in intranet projects, and we should recognise that and encourage their informed participation.