DorjeM

Recently I've been thinking about Governance for intranet sites, SharePoint and intranets as a whole. Earlier this year I was lucky enough to present alongside some great folks from Telcom NZ, The department of Transport NZ, and NZ Parliament. The team from NZ Parliament have come up with a governance structure that works really well for them in a very technically, politically and legally complex environment. I talked to Tracy Parsons from NZ Parliament recently and she outlined what the force was that drove the move to this structure and the benefits they derive from it. Originally the governance structure was setup quite differently. Large web site and intranet development projects were initiated and resulted in very project - focused governance structures being put in place. The projects transitioned form implementation to work as usual, this highlighted how project focused governance structures don’t suit work as usual operations. The two senior business owners, who had...

It's that time of year again and together with BrightStar we've got a great Intranet conference for all those New Zealand Intranet folks, starting next week. For those of you who may be following the action in the alternate channels I thought I'd post the Agenda and the hash tag for everyone to use Monday and Tuesday next week. I've had a hell of a couple of weeks so I'm really looking forward to seeing some great presentations, hearing some super questions and learning a lot. James Robertson of StepTwo designs is giving the key note, so expect to be challenged. Hash tag for the event # nzIntSum 09 - looking forward to your blog and twitter posts Agenda 9th Annual Strategic Intranet Summit Day One, Monday, 31 August 2009 9:00am Opening Remarks from the Chair Dorje McKinnon, Intranet Overseer SUNGARD SYSTEMS NZ LTD 9:10am Keynote Address: Building Momentum for the Intranet Team James Robertson, Managing Director STEP TWO DESIGN PTY LTD 10:00am CASE STUDY: R...

Jane McConnell has asked me to remind you there are only a few days before the 4Th Annual global intranet strategies survey will close, at the end of August. I’ve worked with Jane on this for a couple of years [Disclosure: I have helped, unpaid, Jane improve the report by being an opinionated fellow from across the sea] and can highly recommend participation. If you fill in the survey you get a free copy of the Trends Report, Jane’s analysis of the data. It is really great material and helps with many aspects related to running an intranet. How to sign up to participate this year http://tinyurl.com/lmrsxh Some preliminary findings: - The intranet as the single point of entry into the online workplace is beginning, with approximately 15 % of the organizations saying this is already the case. - Home pages are primarily news-based (60 %) versus navigational or work tool-based. - Social networking applications (such as Facebook) are still rare, existing in fewer than 15% of the organizatio...

Recently I was asked " What are the top 10 points you think are important to get across to staff at all levels in an organisation about Yammer? " My initial reaction was "Tough ask", mainly because I've seen great write ups on what organisations get out of Yammer but very few that talk directly to the user benefits. Many articles give the usual cop out "users can't see the point, until they get it" I admit I was in that boat when I started using Twitter, a public micro blogging platform. But just like they said "once I used it I got it". What they didn't say was that it took a while and it suits certain people better than others. So as with all things in the social media space, be aware that culture change not the technology may be your biggest challenge. So what does Yammer, a microblogging platform for organisational use , do for real employees that is compelling enough for them to spend the time to "Get it" ? First off Y...

Yep cost per year for screen saver running 24 hrs a day 365 days a year was US$122,000. Our organisation was looking for cost savings and a new corporate screen saver came out at about the same time. There was some comment about how much it must have cost, even though it looked good and everyone felt part of the team now they had it. I got to thinking, how much is it actually costing for everyone in our division, about 800 people, to run this new screen saver. So I opened up a power cord, got out the volt meter and measured 10 or 12 monitors and 10 or 12 different PCs to find out how much power they were using. It took a few lunch times worth of work but by the end of the week I had some numbers. I was looking to contibute something to our whole organisation, about 8000 people at the time so I was hoping for multiplier effects. What I found was very interesting but did require some assumptions due to our division and the organisation being spread all round the globe. My hypoth...

My Edmonds cookbook The following is one of the many ways of "influencing" those you need on side to do intranets well! It is also great for those folks that help you out with paper prototyping and usability studies, I bake mine in muffin tins so that I can give each participant one. Edmond's Banana Cake (Page 18, of my book) Add the ingredients to a bowl in the order listed, mixing constantly 125g (4oz) butter (soft, or part melted) 175g (6oz) white sugar cream together 2 eggs 2 mashed bananas (we put brown ones from the fruit bowl in the freezer until you need them and then use those) mix ingredients Put two tablespoons of full fat milk in a cup and boil in the microwave. Add 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. Mix till mixture is frothy. Add frothy bicarb/milk to the main bowl. Add one teaspoon of baking powder to 225g (8oz) white flour, sift into the mail bowl of ingredients Mix well. Bake in muffin or cake tins at 180 degrees Celsius (350F) ...

Photo by hoyasmeg "Revolution doesn't happen when society adopts new tools, it happens when society adopts new behaviours" Clay Shirky www.usnowfilm.com The organisations we manage intranets within serve institutional societies. Delivering benefit to the organisations intranets serve requires that we as intranet managers provide the tools, that provide the opportunity for behaviours to change. The changed behaviour delivers benefit to the organisations we serve. How do you facilitate changes in behaviour by the members of your organisation ? Share you highs and lows.