[Sigia-l] The value of an IA

[Timothy Karsjens]

The issue at hand is that the industry is changing.  Not so long ago, you could find job postings for information architects with ease in pretty much any major metropolitan area.  Now, you are starting to see companies straying from the specialized paths, which we as IAs have traveled, and they are looking for combination roles.  We were a rare breed, so rare in fact, that for a lot of us, we spent more and more time explaining what Information Architecture was, exactly, than doing Information Architecture.  In the meantime, Business Analysts were still putting together screen diagrams and reviewing them with the users during the requirements management process and developers were taking the requirements from the BAs that were *not* doing those diagrams and making their own screens.

In talking with a lot of clients in my area (Minneapolis/St. Paul), over the last three years or so, I have found that the desire for specialized roles has drastically declined.  Too many project managers up here have been burned by what they laughably call the "creative" process.  One such anecdote is from a company that was pushing a tight deadline for the deployment of an e-commerce intranet.  They hired a "major" creative firm to do the UI work and they hired the "best of the best" for the development team.  The development team put together a very aggressive and doable timeline to get the application to market.  The creative firm put together a quote that was four times as much money, time and people as the development team.  The client pushed back, and rather than lose the work, the creative team trimmed their quote.  In the end, the developers ended up launching the application on time, with few bugs, and they had *not* received one deliverable from the creative team.  The creative firm was still in the "discovery" phase and by the time they actually delivered anything, the users had already been using the application for half a year and refused to allow any changes, as the interface was, amazingly enough, simple to use, not flashy, and it was *fast*.

If you assume, based on anecdotal feedback from major clients, that this has happened in more than one place (Hello, BestBuy.com), then we are faced with a hardship in this area.  Those of us that are *good* Information Architects are known as being able to wear the multiple hats, and are now expected to do more, and we are given different titles.  To provide a personal example; I used to be called an Information Architect.  Now, part of my job responsibilities include requirements management, building UI specs, and testing.  I make more and I am called a "Product Manager".

All of this being said, at least up here, there is little the IA community can do to defend the role anymore.  The hole has become too deep.  Quite simply, there have been far too many "hacks" that end up producing more problems than usable solutions.  Now, the good Information Architects are happily doing more than just drawing bubble diagrams and patting themselves on the backs.  We are driving requirements from a User Centered perspective, coding the interface, and even managing the projects.  Trying to sell just information architecture is no longer viable.  Defending information architecture and information architects is also very difficult, as this is a very closed community and word gets around very, very fast.

Is this the case in your area? http://jobsearch.monster.com/jobsearch.asp?cy=us&q=%22information%20architect%22&re=112&lid=483&refine=1 Minneapolis/St. Paul is the 5th largest media market, and there are 3 job postings containing the string "information architect".  There are a large number of companies headquartered up here and that is it.  Now, I understand Monster is not the end all be all of job boards, but you see my point.

--Timothy Karsjens

 -------- Original Message --------
> From: "Jared M. Spool" <jspool at uie.com>
> Sent: Thursday, January 26, 2006 11:30 AM
> To: "Taylor, Brett" <btaylor at roundarch.com>
> Subject: RE: [Sigia-l] The value of an IA
> 
> At 08:45 AM 1/26/2006, Taylor, Brett wrote:
> >Oh, absolutely, there are a lot of people who are just starting out who 
> >will work for 30 an hour and quite frankly, should be only getting the 30 
> >an hour.
> 
> Out of curiousity, what is the IA Community doing to help the people trying 
> to hire an IA understand the value of a $30/hour IA versus a more expensive 
> one?
> 
> Jared
> 
> 
> Jared M. Spool, Founding Principal, User Interface Engineering
> 4 Lookout Lane, Unit 4d, Middleton, MA 01949
> 978 777-9123   jspool at uie.com  http://www.uie.com
> Blog: http://www.uie.com/brainsparks 
> 
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