OEC will need to make changes to the website from time to time — adding or removing pages, changing navigation labels, and occasionally creating whole new sections.
It’s important to follow a clear process for making these changes, so you can be sure that any improvements you make will:
- Meet the needs of users
- Fit in logically with the existing website structure
- Not have an unwanted impact on other aspects of the site (or annoy colleagues in other divisions!)
Follow the process
Before you make any changes — or even settle on the changes you want to make — it’s important to back up and ask yourself a key question. What’s the problem I’m trying to solve?
Once you have that answer, you can decide whether changes to the website are really the best solution to solve that problem. If they are, think through the rationale and possible consequences. To help with this process, use this downloadable worksheet.
When you’re done, you can share your answers with colleagues to document your thinking.