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1. Senior management who don't understand
2. An IT department obsessed with features
3. A marketing department in love with graphics
4. Managers who want to be unique
5. Plenty of responsibility and little authority
6. Too little content or too much
7. Little budget and few staff

Senior management who don't understand
Some senior management who don't understand the Web simply ignore it. They starve it of resources and credibility. From an intranet perspective, the fact that senior management don't read the Web, makes is very difficult to get general staff buy-in.

An IT department obsessed with features
Many IT people are addicted to features. They have a compelling need to complicate. They are always chasing the latest technology fix. They want to buy content management software, not to solve the content problem, but because it will keep them busy, and is a cool thing to do.

A marketing department in love with graphics
Many marketing and advertising people are easily bored. They look at the website and think it's boring. They like lots of graphics because text is so boring. They want lots of animations because that will stop the customer getting bored. They really do think the Web is boring and would just love to be off directing an expensive TV ad campaign.

Managers who want to be unique
Every department and product group wants their own unique look 'n' feel for their section of the website. IBM had that problem. They had 7,000 intranets. It was chaotic, totally unmanageable, and turned staff away. Now, IBM has one intranet. Staff are much happier.

Plenty of responsibility and little authority
You're in charge of the website but you have no authority to set policy, let alone police it. Sections of your website publish awful content. Other sections are filled with out-of-date content. You can advise them to become more professional. But you have no power to make them toe the line.

Too little content or too much
People won't give you content because "it's not my job." Or, they will throw you some print stuff, saying, "throw that up on the Web." Other departments are churning out vast quantities of content that no sane person will ever consider reading.

Little budget and few staff
Your website is being fed just enough to keep it alive. There are hardly any fulltime staff. People are expected to magically find time to create content. There is no real strategy or long-term plan. Time to ask senior management a question: Why do we have a website?

Gerry McGovern
 

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