June 18, 2012 at 8:08 am | Posted in best practice, beta testing, intranet, navigation, usability, user testing | 2 Comments
Tags: best practice, beta testing, intranet, navigation, usability, user testing
Many organisations are are planning to or already use mega menus on their intranet to help employees navigate to the information or tools they need to use. I have been involved in developing several mega menus based on different business needs while helping with SharePoint 2010. Some have been more successful than others at giving a great user experience……….and that’s what you are really aiming to achieve.
People need to be confident wherever they are in the intranet and with what they need to go and do next. I believe some navigation principles help you decide if a mega menu is for your intranet.
Navigation principles for mega menus
- It helps people get to what they need more quickly.
- The headings are consistently placed in the same position on every page.
- The headings are specific and clearly labelled to avoid any confusion or hesitation.
- The content under each heading is relevant to the heading’s title and links to the right page.
- The content under each heading should only be the most important and popular headings – don’t try to duplicate all your intranet.
- The size of the each section of links under each heading should be limited and be used.
- Test it with a sample of people first before launching or making any major changes every time.
My view is the mega menu must help people to get quickly and easily to the most important and popular pages they need to use on the intranet.
I have experienced both static mega menus (same headings, position nd links) and moveable menus that change as they follow you around from one part of the intranet to another. The feedback has been almost universal from people using them. Static menus work and changeable menus cause confusion and are avoided by most people.
When people are more familiar with and use the intranet more frequently maybe you can test with people want to change to moveable headings and content depending on where they are in the intranet?
February 7, 2012 at 9:19 am | Posted in benchmark, benefit, best practice, collaboration, content management, digital workplace, engagement, governance, homepage, intranet, mark morrell ltd, plan, publishing, research, SharePoint 2010, social media, standards, strategy, training, usability, user testing, value, wiki | 1 Comment
Tags: applications, benchmark, benefit, best practice, beta testing, blog, bt intranet, collaboration, content, digital workplace, engagement, governance, help, homepage, intranet, intranet applications, Mark Morrell, plan, publishing, research, sharepoint 2010, social media, standards, strategy, usability, user testing, value, wiki
Thinking about what is the best way to implement SharePoint 2010?
Are you looking for good examples of managing intranets?
Are you planning how to transform your digital workplace?
Maybe you want to use collaboration tools to increase employee engagement?
Now you can find helpful information on all these areas in one site. It combines my first-hand experience managing BT’s intranet with my knowledge and help improving other intranets to show how you can improve your intranets and digital workplaces.
If I can help you further please contact me whenever you want to.
December 14, 2011 at 10:05 am | Posted in benefit, beta testing, intranet, plan, strategy, value | 1 Comment
Tags: benefit, beta testing, intranet, money, strategy, user testing, value
I recently discussed this subject with some intranet practitioners in Copenhagen at an IntraTeam community of practice meeting. Several people there had yet to experience the excitement of knowing a business case had been approved or the disappointment of one being rejected.
I know how both of these experiences feel from first-hand experience when I was the BT intranet manager! It was the frustration rather than the disappointment with the rejection of a business case that has stayed with me longer. Frustration because I couldn’t get the people deciding to ‘get it’ and realise how much it would improve the intranet, the experience of people using it, and the business overall that I felt so passionately about.
How to succeed
You need to ask yourself if a business case is needed at all. Maybe by using open source technology there will be no costs that need you to ask for funding? Maybe you do need to later when you have something more convincing, more persuasive even more tangible, in the benefits you can demonstrate have been achieved by what you are doing.
Tip 1: Pick your timing to give yourself the best chance.
You need sponsors, preferably senior sponsors, better still the CEO as your sponsor. The more strategic and senior the level of support gained by you in your organisation, the better your chances of success and your efforts and time to achieve it will be rewarded.
Tip 2: Build up your relationship with your stakeholders.
You need to be complete in your business case. That means include all the costs – technology, licences, support, training, and implementation. But don’t forget all the savings – paper, accommodation, time, benefits – productivity, better decision making, risks avoided to brand, and reputation. There could also be revenue generated from extra sales because what you offer could mean more time and ability to compete than before for new business.
Tip 3: Don’t leave off something which could come back to bite you and affect your credibility with future business cases.
