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Discipline and documentation
By swilson | June 26, 2009
I spent a day and a half this week with a client on intranet/portal governance. They are excited – that’s right “excited” – about getting more disciplined and documenting processes and accountabilities.
They talked about formalizing currently informal roles. They talked about holding people accountable by giving them objectives and measuring their performance. They talked about using business goals as a lens to make decisions about how they use the technology and what to do next.
I’m so proud! Having a client that has bought into the value of good governance and using technology more strategically as a business tool makes me smile. Why? Because so many don’t. So many deploy technologies because IT thought it would be cool, or because an executive told them to. So many depend on volunteers to perform good intranet maintenance, and, well, we do what we’re paid to do.
It’s precisely why so many organizations wind up disappointed in their intranet/portal deployments. We have to be diligent and brave – planful and courageous – strategic and anticipatory. Personally, I think it’s a perfect role for communication or HR to step into – leading a disciplined documentation approach on intranet/portal governance. Bring IT and legal and others along for the ride and then everyone will be onboard too.
Topics: Intranet and Portal, Usability, social technology | Comment »