[Sigia-l] Are all employee web sites created equal?

[Anthony Colfelt]

Could you explain why testing would be an expensive venture in this case? I
can see that if you were to employ an external testing company or facility
it may start to cost. But, to sit down with employees can't cost the company
*all that* much, can it?

Maybe you should do some structured interviews with representatives as you
mentioned. We have found using personas really helps to keep a focus on the
different needs of different user groups.

Some Persona URLS:
http://www.cooper.com/content/insights/newsletters_personas.asp
http://iawiki.net/PersonaDesign
http://foruse.com/newsletter/foruse15.htm#3

Sometimes Personas is the right sentiment but not the right approach,
because they assume you have quite distinguishably different user
archetypes. Some companies may not have many different user types. In this
case it may be better to adopt a role-based approach, whereby you define
different 'hats' or roles that a user may take in order to fulfil a kind of
task or set of tasks. More background theory on roles can be found here
http://edp5285-01.sp01.fsu.edu/Guide4.html or if you have a copy of
Constantine and Lockwood's 'Software For Use' there are excellent chapters
about how to apply this to user experience design. A summary can be found
here http://foruse.com/questions/index.htm#5

My thoughts on the assertion that all intranets can be made from the same
mould culminate in the question 'Are all companies the same?' If they are,
then perhaps a one-size-fits-all can work. But, clearly all companies are
not the same!

Hope this helps.

Anthony Colfelt 
  Senior Designer | BBC New Media
    7th Floor | Bush House - NW | Strand | London WC2B 4PH
      PH: 0207 557 3471 | MOB: 0779 617 4878
        anthony.colfelt at bbc.co.uk | http://www.bbc.co.uk


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