Back in October I suggested that you can do more with less on your intranet. Since then recession has become a reality in many countries and most industries are now faced with a highly challenging economic climate.
A recent conversation with an intranet manager reminded me of David Maister’s excellent book Strategy and the Fat Smoker. In the book Maister claims that knowing what to do is the easy part. The challenge for all of us is actually making it happen. As he writes in the book: you sometimes need a near-death experience to get back on track.
I’ve seen many intranets over the past years and many of them resembled a fat smoker with some very inefficient customs and habits. To be fair, a daily Dilbert on the intranet front page, is not necessarily that bad, but I’ve seen some amazing time robbers; sometimes in innovative disguises. To make matters worse, as Gerry McGovern recently commented: Most managers lack the skills required to understand if an intranet is successful or not.
I hope that the current unraveling financial crisis will act as the “near-death experience” that makes intranets change for the better. If you are ready for change, there is a significant opportunity for the wise intranet manager to make a real difference in 2009.
Merry Christmas!
Join our full day seminar, the International Intranet Day, on March 24 in Copenhagen, to learn from case studies from several organisations and network with other intranet professionals.
J. Boye » Blog Archive » Why do you need an intranet? February 15th, 2009 10:09
[...] Everybody is forced to be much more critical and when it comes to intranets many are looking at the fat smoker they have created during the boom years and thinking; what really happened? Let’s just cut [...]