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RUNNING AN INTRANET FOR THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN A LARGE COMPANY,
ORGANIZATION OR GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT?
Hear Gerry McGovern speak live on how you can increase
productivity and reduce costs by identifying and better managing
your employees' top tasks. Join our FREE webinar on Tuesday, May
27, 2008 @ 15:00 (GMT, Dublin). SIGN UP TODAY:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/909567396

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Rome: May 23-24 two-day masterclass (PDF)
http://www.technologytransfer.it/docs/deplEng/BP8-McGOVERN%20ING.pdf

Stockholm: June 11: Intranet keynote (PDF)
http://www.abilitypartner.se/Texter/Intranatdagarna%202008.pdf"

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INTRANETS ARE NOT INFORMATION DUMPS

The first step in creating a genuinely useful intranet is to ban
the intranet team from using the word "information".

"'Distribute information' is by far the primary perceived role
of the intranet, increasing by 7 points from 2006 up to nearly
60 percent saying "absolutely" in 2007. However, "facilitate
collaboration" stagnated at 20 percent and "facilitate
productivity" only increased 3 points to 22 percent in 2007."

The above is a quote from the second annual Global Intranet &
Portal Strategies Survey, published in late 2007. It's a very
interesting and solid report and well worth a read if you're
involved in running a large intranet.

There is something in the quote that I find particularly
interesting, and it goes to the heart of why intranets are not
taken seriously by senior management. It's that awful word
'information.'

According to the survey, 'distributing information' is the
essence of what intranets are about. But just why exactly do we
'distribute information?' What is the underlying purpose of
distributing information? It would seem that whatever vague
purpose 'distributing information' has, it has nothing to do
with facilitating productivity or collaboration. Interesting.

Maybe we distribute information so that people can become better
informed. But what are these things we want people to become
better informed about? And why aren't these things we want
people to become better informed about connected with
productivity or collaboration?

Are these informative things, in fact, anti-collaborative and
anti-productive? In other words, are they useless to people as
they do their day-to-day jobs? Are intranets, in essence, giant
and growing dumps for non-productive, non-collaborative
information?

"The intranet has not yet fulfilled its potential and the top
serious obstacles lie primarily with senior management," the
survey states. According to the survey, here's what's holding
intranets back:
1. Intranet not seen as a priority
2. Lack of awareness of the potential role of the intranet
3. Lack of ownership at a senior level
4. Lack of or insufficient search solution
5. Not aligned to processes, not essential for daily work

The "top serious obstacles" do not lie with senior management.
They lie with the intranet teams themselves who see their
intranets as this vague way to "distribute information", rather
than make the organization more efficient and productive.

When senior managers I speak to hear about "distributing
information", they think of uncontrolled, unmanaged, badly
organized, out-of-date information dumps. They think of vanity
publishing by units and departments throwing increasing
quantities of irrelevant and useless information at staff who
have no time and absolutely no interest in reading it. They see
the intranet as a giant, bulging waste of time. They see the
intranet as the opposite of collaborative and productive spaces.

Intranet teams must stop distributing information and start
deleting it. The vast majority of intranets would be far more
productive and collaborative if they deleted at least 90 percent
of the content they currently have.

Distributing useless information is how you destroy productivity
and collaboration. How do you decide whether information is
useful? Ask these questions:
Does it improve productivity?
Does it improve collaboration?

To find out more about the Global Intranet Trends survey,
contact Jane McConnell: mailto:jane@netjmc.com

Gerry McGovern
mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

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RUNNING AN INTRANET FOR THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN A LARGE COMPANY,
ORGANIZATION OR GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT?
Hear Gerry McGovern speak live on how you can increase
productivity and reduce costs by identifying and better managing
your employees' top tasks. Join our FREE webinar on Tuesday, May
27, 2008 @ 15:00 (GMT, Dublin). SIGN UP TODAY:
https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/909567396
*****************************************************************

Comment on this post at our Giraffe Forum Blog
http://giraffeforum.com/wordpress/2008/05/10/intranets-are-not-information-dumps/#respond


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PIONEER, BBC, TETRA PAK, IKEA AND ROLLS-ROYCE USE CUSTOMER
CAREWORDS. SEE WHAT IT CAN DO FOR YOU
http://www.customercarewords.com/
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RELATED LINKS

Intranets
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/intranet.htm

New Thinking Subject Classification
http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/nt/class/index.htm

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NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING NEW THINKING
By Gerry McGovern - http://www.gerrymcgovern.com
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May 12, 2008 - Volume 13 Number 19
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You may quote freely from this issue once you give proper
attribution. (A link to www.gerrymcgovern.com would be
appreciated.)

Permission to re-publish an individual issue is given, once the

following conditions are met:
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Content management solutions: Gerry McGovern
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mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com

WEBSITE LINK FOR THIS ISSUE:
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PUBLICATION SCHEDULE
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_________________________________________________________________
Published by Gerry McGovern (mailto:gerry@gerrymcgovern.com)
Copyright (C) 2008 Gerry McGovern. All rights reserved.






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