intranet, you'll want to assemble a team with the following roles: - Writing and editing - Design and photography - Technology -- managing the infrastructure - Technology -- Web development - Measurement, usability, and community management This doesn't necessarily mean that you need a team of 5 or more people, or that they all must be dedicated to the intranet -- although that would be ideal. Much of our intranet was built by a team of just three people, serving 19,000 employees. 7. Conduct research. To be successful, your intranet must keep pace with the ever-rising expectations of your audience. These expectations are largely set by personal experiences with consumer technology and public Web sites. Therefore, you must constantly keep abreast of new approaches and techniques, and adopt those that fit your organization. Another way to conduct research is to visit other organizations to review their intranets. We've hosted and visited dozens of organizations over the years, and always learn something new from these exchanges. 8. Design and develop. At this point, we have purpose, alignment, relationships, a leader, and a team. We know our audience and have conducted research. With such a solid foundation, we're now ready to build the intranet. The process begins conceptually, as we establish the site structure and labeling. We pay particular attention to the layout of the home page, which will be the intranet's most-visited page. Our designers lead this effort, ensuring that all three aspects of the design are optimized: - Visual design: