Upgrade to Pro — share decks privately, control downloads, hide ads and more …

Updated: How a Website Redesign Drives Organiza...

Updated: How a Website Redesign Drives Organizational Change

(Presented at Confab Higher Ed with examples from our most recent project.)

Few people set out to change an organization when revamping a website, yet this process can reveal gaps in business strategies and approaches. To create an effective site, your job will extend beyond project management and content outlines: You must sit at the table where business decisions are being made. Come hear the lessons the web team learned from a massive, just-completed, multi-year effort to transform the digital footprint of Stanford Graduate School of Business. Sorel will demonstrate why organizational change is inevitable during a site redesign, and provide the tools, tips, and frameworks we used. Learn how you can become a strategic change agent.

Sorel Denholtz

November 15, 2016
Tweet

More Decks by Sorel Denholtz

Other Decks in Business

Transcript

  1. A Cautionary Tale In Which Our Heroes Attempt to Redesign

    a Web Site, 
 and Discover Quagmires of Conflict, Overgrown Timelines, Creeping Scope, and Swamps of Despair @sorel @sorel
  2. The marketing team (our heroes) wanted to bring their site

    into the 21st century. Audience-centric User-friendly Responsive And bound to be award-winning! @sorel
  3. 
 2. Make the site audience-centric Organize information for audiences,

    rather than by departments 
 1. Improve look & feel New design with compelling visual elements. 
 Use existing copy to streamline the effort. @sorel
  4. “Where is MY section? Why is my content in three

    different places. Why is another group’s content here with mine?!?” “How will I edit this? Who owns this content???” “Why did you do this to us?!?!?” @sorel
  5. 
 The marketing team was shocked. Their work had been

    thought through so carefully. Surely the visual design presentation would go better. @sorel
  6. There are too many pictures! We won’t have enough good

    ones! Why is there so much copy? Who wrote it? 
 Why is it so long? Why is it so out of date? This is unacceptable!! @sorel
  7. They were stunned. It was so beautiful. Highly visual, like

    everyone wanted. The parallax scrolling was fresh and new. They had used existing copy — and everyone had been fine with it before. @sorel
  8. In desperation, they reached out to the chief marketing officer,

    the visionary who had initially requested a web redesign. The CMO loved the site, and was on board with their execution. Until… @sorel
  9. …the CMO spoke to other leaders in the organization, and

    heard the complaints, questions, and concerns. @sorel
  10. Others didn’t feel heard. These weren’t their changes. They weren’t

    at all sure these were the right changes. @sorel
  11. Our heroes had neglected to consider the impact of the

    changes on their stakeholders @sorel
  12. content may need to be rewritten 
 when look and

    feel change visual redesign
 shifts your perspective @sorel
  13. an audience-centric site differs from the organizational structure internal practices

    may have to shift
 to support the new structure @sorel
  14. “It’s OK to admit what you don’t know. It’s OK

    to ask for help. And it’s more than OK to listen to the people you lead. In fact, it’s essential.” leaders listen –Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors @sorel
  15. “We… [build lasting relationships]… by holding ourselves accountable, by doing

    what we say we are going to do, and by inspiring others to strive for something bigger than themselves.” leaders inspire –Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors @sorel
  16. “Education will open doors. Talent will open worlds. But it

    is hard work that will enable you to accomplish more than you ever imagined.” leaders work –Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors @sorel
  17. “…you only win when your customer says you win.” leaders

    care –Mary Barra, CEO, General Motors @sorel
  18. 4.5 years 6 major launches ~1100 pages ~20,000 structured content

    items 1 fully integrated website rolled out 2013-2016 our journey @sorel
  19. credibility gap your agenda is not
 my agenda you don’t

    understand my audience or my business we need outside expertise @sorel
  20. your agenda is not
 my agenda you don’t understand my

    audience or my business we need outside expertise use a discovery process 
 to build trust @sorel
  21. discovery prepares stakeholders for change the goal: an agreed-upon objective

    for the project, addressing business and user needs @sorel
  22. it doesn’t matter if you have the best solution if

    stakeholders don’t agree with you 
 what the problem is leaders listen @sorel
  23. begin by defining stakeholder roles project ownership involvement in the

    project decision-makers advisory council domain experts leadership/ steering committee team members @sorel
  24. team members people who will be affected by the changes

