Summary
Enterprise IA problems are rarely caused by tricky information architecture. Instead, people and organizational problems manifest in bad IA. Sarah will share tools you can combine in different ways to help move your individual IA strategy forward.
Key Insights
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The main challenge in IA is not just knowing what to do but how to make it happen.
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Focus on the navigation model, content model, and information model for effective IA.
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Understanding organizational politics is key to enacting change in the enterprise setting.
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Often, achieving even minor improvements can be more complex than addressing major issues.
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Human brains prefer abstract solutions; getting concrete helps communicate ideas effectively.
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Identify specific final steps to ensure ideas can be implemented successfully.
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Be attuned to organizational rhythms and alignment to find windows of opportunity for change.
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Incremental changes pave the way for larger improvements by building stakeholder investment.
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Elevate your proposals by tying them to broader organizational goals and existing pain points.
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Develop credibility and relationships by being helpful and understanding the systems at play.
Notable Quotes
"My job wasn't going to be doing good IA. It was figuring out how to be allowed to do good IA."
"Getting from terrible to not terrible is a lot more challenging than from fine to good."
"If you want somebody to call to pay for this, don't call it an information model and don't call it taxonomies or metadata, call it a knowledge graph."
"It’s easy to think of ourselves as powerless. We need to maintain a sense of agency over what we can control."
"Say, 'Hey, you know, it would be great for AI, a content model.'"
"We have the potential to affect people at huge scale for good and for ill."
"The art of getting things done in the enterprise can be learned and developed as a skill."
"You probably don't need the CEO after all; you need the person who owns the backlog."
"What would you ask for if you had 15 minutes with your CEO?"
"Are you working on it right now?"
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