Institutional Culture Is Crippling Your Web Strategy!

Most internal web teams in higher education agree their web strategy is being held back by the culture and organisation of the institution. Internal politics, devolved leadership and committee structures are incompatible with the fast moving nature of the web.

Unfortunately most web teams feel unable to bring about change. They feel like a small cog in a very big machine. In this talk Paul will challenge those pre-conceptions and point out that if you don't change things nobody else will.

Transcript

1. “I want the view from the outside” Brian Kelly
2. Honest
3. Blunt
4. Harsh
5. Inspiring
6. “Institutional culture is crippling your web strategy”
7. Pre-web organisations
8. “Bureaucracies are honed by the past and almost never can they deal effectively with the future” Leroy Hood
9. Slow, committee based decision making Departmental silos Internally facing Internal politics Site seen as just a marketing tool Project mentality OFFICIALLY SCREWED Web team as a service Biggest issues
10. The project mentality
11. “The web requires cross discipline and cross departmental communication”
12. Designer Developer Project manager Content editor
13. 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Redesign Redesign Redesign Redesign Threshold of effectiveness
14. 2008 2009 2010 2011 Redesign Redesign A lack of activity, vision & leadership
15. Launch 5 weeks 1 year 2 year Expenditure in time and effort Lots What we know about users
16. Your website is never done
17. Departmental silos
18. Information services Web team Schools Departments Comms
19. Web steering committee Comms Information Services Student Recruitment Alumni International Student services ???
20. Studying > Prospective students > International students > Information for international students > Mexico > Overseas representatives > Anglo Latino Education Partnership
21. The web team as a service
22. “Most organisations still perceive web team members as IT specialists who provide a service to other staff within the company” boagworld.com/business-strategy/web-team/
23. Faculty dean Faculty dean Head of comms Head of student recruitment Web team manager
24. What needs to be done?
25. Become user focused
26. Why? ★ Reduce costs Avoids building functionality that is not needed ★ Increases effectiveness Increases customer satisfaction and so conversion rates ★ Provides a criteria for inclusion Prevents academics demanding certain content is added to the site whether or not its appropriate
27. Have a strong centralised web team
28. Web team Comms Information Services Schools
29. Create policies and procedures
31. Creating a consistent user experience
32. Establish a tone of voice
33. Accessibility policy Content approval Content removal Development standards Testing requirements Social media policy ...
34. Work incrementally
35. Priorities Select Define Test & monitor Anybody can propose a new card
37. What you can do
38. User cards
39. As a prospective undergraduate student. I want to look at what courses this University offers in a particular subject area. So I can decide whether to include this university in my shortlist of place to attend.
41. Information services Schools Comms Web team Departments
44. It is often easier to ask for forgiveness than to ask for permission.
45. Why take the risk?
46. But if not us, then who?
47. The directorate? The web steering committee? Marketing?
48. “We are the ones that see most websites are broken. We see the need. Only we can instigate the change.”
49. “Don’t wait to be picked” Seth Godin, Icarus Deception
50. Because the landscape is changing
51. “Universities used to offer a job for life, not any longer.”
52. The web is a black hole into which money is poured
53. You need to become indispensable
54. “Leaders are not picked. They step up” Seth Godin, Icarus Deception
55. “Richard Branson hails ‘Intrapreneurs’” entrepreneur.com/article/218011
56. Digital is critical
57. “Knowledge is power” Sir Francis Bacon
58. To make your job more fun!
59. Here’s the problem: organizations are the context for our work, and when it comes to the web, organizations are broken.
60. “Success is going from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm” Winston Churchill