ReL [Sigia-l] information architecture in practice

[Jesse Wilbur]

Andi,

I have wrestled with the same problem, and come to a different solution 
than James. From my point of view, information architecture can be done 
when you are a team of one, but it is most appropriate where you must 
communicate between several teams. I think this is where an IA  can 
really excel. Here, the IA keeps the big picture in mind - business 
strategy, technical execution, user experience, and product marketing 
(and maybe even graphic design)*. The IA documentation isn't really *in* 
the system, but directs people how to build the system. So, really, what 
I'm saying is, we make paper.

At least, that's  the trail I'm following on my way towards IA greatness 
; ). It is a totally different path than the more specific, but equally 
valuable taxonomy/metadata route. I guess I'm going Big IA (does anyone 
even say that anymore?), and trying to integrate with the world of 
design rather than the technical world of markup and implementation.

So, to deal with your question: how do I translate these documents into 
code. Yes, it's true that experience will help with that. But from my 
experience, what bridges the gap between IA docs and working pages are 
the functional specifications (cf. functional requirements). The 
functional specs require you to detail your data elements and the system 
response and what shows up in the interface and maybe even something 
about how the code is architected. The func specs explain exactly what 
happens when a user presses button X.  Joel Spolsky wrote something 
about this that I like: 
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000036.html

But, the truth is, not very many people have enough time in their day to 
work up ALL the different documents  in the IA arsenal, so I'd recommend 
(through, yes, experience) figuring out which ones you find are the most 
helpful in 1) getting your personal projects done, 2) getting your group 
projects done.

Jesse Wilbur
http://www.jdwilbur.org

*pretty much lifted straight out of the Polar Bear book