In Why Intranets Fail Luke Tredinnick provides a fresh perspective on the design of intranets. The book argues that intranets can deliver real benefits in information management and organizational efficiency. In order to do so we, however, need to reconsider the design of intranets: we need to focus on user and organizational behaviour, and use these as points of departure in organizing and managing information.
Why Intranets Fail is divided into two parts with a total of eight chapters. Part 1 concerns the failure of intranets and includes chapters dealing with users' irrational behaviour, the irrational behaviour of organizations and how different expectations from both the users and organizations can be reconciled. Different types of user will display different types of behaviour. For this section it might have been useful to include references to relevant research. Tredinnick considers both implicit and explicit user expectations and how to deal with these. As for the behaviour of organizations, four basic functions are considered: the dissemination of information, the central storage of information, the facilitation of communication, and the facilitation of teamwork and knowledge sharing. The expectations that organizations have of intranets often lead to conflicts in these functions. According to Tredinnick, one of the reasons for failure is the fact that each organization holds on to the secrecies of their intranet design, and therefore organizations often have found themselves in the position of reinventing the wheel.
The second part deals with the design of intranets and includes chapters on the elements of intranet architecture, a step‐by‐step guide to the implementation of intranets, a step‐by‐step guide to the management of intranets, and the anticipation of changes. In the conclusion Tredinnick points out that each intranet is successful in the same way, but unique in its failure. In a final remark he says, “a truly successful intranet allows the users to even forget that it is even there”.
The book also includes a list of resources and a bibliography. It is not quite clear what the difference between these is. My perception would be that the first can serve as a list of recommended reading, while the bibliography refers to the list of sources cited or consulted. I am, however, not sure that was the author's intention.
Why Intranets Fail is written in an easy‐to‐follow conversational style. It is recommended to practitioners involved in intranet design who are looking for a fresh take on intranet design and a good basic introduction to the topic. As an introductory text, it should, however, be supplemented by more extensive texts focusing on specific facets of intranet design, as well as research findings.
