Leave room for the Red Light Zones
The red light zones are places on the fringe of an organization where most of the innovation takes place. These are zones that aren’t officially sanctioned and they survive through a combination of stealth, compromise and accommodation. They are on the edge of acceptable organizational behaviour. In many companies, they’re treated as an organizational necessity. Scholars have rarely paid to red light zones though increasingly more are researching the phenomena (Google Claude Ciborra and Chrisje Brants for more information).
When you examine your organization or your information systems, ask yourself if they allow for red light zones? Or are they so hierarchical, rule based and policy driven that red light zones have no room to prosper? Ironically, intranets traditionally were the perfect red light zones. Small departments could determine how best to use their intranet and would design them to match their specific needs and test new ideas and concepts. That has changed as intranet managers and consultants alike (myself included) have argued for the importance of common standards and user experiences.
Is this a good thing? I’m not so sure anymore. For example, my company’s own intranet which is wiki driven allowing for more red light zones, has been quite a success. The entrepreneurial nature of bottom up intranets like wikis allow for more creativity and innovation. I wonder whether it is time for us to take a second look at the need for top down, standards driven intranets. They may not be as useful as we’ve made them out to be. One thing is for sure is that they certainly aren’t the solution for every intranet problem.
