1. Hey! You! Get Offa My Web! Hidden Desires and Unforeseen Circumstances in Web Management Mike McConnell, Web Team Iain Middleton, Learning Technology Unit University of Aberdeen

2. Who are you? What bugs you? A marketer? A Web Team bod? A learning technologist? A corporate systems goblin? A senior manager? An academic (department?) A.N. Other?

3. Case Study – Staff portal The University will shortly launch its Staff portal: Manage HR records Manage publications Manage research administration Great, eh?

4. Unforseen: Standardisation & centralisation of procedures, technology, data Academic depts freed from overhead Dynamically updated staff web profiles Student Portal hiatus: –But technology upgrade for Staff Portal will also benefit Student Portal

5. How events unfolded Student Portal was a success RAE readiness –A staff equivalent would support this goal –Staff Portal prioritised over Student portal Existing publications database –A college’s solution was centralised This enabled live staff profiles on web

6. The Players Corporate systems User Services (Learning Technology, Web) The management The academics

7. Our original, disparate goals Corporate systems: a student portal! User Services: staff web pages; a usable student portal The management: RAE readiness The academics: citation! no hassle web profiles

8. Potential conflicts Many existing ways of doing things –“We do it our way, thank you.” Loss of power / control Transfer of responsibilities –Development –Management Not enough resource for everything

9. What happened next Corporate systems: put student portal on hold User Services: realised portal data could be used to create web pages The management: gave authority to drive project The academics: allowed access to existing data

10. Lessons Unlikely alliances Disparate objectives turned out to be linked You can’t always get what you want, when you want –But it doesn’t have to be a disaster

11. Scenarios 1 – 15 minutes Split into groups 15 minutes to read brief and discuss Decide strategy/elect spokesperson/spokespeople

12. Scenarios 2 – 15 minutes Meet other group Negotiate Reach agreement (or not)

13. Scenarios 3 – Feedback What were the outcomes? How did you approach the discussion? What worked well? What didn’t work? What have you learned?

14. Negotiation techniques What do you want to achieve? What is your top and bottom line for agreement? What is the best alternative? What outcomes do you think the other party are seeking? What questions should you ask? What questions will be asked of you?

15. Negotiation techniques Build rapport Present your case clearly Listen attentively Ask questions and recap Explore possibilities: ‘If…then’ Find common ground and build on it

16. After negotiation Clarify understanding Specify undertakings Deadlines and milestones Reflect

17. Contacts Mike McConnell m.mcconnell@abdn.ac.uk m.mcconnell@abdn.ac.uk Iain Middleton i.a.middleton@abdn.ac.uk i.a.middleton@abdn.ac.uk Web Design Unit http://www.abdn.ac.uk/web/ http://www.abdn.ac.uk/web/ Learning Technology Unit http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/ltu/ http://www.abdn.ac.uk/diss/ltu/