Bit of an off-topic but remembered this story the other day and it made me chuckle to myself. Thought I would share it here and see if others have stories about how some successful projects came to fruition in a weird or funny way. Here we go:

There’s a large and very successful global business that to this day doesn’t know that their first Intranet was a porn site, and because of that porn site, a global business Intranet came into existence – it wasn’t going to happen without it (ie; the porn site) at that time. (Aside from about 4 people, though probably many more as the story has been passed on and is now probably considered just a myth). Click on:

IT dudes had been talking to head of IT (non-IT person) about setting up a trial Intranet. (circa 1998 – early days of Intranets). The response over and over again to the request by IT head was; “We have Lotus Notes. We don’t need an Intranet!”. Trying to explain “it should not be a case of one or the other” would fall upon deaf ears.

So IT dudes decide to setup “test” Intranet in their spare time, add some business functionality and then demonstrate working Intranet to IT head, who by seeing it in production would realise the benefits and formalise the project.

3 weeks later, secret Intranet project (code name forgotten now) is ready. Time is scheduled with IT head (who still has no idea about what it is the IT dudes want to show him). IT dudes proudly rock up to his office, turn screen so no one outside the office can see it and the demonstration begins.

IT dudes start; “We know you said you didn’t want to have an Intranet but we built one in our spare time anyway because we believe once you see it working, you may reconsider your thoughts on it”.

IT head is not overwhelmed or over excited by it, but to be fair, shows a bit of interest, but is not sold on the concept as being the way of the future.

(Background: IT head has a bit of a reputation for loving his porn).

The clincher: IT dude 1 to IT head: “Why don’t you move the pointer down to the far right corner….keep going….there’s a pixel you’ll hit where the pointer turns into the hand….yep….you got it…..click there!” Business Intranet turns into Internal XXX Porn site! Indifference turns to keen interest. Intranet is “tested” thoroughly for the next 20 minutes.

6 weeks later to great fanfare, first Company X Intranet is announced. That morning when everyone across the country logs in, there’s a video of IT head (specially commissioned) that plays, welcoming the company to the great Intranet (his Intranet) – the future of computing in Company X. Within months, the model is taken and adopted overseas and within 12 months, it’s global!…… All thanks to Porn!

Now I could just be making this up or just embellishing the story but that’s for you to decide.