[Sigia-l] We could just use whiteboards instead.

[Chad Jennings]

Stewart -

Since a site map tends to be such a malleable document over the course 
of a project we have had great success with a combination of lo-fi 
tools. This works well for our situation and I believe it can make for 
a more efficient, collaborative approach than continually updating an 
<enter software of choice here> file.

We take a large piece of foam core (or multiple, 8x4) on which we tack 
a long piece of butcher paper. Then post-its, sketches, various sticky 
things are used to represent the site map.  This site map is then 
continually updated over the course of the project. We tend to have the 
luxury of being able to devote a war room to a project which allows the 
site map to live where all can take a look and comment. However, the 
mobility of the foam core makes it easy to store away or haul out to 
your desk to document if need be (without the worry of it being 
erased).  In addition, if we have a client meeting offsite we can take 
out the scotch tape to reinforce the post-its, roll-up the butcher 
paper, and take it to their office. At certain points we will document 
state are or play with alternative models using a text-based/ excel 
based site map. Sometimes a final <enter software here> document is not 
created until close to final delivery. That said, it is difficult to 
send a roll a butcher paper quickly via PDF if need be :-)

Cheers!
:: Chad



On Wednesday, August 13, 2003, at 04:54  PM, Stewart Dean wrote:
>
> I was just going back over the tools I use for site maps and 
> wireframes when it struck me on a couple of projects I used a white 
> board in a 'war room' in order to track the changes on a project. I 
> took pictures of it using a digital camera and hand copied it out into 
> some program or other (think it was flash) but, in essence, the 
> version on the white board was the deliverable. Good for intense 
> projects. I built the wireframes using Dreamweaver but let's not go 
> there for now.
>
> Have others done white board based projects?