Intranet love affairs – Dec. 6
Fighting for usability behind the firewall – A UX love story
Sally Roberts from Macfarlanes LLP is in the middle of an intranet redesign. The current intranet, which was launched 18 months ago, features a solid task-based information architecture, personalization, and an enterprise search that actually works. So what could possibly be improved?
What: IBF Live
When: December 6 at 16.00-17.30 GMT / 11.00-12.30 US EST /
08.00 – 09.30 US PST / 17.00-18.30 CET
“It’s just a bunch of small things,” says Sally. “For example, we hear that people are happy with search… providing they remember to use it. For some reason people keep forgetting it’s there.”
Enter John Wooden, Director, Usability Services at Fredrickson Communications. John will interview Sally about the user feedback she’s received so far; the methods she’s using to analyze the data; and how she plans to translate the data into the new design. Then we’ll flip over to the redesign-in-progress to review the improvements underway. Additionally, John will recommend and discuss different research methods that would work well in a one-person UX department (Sally is not only a one-person UX department… she is also a one-person knowledge-, search- and content-management department).
This session is designed as a hands-on learning experience that will give everyone involved in intranets some tangible, tasty UX take-aways.
Who doesn’t love intranet managers?
Then, since we’re fast approaching the end of the year, we’re going to take some time to soak in the best intranet tours of 2011. We’ve been reviewing our video libraries and pulling out the most popular clips from IBF Live and IBF 24. Please do let us know if there’s a particular session you missed, or would like to see again!
And finally, to wrap up, we’re thrilled to welcome Mark Morrell, aka the Intranet Pioneer, into the studio, to give us a sneak preview of his upcoming research paper called: “Intranet Love Affairs.” IBF has been benchmarking intranets for nearly 10 years now, and we can say for certain that intranets getting better and better every day (and yes… we’ve seen LOTS of intranets).
What better time to celebrate the creative, thoughtful and resourceful people behind the intranet? What better time to reinforce the vibrancy and vitality of intranets? Over the past several months, Mark has had up-close and personal conversations with many of the leading intranet managers around the world to find out what makes them tick. Why do they “do the right thing” even when it’s not necessarily the easiest thing to do? Why do they share knowledge even when it’s not necessarily in their best interest? Why are they considered the “responsible people” in the organization?
At IBF, we’re humbled and honored to be part of such a vibrant community of professionals. We hope you join us to share your intranet love story.
See you there!
If you are already an DWG member or an IBF Live subscriber, you can get the login details on the extranet (no need to register in advance). If you miss IBF Live or want to watch it again, you can view this or prior episodes via on-demand playback. Guests can sign up for a one-time free guest pass, but hurry, there’s limited seating. Don’t miss out!
Meet the studio guests
John Wooden is Director, Usability Services at Fredrickson Communications in Minneapolis, MN, USA. John is a certified usability professional committed to improving the end user’s experience of technology. He has extensive experience consulting with Fortune 500 companies and with local, county, and state governments. Over the course of his career, John has led numerous website development projects; developed the IA for internet and intranet sites; conducted hundreds of usability tests and heuristic evaluations; developed usability guidelines and interface design standards for web apps and sites; presented on usability, user-centered design, and social media at numerous conferences and association meetings; and taught usability and user-centered design at the University of Minnesota. Connect with John on LinkedIn.
Sally Roberts is Intranet and Knowledge Manager at Macfarlanes LLP. In this role she is responsible for the day to day management and development of the intranet, enterprise search and knowledge systems. Over the past 10 years, Sally has built up an impressive resume in the legal information sector in the areas of knowledge management, content management and information architecture, user experience, and internal communications. Prior to joining Macfarlanes, she has worked at other leading firms in the industry including Clifford Chance, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer and Thomson Reuters.
Connect with Sally on LinkedIn.
Mark Morrell has 15 years’ experience creating and implementing dynamic strategies that have transformed BT’s intranet to be benchmarked as one of the best intranets globally for governance, engagement and collaboration. Since leaving BT in 2011, Mark has benchmarked major organisations’ intranets on strategy and governance, metrics and performance, and communication and collaboration. He has written whitepapers and briefings and provided consultancy. Read Mark’s Intranet Pioneer blog and connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Categorised in: DWG24
