Matthew Burpee

Tips from Step Two in Australia

1. Adopt the right attitude.
- Make incremental improvements over quick ‘fix’.

2. Continuously learn about staff needs.
- Don’t answer questions, ask questions.
- Actively seek feedback.
- Identify the real problems.

3. Conduct regular usability testing.
- A regular usability test program allows you to keep track of support for core tasks and new issues.

4. Align with business strategies.
- Understand the core strategies of your organisation.
- Communicate the progress of key strategic initiatives.

5. Support existing collaboration.
- Staff collaborate with people across the organisation. Support this.
- Much of the best work in an organisation occurs across the organisation chart.

6. Improve the intranet in sections.
- Make improvements one task at a time.
- Watch people try to complete a task and ask them to ‘think aloud’.
- Work with a business unit or team.

7. Improve findability.
- Ex. Set up a failed search terms report.

8. Use existing data.
- Analyse statistics to identify gaps and changes over time.
- Check with Help desks to capture enquiries.
- Check search reports.

9. Build author skills.
- Set up a community of practice.
- Conduct one-on-one coaching sessions.

10. Create author how-tos.
- Answer questions they might have about the entire process.

These and more can be found in Step Two Designs’
Improve Your Intranet.