From the best intranet firm of its kind in the Southern Hemisphere is a new methodology on enhancing an existing intranet. The 6x2 methodology from Step Two Designs is a highly, pragmatic, activity focused process for improving the intranet in 6-month chunks. Simple to digest and understand, this methodology is a particularly solid do-it-yourself approach for small and medium-size organizations.

“Detailed project planning is used to ensure that the selected items are

actually achievable, as well as giving a clear sequence of activities,” says James Robertson, author of the methodology and Managing Director, Step Two Designs. “This methodology provides a simple and pragmatic approach that can be used by intranet teams of any size (from one person to a dozen or more).”

A sneak preview of this methodology highlighted in a 104-page report:

You can preview or order the 6x2 methodology online from Step Two.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE: A great day indeed when my one-year-old daughter, who’s been sick for most of the past two months, suddenly perked-up today. Unusually smiley and active, and clearly feeling better, she walked for the first time!! Very exciting stuff!! There’s almost nothing more exciting for a parent than those first steps J A great day! (She fell sick again tonight, but we’re hopeful a good day might lead to more…!!).

A very exciting trade deadline day in the NHL. Outrageous are the prices paid for ‘rental’ players particularly Tkachuk, Forsberg and Guerin. Shocking that the Oilers end-up trading Smyth… but quite possibly a very good deal for Edmonton. San Jose I think are the big winners and I’d put them up their with Detroit as cup favorites. Don’t however rule out Anaheim and Vancouver. Oh and for the record: Bryan Smolinski’s best season was 61 points – 12 years ago (and playing with Cam Neely and Adam Oates).

Anyone see the Carling Cup finale?!? Wild stuff for football. I can’t say I was impressed by Chelsea, nor Wayne Bridge’s theatrics or Drogba’s… nice to see the Blues play all their best players while Arsenal fields no starting players and only their young substitutes. See YouTube.com > “Carling Cup.”

What a joke the Oscars are… I like Al Gore and appreciate his efforts… but that was way over-the-top. Especially for a grossly exaggerated documentary (by the way I’m a big carbon neutral proponent). Great to see Marty win the two big ones… I like Helen Mirren (looked great too) and Forrest Whittaker winning. I don’t however understand Alan Arkin… he played himself, the same way he plays all roles (which I actually like), had about 10 lines of dialogue, and wins an Oscar?! Finally, I’m a proud Canadian, but Celine needs a break… or we need a break from Celine.

  Digg this         Post to del.icio.us       Post to Slashdot

Communications folks see the world a tad differently from IT. And if men are from Mars and Women from Venus, then IT is from Pluto and Human Resources from Mercury. All very, very different individuals with greatly differing jobs. Yet all are expected to work together on the intranet and do so with effectiveness. Yeah right...

I know a lot of communicators and IT read this column, but probably a few more communicators than techies. And if you communicators want to redesign the intranet or build a better tool or get things done faster, then you need to learn how to talk the talk.

So in the spirit of cooperation and team building here are some of Catherine Elder’s recommendations for working with and talking with IT:

• Put yourself in their shoes
• Set project goals and communicate them
• Involve IT in your project
• Respect. Ask. Listen
• Be prepared and do your homework
• Become friends, or at least friendly, with your IT staff
• Build a business case
• Adjust expectations
• Keep informed and share what you know
• Appreciate

Good advice.

Read Catherine’s full article How to talk to IT staff.

  Digg this         Post to del.icio.us       Post to Slashdot

”Ease of Communications” – On Demand EIM Solutions, a white paper from WebEx, estimates the cost of implementing an enterprise instant messaging as being quite astronomical:

"An analysis of the licensing rate structures of prominent EIM vendors as well as interviews with leading users of EIM solutions has been used to develop the TCO model and determine the average upfront and annual operating costs on a per user basis. Given the need to amortize On-Premise solutions with all their hardware and software costs, per user EIM costs are very high if the number of users is below 1,000, but they begin stabilize beyond 5,000 users. For smaller systems, upfront costs can be as high as $250 per user, while annual operating costs can be as high as $50 to 75 per user."

Call me an old-fashioned new-age Internet guy, but why would you spend that kind of money on instant messaging? Did e-mail, the phone, face-to-face communications become passé and ineffective?

Notwithstanding the tried-and-true traditional channels is instant messaging filling a void not filled by the new social media, Web 2.0 and such?  

