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  CLARITY BY AXI
The Web Trap

  POLICIES AND PRACTICES
Privacy Policy

BETTER PRACTICES
The Free Event

Strategic Restructuring

TECHNOLOGY TIPS
The Effective PDA

HTML E-mail

REALITY CHECK
Charity=Good

The Networking Myth

TEMPLATES PLUS
Evaluation Forms

The Case for Forced Change
...revamping or dropping programs of questionable value 

The other day I was visiting the web site of a major national association, and I decided to check out their on-line discussion area. It looked like a key aspect of the site, and they had a number of discussion groups set up by topic.

I clicked on the first discussion group and instead of getting topical content, I found myself looking at a pornographic web page. I tried the next discussion group, and got the same page. After checking a half dozen or so discussion groups, and getting the same result, I phoned and then e-mailed the association. Within the hour, the discussion groups were shut down.

At first glance, this looks like the ideal story to demonstrate the need for web security. However, while the hacking of an association web site is certainly an interesting sidebar, I think the real story is more shocking and mind-boggling! How could it be that no one had noticed that the entire discussion area of the site had been hacked?

The first likely scenario is that no one visits that area of the site. A second scenario would be that members and others visited the area, saw the problem, but did not bother to tell the association. The third scenario is that the hacking occurred immediately prior to my visiting the site. My sense is that the first scenario is most likely.

This leads me to ask the question - if no one is using the discussion groups, then why hadn't the association either acted to rectify the situation or removed them? Unfortunately, this same question could be asked of a number of organizations in relation to various programs and services. 

In our experience, these organizations are either oblivious to the lack of use (or value), or they know it but are unwilling to act. Both situations are common, and they point to the existence of significant problems. The former situation would suggest that program evaluation and member needs research are either missing or inadequate. The latter situation would suggest that resources are being deliberately misallocated, and the organization is missing out on opportunities.

Think about the last time that your organization dropped a service or program, or significantly revamped a failing service or program. If you have not done so during the past year, then I would argue that your organization is likely misallocating resources, and falling short of what is possible in the quest to meet member or constituent needs. 

The next time that someone in your organization is lamenting the lack of time and resources to implement new programs and ideas, ask them to identify their least successful program and justify why it should not be dropped in favour of the new idea or program. If they have not evaluated the program's performance, nor conducted member needs research, then justification will be difficult. If they have the proof, but have not acted, then maybe this is just the incentive they need to finally act.

We continually expect solid rationale for implementing new programs, but we rarely ask for the same with respect to continuing a program. 

It was unfortunate that it took the circumstances I described above before the association finally acted. If you have programs that should be dropped or significantly revamped, do not wait until you are forced into a change!

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