30-30-30-10 Watch the trends

Open thread topics over the weekend got a couple of very relevant comments, the first from Zeb.

Zeb wants to know about tracking trends:

Zeb is right in focusing on how companies can track trends.

Intranet managers need to be externally focused -  with at least 30 percent of their energy (why 30? less than half, but still significant!) in order to stay fresh, motivated and up to date on what's going on in the world. Trends on the web are impacting the intranet more than ever in the past.

I'd say the smart intranet manager should be focused on:

• 30 percent web trends
• 30 percent user needs
• 30 percent business
• 10 percent organizational needs

Of course, the "user needs" and the "business needs' converge (hopefully); otherwise there's a serious problem in the organization.

The "organizational needs" are probably Corp Comm-driven, and, in most – but hopefully not all cases – very top-down.

In spite of all this so called "synergy", the way the intranet responds to these different needs is quite notable.

Lots of consultants push the "persona" approach: what does this type of user need?

"Let's define typical user profiles and identify their needs."

That's very good stuff, but hard to achieve in a meaningful way in a global organization with multiple business units, a variety of professional profiles and presence in a hundred countries (and cultures) or more.

Other more technology-oriented partners (agencies, solution providers) will push the "personalization" approach: let people decide what they need.

So, back to the smart intranet manager:

1. Watch the web trends

2. Listen to your end-users

3. Talk to your business managers and identify their pain points.

4. Talk to your senior management: you'll be surprised, I hope!

And back to Zeb, who originated the question, I've sent it on to someone who knows web technology and who will hopefully give us some leads….stay tuned.

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