Longer pieces on internal communication, intranets and the digital workplace.

I’m Sharon O’Dea. I’ve spent twenty years building these things, mostly in large and complicated organisations, and I co-wrote Digital Communications at Work with Jonathan Phillips. These essays are where I work out what I actually think — usually starting from something that came up in client work, and usually arriving at the conclusion that the technology wasn’t the problem.

For the week-to-week version, there are weeknotes.

Latest thinking

• The communication mismatch: Why risk-averse sectors struggle with social mediaSeptember 9, 2026
  Social platforms reward outrage and certainty. Financial services need caution and nuance. Why the structural mismatch between regulated sectors and social media is the real problem—and what to do instead.
• The record without the reasoningSeptember 2, 2026
  Organisations have never had more searchable history and never had less usable memory. The two things aren’t the same. Unfortunately, we’ve spent about fifteen years behaving as though they are.
• Start with Discovery: how to find out what’s actually wrong with your internal commsAugust 26, 2026
  Most organisations know something isn’t working. Far fewer can tell you what. Discovery is the distance between those two states — and the reason an audit is the wrong place to start.
• Designing channels for complex organisationsAugust 24, 2026
  Shared services, contractors and multiple affiliations break traditional channel design. A layer-by-layer approach to internal comms in complex organisations.
• SharePoint is a box of Lego: how to choose an intranet platformAugust 17, 2026
  SharePoint, intranet-in-a-box, standalone platform or custom build? A practical guide to choosing an intranet platform — and deciding how to decide.
• Orientation, not arrivalDecember 20, 2025
  This is the final piece in a three-part series reflecting on ten years of self-employment — what led me to leave my last employed role, what came after, and how I now think about work, identity, and change. (if you haven’t read Part One and Part Two, read those first) … Continue reading Orientation, not arrival
• The Long MiddleDecember 18, 2025
  This is part two of a three-part series reflecting on ten years of self-employment — what led me to leave my last employed role, what came after, and how I now think about work, identity, and change. (if you haven’t read Part One yet, read that first) Leaving got me … Continue reading The Long Middle
• The BreakDecember 16, 2025
  This is part one of a three-part series reflecting on ten years of self-employment — what led me to leave my last employed role, what came after, and how I now think about work, identity, and change. I didn’t leave my last employed role because I was brave, burned out … Continue reading The Break
• Sustainable growth key to competitiveness in the new world of workNovember 9, 2020
  UK businesses face a perfect storm in the months ahead. The Brexit transition and pending deal means UK businesses must find their footing in a new—and currently uncertain—era of international trade. And at the same time, the crisis caused by Covid-19 shows little sign of abating, leaving a trail of … Continue reading Sustainable growth key to competitiveness in the new world of work
• The road to remote, part 2: spaces, support and commsJune 1, 2020
  The week or so since our last post has seen some major names move toward a remote-first future. Mastercard announced it expects staff to work at home until there is a vaccine, while Facebook shared their plans to shift around 50% of staff to permanent remote work. With the landscape … Continue reading The road to remote, part 2: spaces, support and comms