You need to consider the wider context for your business case. Is your organisation looking to expand or is it just trying to survive? What is your organisation’s strategy? Is your intranet strategy in line with it? Is your business case connected to your strategy (make sure it is!)? You need to align what you will achieve with the organisation’s values – teamwork, openness = collaboration tools.
Tip 4: Choose your agenda and use the language your audience will recognise.
You need to make your business case as compelling as possible. That means showing as many savings – money not leaving the organisation – and income – extra money coming in – that can justify. While there will be many benefits from productivity and reduced risks, it is the bottom line that will be the main focus and the hardest to achieve.
Tip 5: Focus on the savings and benefits which are most important to your organisation.
Lastly don’t forget to use every weapon in your artillery to help convince your sponsors of what your proposal will achieve. In addition to the five tips you can highlight how it fits with the organisations’ values, the downside of not approving the business case and risks being taken by that decision.
Good luck, be passionate about your business case. GO FOR IT AND WIN!
October 19, 2011 at 10:43 am | Posted in best practice, beta testing, collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, intranet, social media | 1 Comment
Tags: best practice, beta testing, bt intranet, collaboration, digital workplace, engagement, social media, user testing
I posted recently that I will be a panellist at the Social Workplace conference in London, UK, on 1 November. Ahead of the conference I was interviewed for my views on the social workplace by Jon Ingham discussing engagement and collaboration.
You can see my interview on YouTube if you are interested or just curious to see me in my digital workplace. There is also a great interview with Sam Marshall who will be at the conference too.
It was a bit wierd talking to Jon using my webcam and not fully appreciating my facial expressions!
I hope to meet you at the conference or tweet about it on the day if you can’t make it.
December 1, 2010 at 9:44 am | Posted in beta testing, blog, intranet, social media, user testing, value, wiki | 3 Comments
Tags: benefit, beta testing, social media, value
While I was at the Employee Portal Evolution Masters conference I was struck by the number of organisations who were interested in using social media tools but were not sure what approach to take.
To justify any investment funding you need to have a strong business case – even more so in these difficult economic times – that clearly shows the benefits to the organisation of adopting social media tools. That justification has to have good reasons backed up by clear evidence of how it benefits the organisation.
Here are a few points to remember and use:
Start small
Have an idea of what you need to do. Try using personas to help identify a typical group of people with a similar need. Find a few volunteers to test out what the tool will do. I talked in a previous post about beta testing with people as you develop a new tool.
Build quick
You need one friendly person in IT, a PC, maybe a small server and the software. You need to make sure it works – no fancy design, just out of the box functionality – before you start to testing.
Go with the flow!
Whatever you think it needs to do let the volunteers testing it set the direction that helps them most. They will be using it in future – not you!
Keep it cheap
It is important to avoid any unneccesary costs. If possible try something for free. By keeping it to a small number of people testing and just one PC or server you avoid high star-up costs.
Next steps
When you have clear evidence of benefits, more people wanting to use it, buy-in from IT, you can then build a business case showing how it will help your organisation. You may be asked for more or better examples but it is less likely you will get a ‘NO!’ response.
Then consider what guidance, training, education and governance is needed.
Good luck!
October 11, 2010 at 10:20 am | Posted in benefit, best practice, beta testing, governance, help, homepage, intranet, navigation, plan, publishing, research, search, social media, standards, training, usability, user testing, value | 2 Comments
Tags: benefit, best practice, beta testing, governance, help, homepage, intranet, navigation, plan, publishing, research, search, standards, usability, user testing, users, value
I have just finished reading ‘Designing intranets – Creating sites that work’, the latest book written by James Robertson. For those of you who have seen James present or read his blog posts, you will know he gives a clear view to help you – whether you agree with it or not.
James is one of the most knowledgeable people in the world on intranets. He has used this experience to write this book.
Whether you are new to intranets or, like me, involved as an intranet manager for years, this book will be very useful to you.
This book will cover all you need to know to be able to create intranet sites that work. And it is the ‘sites that work’ words that make this book different to others. It is more than just a pleasing design. It is what else is needed to be researched, planned and created too that will make your time and effort better spent. Even more, you want the people using your intranet to get the best out of it. This book helps you to do just that!
I have found it helps reinforce why BT’s intranet is like it is and why the things I do are important such as:
As I write this blog post ‘Designing intranets’ is by my side. Some parts of James’ book are looking well used already as I’ve thumbed through them several times for tips to help me!
Why not treat yourself? Read James’ book and help make your life easier and your intranet better by reading James’ book.
