Adam Polansky

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A PROCESS BY ANY OTHER NAME
Applying Information Architecture With Bridges,
Cooking Hardware
Adam Polansky Lead Information Architect Traveloci
ty.com
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Maybe because it's entirely an artist's eye,
patience and skill that makes an image and not
his tools.
Ken Rockwell, Your Camera Does Not Matter, 2005
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So theres this guy.
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THERE AINT NO RECIPE!
Good Thing IA is becoming recognized in more
firms.
Bad Thing Misguided demand for a process based
on artifacts.
Worse Thing Push-back because time needed for
artifacts seen as bottle-neck
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Shhhhhh!
Matters not.
the process does
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COMMON FOR ALL PROCESSES
Every development process includes three basic
areas of activity.
The job of the IA is to find ways to close the
gaps between them
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INFORMATION TRANSFER
Info
Origin
Destination
Disposition
Vehicle

• Look at these elements.
• Characterize the forces that act
• upon them.
• Decide what you can do to bridge
• the communication gaps.

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CHARACTERIZATION FORCES
Time
Cost
Quality
Skill Sets
Domain Expertise
Institutional Knowledge
Location of Resources
Size of Team
New Development
System Constraints
Mature or Existing Product
New Technology
Need For Archived Documents
Need For Research
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FACTORING FORCES IN

• Annotated Wireframe
• Annotated Mock-ups
• Narrative Document
• Interaction-Level Spec

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FACTORING FORCES IN
Developing a Web Site
Idea
Plan
Build

• IF
• The team is small
• Theyve all worked together on the product
  before
• Theyre all located in the same room
• Time is short (but reasonable)
• The features exist elsewhere in the site
• Documentation exists from previous projects

• THEN
• White-board session to see where high level
  changes occur
• Tactical Wireframes to model the functionality
• Annotated Screen shots from existing product to
  show where changes occur

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FACTORING FORCES IN
Developing a Web Site
Idea
Plan
Build

• BUT IF
• The team is small
• Some of them worked together on the product
  before
• Some of them are located in Bangalore and they
  are new to the team
• Time is short (but reasonable)
• The features are new to the site
• No documentation exists from previous projects

• THEN
• Process Flows to see where high level changes
  occur
• Tactical Wireframes to model the functionality
• Detailed functional spec to include screen
  shots and interaction details

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Its not the process. Its not the tools. Its
the practitioner.
Choose artifacts based upon your understanding of
the forces that will affect communication
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Special Thanks To Travelocity IA Team Leah
Cave, Candy Bernhardt, Jay Fichialos, Jo Anne
Wright, Vinu Singh, Jason Chloupek, Miriam
Cabral-Ynocencio, Sonya Smith-Wong, Valerie
Milner, Val Jolls Ryan Kowalczyk Compiling
and releasing the Wireframe stencil Michelle
Peluso, Jeff Glueck, Troy Whitsett, Dana Thomas
Noel Holmes The chance to prove this
stuff Marc Rettig External Validation Traveloc
ity Customer Experience Team General
Support All the contributing photographers at
Morguefile.com