    project ownership involvement in the project keep them informed @sorel
  25. domain experts team members people who hold key knowledge project

    ownership involvement in the project interview them @sorel
  26. advisory council domain experts team members influencers need to provide

    input and hear others’ concerns project ownership involvement in the project convene as a group @sorel
  27. advisory council domain experts leadership/ steering committee team members leaders

    provide strategic oversight, may help make decisions project ownership involvement in the project meet individually or convene as a group @sorel
  28. decision-makers advisory council domain experts leadership/ steering committee team members

    must participate in key decisions project ownership involvement in the project meet individually or convene as a group @sorel
  29. gather data & share findings with stakeholders stakeholder interviews —

    what do we think? content audit — what do we have now? analytics review — what does our traffic show? competitive analysis — what are our peers currently doing? end-user interviews — what do users want? @sorel
  30. your agenda is not
 my agenda you don’t understand my

    audience or my business we need outside expertise discovery helps close the credibility gap as you become an expert in their business, stakeholders are given permission to see you as a trusted partner @sorel
  31. your agenda is not
 my agenda you don’t understand my

    audience or my business we need outside expertise inquiry can be used throughout the project to build trust @sorel
  32. people might think that this is a single program, not

    part of a suite of offerings leaders listen why? @sorel
  33. without the left-hand navigation, it’s not obvious that there are

    any other programs leaders listen why? @sorel
  34. my eye only goes to the program title. I don’t

    really notice that it says “executive education” leaders listen why? @sorel
  35. the program title is so much bigger than everything else

    on the page! aha! leaders listen @sorel
  36. we validated our work in-house usability testing of the new

    design
 showed that newcomers to the site easily saw 
 that there were other programs to explore @sorel
  37. your agenda is not
 my agenda you don’t understand my

    audience or my business we need outside expertise inquiry continues to close the credibility gap when you make it clear that you have heard your stakeholders, they are more open to new ideas testing reassures them that they have made the right decision @sorel
  38. listening is a mindset, not a task we are redesigning

    our homepage (launched in 2013) so we are starting with discovery again @sorel
  39. cultivate executive sponsorship if you suspect you will be driving

    change, be sure someone in a position of influence has your back @sorel
  40. OVERcommunicate make sure everyone is informed, from the top to

    the bottom of the org chart use every channel available to you @sorel
  41. OVERcommunicate presentations, large and small weekly check-ins blog updates email

    updates optional brown-bag lunch sessions drop-ins & dining hall conversations @sorel
  42. shrink the change step-by-step approach divide your project into incremental

    working sessions and presentations: goals, target audience, content, design don’t rush. one topic per session @sorel
  43. align stakeholders discovery helped you build trust and define the

    problem now partner with stakeholders to define the solution @sorel
  44. advisory council domain experts team members we needed to align

    stakeholders with a single vision — and with each other project ownership involvement in the project convene as a group @sorel
  45. our internal departments are not always organized by audience for

    example, some programs for executives are not run by the executive education team @sorel
  46. to present programs in an audience-centric way would require buy-in

    from multiple stakeholders Executive Education MBA Program MSx Program PhD Program Global Innovation Programs Stanford Seed @sorel
  47. when stakeholders take part in building the product, they become

    attached to and even proud of what was created @sorel
  48. invite stakeholders into your 
 decision-making process you will make

    better decisions and they will realize that you are on their side @sorel
  49. repeat yourself at every presentation, restate the project objective, assumptions,

    benefits frequently share the timeline. where you’ve been, where you are going next. even if your dates are fuzzy! remind everyone what success will look like @sorel
  50. small dreams count too! look at the wish list (from

    discovery). what are the easy wins? what are the unexpected or undiscussed benefits of the project? what pain points have you addressed? @sorel
  51. there have been clear benefits people are successfully finding programs

    program teams are more aware of the similarities and differences between their products a much-needed strategic conversation has been accelerated @sorel
  52. leaders care we will continue to evolve the site to

    best meet the organization’s needs the organization is also evolving to address the strategic gaps identified through this process @sorel
  53. the 50:50 rule spend 
 50%
 of your time on

    
 project tasks spend 
 50% 
 of your time on
 stakeholders leaders work @sorel
  54. earn trust by asking for input and by being willing

    to be wrong leaders inspire @sorel