Have you ever visited a redesigned website that looks nice, but is no more usable than before (or worse)? Did your organization implement a new content management system only to find your content never got any better? Were you disappointed when the new portal failed to revolutionize the way you work?
What are the first things many people think to do when their website has problems?
“Hire someone to redesign it! Get some new technology!”
Why? Because that’s what they always do. That’s what their competitors do. And quite frankly, they just don’t have the time or expertise to think about it. It’s a vicious cycle– a website gets redesigned, a tool gets implemented and people are happy with it for a little while. But old problems resurface, frustration mounts and it’s time to redesign again.
You blame the tool, blame the vendor, blame the people who work for you, but never blame the process.
Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
By this definition, the organizations we work with are ALL insane. So are we, and we admit it.
It’s so easy to fall into old patterns and behaviors. Trying to keep up with competitors, trends and the mounting pile of work in front of you leaves little time to think. You just do what you know. We have spent time on both sides of the table– the client side and the vendor side. In former roles, we redesigned hundreds of enterprise and small scale sites in response to a pre-determined scope of work spelled out in a complicated RFP. The projects usually addressed surface-level issues that resulted in nominal improvements in the look and usability of the site.
We have made our fair share of mistakes, but now we are learning from them. We had the tremendous benefit of a fresh start and new perspective that comes from creating a new company. We now find ourselves questioning everything we do and constantly asking “why?”
Here’s a sample from a Skype chat we had a shortly after starting decimal152 at the end of 2008:
Todd: [they] redesigned their website and it still sucks
Adam: that’s blunt
Adam: why does it still suck?
Todd: maybe the design or the cms was never the problem to begin with
Adam: or maybe it was, but it wasn’t done right
Todd: or maybe it was only part of the problem
Adam: or they got railroaded by a committee or a vendor
Todd: ahh, yes. like us.
Todd: in a past life
Adam: people define scope for a redesign RFP without doing the predesign work to determine scope in the first place
Todd: we need to start with good research that leads to good strategy before tackling solutions
Adam: and educate the entire organization along the way
Let’s stop the redesign insanity! Ask questions. Think before copying what another organization is doing. What works for them may not work for you. Besides, how do you know if it even works for THEM? (Chances are they don’t know if it’s working either). Redesigning a website to fix a problem you haven’t fully diagnosed is like putting a band-aid on a tumor.
It’s time to focus on pre-design– the research, strategy and planning that takes place BEFORE you decide to redesign your website.
We’re looking forward to an honest conversation… and lots of questions. We hope you’ll join us.
Side note: This is our very first blog post! We’re so glad you found it. If you care about your organization’s communications and the people responsible for getting them done, we hope you will subscribe to our blog. You can get updates on future posts by subscribing to our RSS feed, email updates, Facebook fan page, LinkedIn or Twitter. One last favor– help us get the word out and share this with a friend! Thanks– Todd.
