I've started a new job, which is a lot to be saying these days. Even better is that it is applying a lot of the principles in Letting Go of the Words, and Killer Web Content. Instead of having to convince people that these are the principles they should be applying, I get to delve into a project that is shaped by them. And I must say, I do need the practice, especially in letting go of the words and thinking about the tasks users want to accomplish (why they are there), and content finability.

A self-service model for a corporate intranet
The project is to take an corporate intranet portal and make it a self-service site for employees to come to for answers to their questions--policy questions, guidelines, as well as tasks. The self-service model will offload calls to the organization that owns the content, since employees who can't find these answers on the site have been calling or emailing this team to get the information.  This will free up the site content owners to focus on higher value work. I think it's a brilliant rethinking of an intranet site, and am still trying to track down the story of the "ah hah!" moment from the project owners.

Agility in motion
The web content team is small and the project is big, so to make it manageable, they've divided the problem up into batches, or waves, each targeted on a specific aspect of the site, starting with look and navigation, the information architecture and site principles (including content principles and templates).

The second wave focused on a specific area of site content with a set of owners who were or quickly became, enthusiastic about the site redesign. This was a bit of luck for the project owners since they were able to create a big splash and some good buzz that caught the interest of content owners slated to be included in later waves.

The third wave, bringing in another group of content owners, is in its final phase, which is the point at which I've come into the project. There are at least 3 more waves to go, plus a migration to a new platform.

How do you measure success?
The project owners, what the hell, I'll just call them the content strategists, are careful to include measures of success in their plan and in their waves. They obtain a baseline of site visitors, time on site, search terms, and survey responses to gauge the user experience before the content redesign is put into place. This gives content owners something to measure the value and success of their efforts and to keep them enthusiastic about continuing to apply the redesign principles.

So far, the numbers have been positive and strong. By publishing the news in quarterly newsletters, the content strategists and content owners are able to prove the value of their efforts to the larger group, their ROI, possibly creating a model for other intranets within the  company.