• Discussion forums?
• Blogs?
• Wikis?
• Podcasts?
• Webcasts?
• Text messaging (cell)?
• Water cooler talk?
• Cafeteria gossip?

What is the void not filled by all of the above? Can someone please set me straight and present a reasonable case argument why a business or not-for-profit organization can measurably benefit from instant messaging because all of the above are not sufficient?

Would now be the time to point out that bulk of our organizational champions and executive wizzes balk at spending $50 or $100 per employee on an intranet…?!! And they’re gonna spend that kind of money on IM?!?

IMO u d’t need IM

Not to worry though, I think the Telex is poised to make a massive comeback. Come to think of it I miss that birthday telegram I used to get from Grandma…

PS - I had an executive tell me the other day that from his perspecitve "... the Internet is nothing but a fantasy world." I like the guy actually, but the world is changing... and by the way, Happy Days was cancelled... and Chaci has an exciting future ahead. *yawn* is that coffee I smell?

  Digg this         Post to del.icio.us       Post to Slashdot

Getting the necessary support and funding for an intranet redesign is usually a struggle at most organizations, particularly when most view the intranet as a cost center – a necessary evil. To change this mindset, intranet managers need to show them the money.

Senior management are much more likely to invest in an intranet if they can see it delivering measurable returns, such as increased business efficiency, reduced overheads and enhanced customer satisfaction. Increasingly the intranet manager will need to put in place viable processes for recording and reporting intranet value, in short demonstrating a return on investment (ROI) and employee productivity.

Presented by Prescient Digital Media and Summers Direct Selling A New Intranet to Senior Management is a webinar to arm you with invaluable ideas and steps for building a business case for redeveloping or redesigning your existing intranet.

Date: February 27, 2007 & Time: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m. (EST)

Specifically, we’ll teach you:

• Priorities for building a business case
• How to measure return on investment
• How to identify very specific measurable benefits
• Best practices & case studies that measure ROI

To register phone 1-866-869-7969 or e-mail register@summersdirect.com

NOTICE: The British Airways intranet webinar has been rescheduled to March 15, 2007. See Intranet Insider World Tour: British Airways.

RELATED READING:

Selling the intranet to senior management

Infant intranets need executive loving

  Digg this         Post to del.icio.us       Post to Slashdot

“8 of 10 hires are hired for their knowledge and technical skills,” says Edgar Papke, CEO of Living Change. “9 out of 10 fires are for poor teamwork and interpersonal skills.”

As I’ve said time and time again in the column, the biggest challenge facing intranet managers and consultants is not technical, but political. Specifically, the politics of what I call ‘competing priorities.’ IT, communications, and HR all have differing priorities and focuses, yet have to work together to build and manage an effective intranet.

Technical knowledge and skills are nice to have, management skills are a necessity for an intranet manager or intranet consultant.

When interviewing a perspective hire, here are five very telling and important questions that Papke recommends:

1. Tell me when you were part of a high performing team. How did the leader lead?
2. What was your contribution to the team?
3. Tell me when you were part of a team that didn’t /wasn’t a high-performing team?
4. What was your contribution to that team?
5. How will you contribute here?

In particular, question three is a critical one, says Papke: “If someone answers ‘no’ to question three then say ‘goodbye.” For two reasons: either they’re lying or they haven’t any experience with conflict. In short, you want to hire someone that knows how to manage conflict.

See How to hire an intranet manager

Another hiring tool to use is Ed Ryan’s MPR Competency Model. In short, the MPR model focuses on ranking three key traits required for a typical job:

T = Talent (skills to do the job)

E = Experience (job related experience)

C = Chemistry (cultural fit & personality)

The most important trait is talent, followed by chemistry. A strong trait is exemplified by a capital letter (T); a weak trait symbolized with a small case letter (t). The ideal candidate is a strong T-E-C, but a close runner up is a T-e-C (someone with talent and is a good cultural fit, but has limited experience).

The best combinations (in descending order of preference) are:

·         TEC

·         TeC

·         Tec

·         Tec

·         tEC

All of these tips and learnings are equally applicable for hiring an intranet consultant. If you’re hiring in an intranet consultant, then you’re likely benefiting from their ability to cut through some of the organization’s red tape and politics. If this is true, then having a skilled diplomat (C) is perhaps one of the most valuable traits a consultant can bring to the table.