COVID-19 has revealed that many health systems are not fit for purpose—and it has done the same for lots of websites too!

Organisations around the world have discovered that—just when they need them most—their websites are too inflexible and one-dimensional to deliver.

This is no surprise. Years of institutional disinterest and under-investment made it inevitable.

Chickens. Welcome to the roost!

My concern is that COVID-19 will be followed by a massive over-reaction. To (once again) try to fix things through a clamour of expensive web "redesigns".

Sadly, these efforts are doomed to fail. You cannot redesign your way out of institutional digital illiteracy.

Sure, design is part of the solution, but it is not the solution. As usual, good content is orders-of-magnitude more important, but no-one ever tenders for a web "rewrite".

That said, it would be pretty stupid for a web manager to refuse a cheque for €-half-a-million. Plus, this is an important learning moment.

So, here's my advice ... take the money.

But then tell your bosses that you're not going to redesign the website. You're going to do something much more radical.

You're going to make it better!

They may not understand at first, but that's OK

Almost certainly, many of your colleagues have a concept of digital that is stuck in the early 2000s.

The massive increase in specialisation and the professionalisation of skills is likely completely unknown to them.

That's not their fault; they don't work in web everyday. But this knowledge gap is now a serious organisational risk and it's time to bring them up-to-date.

You can start by explaining why 'web design' is not what they think it is. It is only one part of a vast spectrum of disciplines and deliverables that underlie modern online operations.

Tell them it's time to stop thinking of their website as an art project.

It's not an art project. It's a machine for doing things!

And it's time they started using it.

This won't be easy. It will take time. And it will be expensive!

But think of the €-hundreds-of-millions have been spent on redesigns over the last two decades with effectively nothing to show for it.

What a waste of time and money!

Don't repeat the mistakes of the past and expect a different result. Spend wisely. Hire the skills you need, get the right tools and focus on things that matter.

Don't redesign your site. Make it better!

It will work. Here's how.