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Why Intranets Fail (and How to Fix Them): A practical guide for information professionals

Luke Tredinnick, London Metropolitan University, UK

…a very recommendable book.
Intranets

 - jargon-free and aimed at information professionals with sole/mixed responsibilities
 - draws many examples from broader library management contexts
 - clearly distinguishes between intranet and Internet technologies

Why Intranets Fail (and How to Fix Them) is a practical guide to some of the common problems associated with Intranets, and solutions to those problems. The book takes a unique end-user perspective on the role of intranets within organisations. It explores how the needs of the end-user very often conflict with the needs of the organisation, creating a confusion of purpose that impedes the success of intranet. It sets out clearly why intranets cannot be thought of as merely internal Internets, and require their own management strategies and approaches. The book draws on a wide range of examples and analogies from a variety of contexts to set-out in a clear and concise way the issues at the heart of failing intranets. It presents step-by-step solutions with universal application. Each issue discussed is accompanied by short practical suggestions for improved intranet design and architecture.

ISBN 1 84334 068 2
ISBN-13: 978 1 84334 068 3
October 2004
194 pages  234 x 156mm  paperback  
£39.00 / US$65.00 / €50.00

Usually dispatched within 24 hours

£59.95 / US$100.00 / €75.00

About the author

After many years working as Intranet Content Manager and Systems Librarian for a large financial services and accounting firm in London, Luke Tredinnick now works as a Senior Lecturer in Information Management at London Metropolitan University. He specialises in Intranet and Internet technologies and electronic information management.

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Contents

PART 1 FAILING INTRANETS
PART 2 DESIGNING INTRANETS

PART 1 FAILING INTRANETS

Why users behave irrationally
 - Aims
 - User perspectives on intranets
 - Types of user
 - User behaviour
 - Defining intranet failure
 - User expectations of intranets
 - Summary

Reconciling competing expectations
 - Aims
 - Organisational structure and information ownership
 - Expectations defined
 - The roles people play
 - Hypertext or bust
 - Why competing expectations cause intranets to fail
 - Managing competing expectations
 - Summary

PART 2 DESIGNING INTRANETS

Elements of intranet architecture
 - Aims
 - Physical structure of intranets
 - Content management structure
 - Logical structure
 - Navigation hierarchies
 - Parallel and multiple hierarchies
 - Pathway editors
 - Metadata and taxonomies
 - Building taxonomies that work
 - Intranets unbound
 - Summary

A step-by-step guide to implementing intranets
 - Aims
 - Step 1: Setting management priorities
 - Step 2: Defining strategic objectives
 - Step 3: Assessing information needs
 - Step 4: Organising content areas and producing a content-map
 - Step 5: Identifying teams
 - Step 6: Design, style and policy
 - Step 7: Information architecture
 - Step 8: Selecting pathway editors
 - Step 9: Centrally managed resources
 - Step 10: Piloting and previewing
 - Step 11: Rolling out the intranet
 - Implementing intranets flowchart

A step-by-step guide to managing intranets
 - Aims
 - Step 1: Intranet management styles
 - Step 2: Intranet management cycle
 - Step 3: Identifying needs
 - Step 4: Content creation process
 - Step 5: Content approval process
 - Step 6: Content deployment process
 - Step 7: Content review process
 - Step 8: Deleting and archiving content
 - Step 9: Managing people
 - Step 10: Managing central resources
 - Step 11: Managing pathway editors
 - Step 12: Managing user feedback
 - Step 13: Managing infrastructure
 - Step 14: Maintaining hierarchies

Anticipating change
 - Aims
 - Managing for change
 - Changes in personnel
 - Organisational change
 - Technological change
 - Change for users
 - Information systems convergence
 - The invisible resource

Conclusion
 - Why intranets fail …
 - … and how to fix them