[Sigia-l] Defusing Techies?

[Jody A. Hankinson]

I am reminded of Tufte's Space Shuttle Challenger example. Super smart
people weren't able to communicate a terminal flaw. Whenever I have problems
with engineers, I remind myself of the anecdote. Then I try another method
of communication. With site maps or functionality discussions, I've found a
quick prototype works significantly better. Use cases have also been
incredibly helpful.

The other thing to consider is the politics of the organization and/or
project. What are that person's motivations? Is management not giving the
project the support it needs? If techies had complete project ownership in
the past, they (like any other group) will fight to keep that control. For
these types of issues, I'm a big fan of the Fifth Discipline Fieldbook and
its companion The Dance of Change.  From the reading, I realized that
introducing IA into a technology group can be a major change of business
process. The resulting behavior traits are very similar, including fear,
animosity, reluctance, apathy, etc. The book has exercises, sample dialog
and strategies. Sounds hokey, but the authors are all from the Global
Business Network and it is particularly well done.



Jody A. Hankinson  
   Information Architect ......| Interpreting strategy and processes
e: hank99 at bway.net             | into Internet applications.
t: 917.749.0910  
w: www.bway.net/~hank99



On 10/8/02 2:10 PM, "Summerville, Marion R" <Marion.Summerville at qwest.com>
wrote:

> Hi all - 
> 
> I'm teaching an intro to IA class at an art school, and one of my students
> asked me for resources on how to negotiate / communicate with techies (his
> words). Apparently as a small independent he's finding that "the techies"
> are acting as a "firewall between the company and the consumer."
> 
> I gave the class my top-o-the-head thoughts.. but then got to thinking, and
> wondering what some of YOU all might say.  All comments welcome, on- and
> off-list
> 
> _________________________________________
> Marion Summerville
> Senior Experience Architect - Qwest Solutions
> marion.summerville at qwest.com
> professional dilettante ~ usability ronin
> ------------
> When replying, please *trim your post* as much as possible.
> *Plain text, please; NO Attachments
> 
> ASIST Annual Meeting:
> http://www.asis.org/Conferences/AM02/index.html
> 
> ASIST SIG IA website: http://www.asis.org/SIG/SIGIA/index.html
> ________________________________________
> Sigia-l mailing list -- post to: Sigia-l at asis.org
> Changes to subscription: http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigia-l