The homepage of a corporate intranet is the most deceptive feature in the product. It feels like the more widgets you add, the more "useful" the page becomes. In practice, every extra widget steals attention from all the others. By the end of the year, the typical homepage turns into a graveyard: a weather widget, a currency-rate widget, a birthday widget, a news feed shoved in the corner, and an overall sense of "there's a lot here, but I don't open any of it."
Over the past year we went through six iterations of the intranet homepage redesign. We tested with real users, measured metrics, and argued as a team. By spring 2026 we'd arrived at a simple answer: four blocks plus an AI chat. Fewer than what feels like the bare minimum; more than what most scenarios actually need.
Let me walk through what we tried, what we kept, and why. This isn't "the one correct intranet design for every situation" — it's what works for us, and what six iterations taught us.
From Eight Sections to the Canonical Four
V1 — eight sections. Quick Actions, widget of the day, calendar, feed, achievements, surveys, employees online, announcements. When we first launched the intranet, this felt like the "complete set." In practice, users opened Quick Actions and the feed, then closed the page. Eight blocks became noise in which only two carried any real weight.
V3 — five sections. We cut it down to Quick Actions, feed, calendar, achievements, and surveys. It looked cleaner, but the problem hadn't gone anywhere: achievements and the calendar were still ignored, and surveys weren't always active (there were weeks with no pulse survey). The feeling of "lots of blocks, little meaning" remained.
V6 — the canonical four. Quick Actions, Today, Feed, Survey (if one is active) — plus an AI chat instead of a separate "Needs Attention" box. A decision we reached through testing, not through idealizing.
The main lesson from six iterations: a homepage works when every block answers a specific, recurring user question. If a block doesn't close out a clear question, it'll be ignored, no matter how useful the information shown there might be.
Quick Actions / Today / Feed / Survey — What Stayed and Why
Each of the four blocks answers its own question. And that question is recurring, not one-off.
Quick Actions answers "what do I do most often on the intranet?" Four buttons, no more. Our defaults: "Thank a colleague," "Submit an idea," "Find an employee," "Create a post." You can customize it. These four actions cover 80% of an employee's day-to-day operations. Without a block like this, people hunt for the action they need through the menu every time — and after two weeks they stop trying.
Today answers "what's on my plate today?" Calendar events, open tasks (if integrated), colleagues' birthdays, work anniversaries. This isn't "notifications" — it's your day in the context of the company. We used to have a separate "birthdays today" card; we removed it and folded it into Today. It feels more organic now.
Feed answers "what's new in the company?" This is where news, kudos, ideas up for a vote, announcements, and discussions all live. One shared stream where employees see the life of the company. It's not a chronicle, it's a pulse. The feed only works when the content is alive; on a "dead" feed this block just looks empty.
Survey answers "what does the company want to know from me today?" The pulse question of the week or an onboarding check. It appears only if there's an active survey; otherwise the block is collapsed or hidden entirely. Don't "always show a survey" — that turns the block into background noise.
What we removed and why:
- The calendar as a standalone block — folded into Today. Most users don't run their day off the corporate calendar as their primary one; they have it in Google Calendar or Outlook. On the homepage you only need "what's on for me today."
- Achievements — moved to the profile page. People visit their profile about once a week, not every day. On the homepage it was just taking up space.
- Announcements — these are really just part of the feed, not a separate block. We merged them.
- Widget of the day (motivational quote) — removed entirely. Decoration that motivates no one but takes up room.
- Employees online — removed. It once seemed like a "cool feature"; in practice nobody needs to know which of 800 people is currently on the intranet.
The principle: fewer blocks that carry real weight beat lots of decorative ones.
Why an AI Chat Replaced "Needs Attention"
The most contentious move in the redesign. We debated it for a long time as a team and eventually landed on a decision we now consider the right one.
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