[Sigia-l] tenets, principles, standards (was AIfIA Goals 2004 Survey Result s)

[david_fiorito at vanguard.com]

Jody,

I thought exactly as you and Ziya do until I came to an organization where 
the IA team numbered in the dozens and the UI designers outnumber the IA 
by more than 2:1 and there are even more folks who build wireframes.  If 
we did not have standards for our process and for our deliverables we 
would suffer.  Its hard enough dealing with a team of this size as it is. 
To compound that by allowing everyone to be a free spirt would cause 
anarchy.

Beyond the level of the enterprise a clear definition of IA as a 
discipline and a role would greatly enhance our ability to market our 
skills.  It would be great for businesses out there to know that there web 
team needs an IA (or someone with a specific IA skill set) just as 
naturally as they know they need programmers to write code.  As long as we 
are ill defined free spirits who just wanna do our own thing and follow 
our bliss we will be relegated to the position of second class citizens 
beyond those organizations that "get it".

Cheers,

Dave