Progress Paralysis

Eight steps to get your Web site moving again

By Peter Merholz

New Architect
October 2002

A Web site has two sets of constituents: the customers who use it to get things done, and the employees of the organization that builds it. As site complexity grows, so does the difficulty of the task each group has to accomplish.

In many cases, customers become increasingly frustrated while seeking information that's obscured by confusing site structure, dead links, and useless search results. Organizations that have built piecemeal Web sites with no overarching vision waste so much time shoring up their existing systems that they can't move forward. This is progress paralysis.

Companies typically tackle such issues with a battery of small projects. While it's a good idea to break things down into manageable pieces, you might have to take more drastic measures. Stop, step back, and survey the entire system. It may be time for an overhaul.

Perhaps customers write in complaining that they can't find information on your Web site that you know is there. Maybe your company has several different sites with different navigation and visual designs—a result of turf battles between departments. Has the same information been repeated multiple times across different sites because there's no coordination between content producers? Do employees complain that making a minor change requires hours of labor tweaking hundreds, or even thousands, of pages?

These are all problems that efficient site production can solve. What follows are eight steps to achieving an expertly produced Web presence that satisfies your visitors' needs and helps your staff regain its footing.

1. Build an Independent Web Team

Your Web site reflects your entire organization. This is a problem when it mirrors a Byzantine corporate structure and discordant internal politics.