Is your intranet design working against you?

I was interviewed this week by @jessicascarpati for an Internet based publication called SearchUnifiedCommunications.com . Jessica works out of Newton, Massachusetts and I am in Sydney, Australia so I am 15 hours ahead of Jessica. I always find it hard to get my head around the fact that when I send an email to the states it is usually going back in time to yesterday.

I enjoyed doing the interview and was also enthusiastic about the topic. With many Intranet analysts exploring new applications and incorporating Web 2.0 into their Intranets, Jessica wanted to remind readers that we still need to get the basic things right if your site is to be successful.

Social networking, wikis and other Web 2.0 tools on intranets are snagging all the attention as enterprises try to breathe new life into their corporate portals. But the bricks and mortar still count. Ignoring intranet design best practices can spell death for even the most application-rich portals.

"All users are different, and we may never come up with a design that is perfect for everyone," Richards said. "[But] making assumptions about user needs and habits is a big mistake. Creating a site design based purely on rules of thumb and assumptions equals failure."

Thanks Jessica for making this such an enjoyable exercise and also for putting together a very nice article.

You can read the complete article here: Intranet design best practices start by tearing down department walls