This is my presentation from the 2006 IA Summit in Vancouver, BC. The summary is that the practice of IA is not about artifacts but the thinking that goes into them and the way you assess which artifacts to use.

1. Adam Polansky Lead Information Architect Travelocity.com A PROCESS BY ANY OTHER NAME… Applying Information Architecture With Bridges, Cooking & Hardware

2. Some bridges occur naturally

3. Some bridges occur intuitively

4. Some bridges extend from their environments

5. Some bridges augment their environments

6. Some bridges are purely functional

7. Some bridges are aesthetic

8. Some bridges are used for people

9. Some bridges are not

10. Some bridges take on purposes for which they weren’t intended

11. Worse Thing: Push-back because time needed for artifacts seen as bottle-neck Bad Thing: Misguided demand for a process based on artifacts. Good Thing: IA is becoming recognized in more firms. THERE AIN’T NO RECIPE!

12. Shhhhhh! Matters not…. the process does

13. Every development process includes three basic areas of activity. The job of the IA is to find ways to close the gaps between them COMMON FOR ALL PROCESSES Idea Plan Build IA IA

14. So there’s this guy….

16. Domain Expertise Institutional Knowledge System Constraints Location of Resources New Development New Technology Mature or Existing Product Skill Sets Time Cost Quality CHARACTERIZATION FORCES Size of Team

27. It’s not the process. It’s not the tools. It’s the practitioner. Choose artifacts based upon your understanding of the forces that will affect communication