Technical Resources
When the Needs Analysis has been completed and you have a checklist of the functional components identified for inclusion in the intranet, you will need to find people who can make it happen.
The first person you need on your side is your technical lead, the senior developer who will either do most (or all) of the coding or manage a team that does it. This person should have a very lucid comprehension of your existing corporate IT structure and understand the theory of how a web site will function in relation to it. Actual experience developing web sites isn't as important as their appreciation of process and their ability to manage technically minded people.
Take some time to discuss some of the more complicated components identified in the Needs Analysis with your senior developer (ideally they will have been part of that phase and already be familiar with the underlying rationale for the decisions made during it). You don't need to understand the technology, but you should get a clear understanding of the issues so you'll be able to relay them to various project stakeholders. If your senior developer doesn't communicate well with you and you aren't comfortable, try to find someone else to fill the role. When things inevitably get complicated, it's very important that you have someone on your side with whom you can talk plainly.
When you're comfortable with your senior developer, you will need to work with them to make some decisions in regards to development approach, hosting platform and scripting language(s). The resolution of all these issues will determine what skill sets will be required for the development and implementation of your intranet.
If resources with the required skill sets exist internally, you will need to make sure these resources will be available for the development cycle. If they do not exist or are not going to have the availability for your project, you will need to obtain a budget to hire some resources.
There are three distinct options for hiring outside resources. In each case, before making your final decision, have your senior developer meet the resources to determine a level of confidence in their work. A few compelling questions can cut the wheat from the chaff fairly quickly.
The options are:
- Hire experienced professionals on a full-time or contract basis. Make sure the resources have the required skill sets, sample URLs (to view their previous work) and references. If they don't have sample URLs or CD portfolios of work, then they aren't serious about their profession. Even students and newbies who take pride in their work will create a sample site to demonstrate their skills. For something as mission-critical as a significant intranet project, you don't want to pay people to learn on the job. And you definitely don't want to rely on undependable or unprofessional staff.
- Hire a small web design agency with experience creating intranets similar in scope and scale to the one you will be building. This agency will typically consist of one to five designers and developers who own and operate their own small firm. Each project tends to be extremely unique to them, and this normally results in innovation and creativity at the - sometimes - expense of efficiency, process and clear meeting of expectations. Occasionally they will contract out complicated work to specialized professionals when they are busy or project scopes are out of their depth. They will almost never turn work away or say they can't deliver a project on time, on schedule, or on budget. These firms tend to be "hungry," on the cutting edge of development techniques and quite interesting. That being said, make sure to obtain references from people who aren't their friends or family, and be satisfied with their portfolio. Once an agency grows beyond eight or nine staff, they stop being a small web design company and their "process" becomes more defined. Simultaneously, the volume of their documentation and for-hire rates increase.
- Hire a professional firm. This is typically a company that started as a small web design agency and evolved to either a high-end boutique shop or a full-solution Internet development organization that takes care of "all your web needs" from copywriting to design and implementation. This breadth of work is normally possible due to the staff's depth of experience with smaller companies and projects. The result of this experience is usually greater attention to documentation, preparation, planning and meeting expectations. While these firms' rates can be quite expensive at times, a level of confidence and comfort in the firm's experience and professionalism usually offsets the cost. Do be very clear in your contract about delivery dates and budgets because cost overruns due to delays on your part can be quite upsetting with some of these agencies (you pay for their developers' time even if they aren't working because they are waiting for you to deliver assets, designs, approvals or something else required to continue or commence their work).
Remember: All your resources should make you comfortable with their skills.
Additionally, remember to think about who will be doing maintenance on your system(s) after launch. If you're hiring external developers, will they deliver adequate training to your staff so all updates won't result in additional charges? Or would you prefer to contract maintenance to an external staff at a fixed rate or on a retainer? These things should all be considered and budgeted for (if necessary). Don't be left high and dry.