Is it wrong to love your own intranet?

“There is something about how good an intranet is that is down to the personality of the person managing it,” Mark Morell, “the intranet pioneer” and a benchmarker, told the hosts of this month’s IBF Live broadcast. “If you get the right person with the right qualities, you can achieve a lot more than a similar organization in a similar circumstance.”

What does it take? Persistence, patience, a sense of purpose, and a constructive, positive attitude, Morrell said. That’s the only way intranet shepherds can press on after disappointments, he said. A former intranet manager at BT Group himself, Morrell said he was often very protective of portions of the intranet he thought were useful to his colleagues.

A poll of IBF Live listeners found most intranet managers have an uphill battle, with 85 percent of respondents saying their company has no formal usability program.

The discussion between Morrell and the hosts served as a sort of kickoff for IBF’s “Intranet Love Affairs” celebration, which will culminate in a research paper to be published in January. On its website, IBF is asking intranet managers to describe why they love their own intranets.