Addressing squishiness was Re: [Sigia-l] Findability is dead, Long live ummm... Meaning?

[Peter Merholz]

On 3/27/03 10:19 PM, "Jesse James Garrett" <jjg at jjg.net> wrote:

> Just because it's squishy doesn't necessarily mean it's difficult. Many,
> many creative professionals deal with squishy and vague every day and
> produce successful work. Squishy might seem difficult, though, if one
> tries to handle it as if it's not squishy.
> 
> We are artisans, too often trying to get by with the methods of engineers.

I long ago thought that the practice of "little IA" should maybe be called
"information engineering," since the methods endeavor for such precision and
repeatability. But that's another matter.

As an "outie" (a consultant) I find myself somewhat concerned by Jesse's
point. I agree with the fact that many creative professionals deal with the
squishy and produce good work. But none of them produce work akin to the
output of an information architect.

If I were a consulting graphic designer, or copywriter, or even to some
extent a building architect, my methods, processes, approaches, and
reasoning can remain opaque to the client because the outcome is fixed --
all that matters is the thing itself, and the client's happiness with it.

As a consulting information architect, I'm painfully aware that what I
produce is NOT fixed. It lives on long beyond my work on it. So it's
essential that I am able to communicate the approach and reasoning behind
the solutions, so that it can continue to be applied after I'm gone.

--peter