Gerry McGovern - what's he on about?

Gerry was making the point that the vast majority of intranets are rubbish because you can't search them (which is what people really only want them for), they haven't been designed with the users' needs in mind and that many of them are full of dull crap.  

If you haven't heard him speak before I suggest you do so as he is incredibly thought provoking.  And very right in so many ways.

He was talking to a group of intranet managers who were loving what he had to say (as well as looking pretty sheepish as they also knew the truth of many of the points that he was making).  

But as he explained the value that intranets should be adding through time saved and helping people make efficient connections it struck me that whilst that might be what users wants it probably isn't what senior managers think they are paying for.

They think that they want a communication tool that sets the agenda inside the organisation, influences what people do at work and perhaps ensures that we all meet our objectives.

If the system is aiming to give people back three minutes on a search here and ten minutes on a query there is it really adding all that much value?

When I questioned him he made a couple of really challenging points that are worth repeating here.

1) IC people have wasted lots of time promising nebulous benefits from their activities - why don't you stick to what you can prove?

2) Maybe there is a vacuum that no one is filling in organisations.  For too long we've suggested that IT do architecture and IC does content but no one is owning the role of organisation effectiveness/efficiency. 

I actually found what he was saying quite difficult and uncomfortable.  Clearly I don't think that you can achieve profitability by efficiency savings along and the tools of web 2.0 are very exciting as routes for innovation in a world of mature and saturated markets.

And I strongly believe that the role of IC manager has to be more than an uber-technician - we have to add value through the creation of sense, the sharing of meaning and the shaping of an agenda.  You don't do that if you spend all day managing the search function on your intranet.

But if what we do doesn't meet the needs of our audiences we become redundant and bypassed.  UPS risked this experience with the Brown Cafe (Thanks Steve for that example).  And if our audiences just want a couple of really basic things like a good search engine and the canteen menu what does that mean for our ability to get them excited about strategy.

I think I've just seen the future and... it's hard work.

Liam