August 18, 2010 at 4:13 pm | Posted in benchmark, best practice, beta testing, intranet, standards, user testing | 2 Comments
Tags: benchmark, best practice, beta testing, bt intranet, feedback, research, user testing, users
I regularly ask users what they feel about BT’s intranet. I use a variety of methods to do this.
1. Survey - I ask each year questions to compare with previous years for trends as well as new areas to focus on.
2. Beta testing - I ask for people to test out new features to make sure it meets their needs or improve further so it does before launching.
3. Feedback – every page has a feedback link for anyone to ask for more information or raise a concern.
Find out more in Intranet Ideas article ‘Conducting an Intranet Performance Review’ which has comments from me and other intranet professionals.
December 21, 2009 at 12:16 pm | Posted in beta testing, homepage, user testing | 4 Comments
Tags: 2012 Challenge, beta testing, bt intranet, homepage, user testing
After testing with users on the changes to BT Homepage I have been able to launch it with the changes to some sections of the top page and site.
While some users when asked for their views wondered what all the fuss was about for the small changes proposed, most appreciated being given the chance to give their views and liked the changes.
I have greater confidence that I’ve made changes which users want and need to give them an even easier way to find what they need for their work.
A lesson I have learned is to try to make changes small rather than keep them back until a major change is needed. It avoids users being disorientated with all the changes. Of course keeping the number of times changes are needed to a minimum helps too.
Testing with users involves them more and suggestions made will help me make further small changes in 2010.
Here is the final version in normal colours and in Team BT/2012 Challenge colours when quarterly updates publicising progress and how people get involved are made.
September 9, 2009 at 3:58 pm | Posted in intranet, standards, governance, user testing, beta testing, application, oracle | 5 Comments
Tags: bt intranet, governance, user testing, beta testing, usability, oracle, usability standards, intranet applications
When I asked Oracle, can you improve your poor usability please? I was really pleased to see how widely my views were shared. I’m not alone! It has led to Oracle re-engaging with Janus Boye (read his blog post on Oracle) and me. There is no guarantee this will lead to anything so how can we improve the usability of Oracle and other software applications?
Well, I can think of the following ways we can try:
Helping make the decisions
We need to make sure we are as closely involved as possible when our organisations decide on buying or developing a business application. It’s much harder to get a decision changed after it has been made. We also need to make sure the full costs are understood. By this I mean the productivity costs of training, helpdesk support and extra time taken using the application.
Usability standards being implemented
Embed usability standards into any procurement or development process for technology. This means any technology your organisation buys or develops has to meet these standards as well as any other technical, security or other criteria. You can be the contact point for any queries about your standards and get involved.
BT uses these usability standards for this purpose.
Proof of concept
Test out if possible the technology before it is fully developed or bought based on user needs to see what our the usability issues and how easy and costly they will be to solve. I do this with user stories which explain the business need, activity to be tested and outcome needed for it to have been met successfully.
Commitment
Get your vendor to commit to what you need them to do with timescales you both agree to. Make sure it is binding in any contract and a review does take place to check every improvement agreed has been done to the usability standard expected. (My thanks to Christophen McCann)
I will keep you updated on progress with Oracle on my blog or Twitter.
August 25, 2009 at 3:22 pm | Posted in beta testing, blog, intranet, rss, social media, user testing | 6 Comments
Tags: beta testing, blog, bt intranet, rss, social media, user testing, users
I have posted before about simple steps to setting up a wiki and the next stages when it is established. My last post updated you about BTpedia, our wiki. I thought it would also help if I showed you where Blog Central is now.
Blog Central was created in 2008. Beta testing with users has led to a small application becoming a critical place for people to share how to do things in BT.
Without advertising or publicity it has grown to over 350 blogs and is linked from the BT Homepage and searched like other content areas.
I have some slides with examples of how Blog Central is now. They show:
- Blog Central linked directly from BT Homepage, top level of BT’s intranet
- Blog Central searched by SearchBT, BT’s intranet search engine for most content
- BT A-Z includes Blog Central with other content types
- Blog Central homepage
- Disclaimer for user generated content
- BT’s policy on internal and external business and personal blogs
- Help on how to be a good blogger
- A post from Sandy Blair’s internal blog (thanks Sandy)
- A post from our Publishing business blog.
I hope these help you with your intranet blogging. Let me know what you think…………
Next Page »
