[Sigia-l] What do you call that place between the database and the live site?

[Stew Dean]

On 14/05/07, Jay Morgan <jayamorgan at gmail.com> wrote:
> Stew,
>
> Thanks for the response.  I appreciate your efforts to educate.  Allow me to
> follow up on a few key points.
>
> Stew said:
> "...are all outside the main workflow for deployment of content..."
>  Jay says:
> I was hoping you would describe your workflow and/or how you interact with
> these different environments.  :D

Stew:
Fair requirest.  My role is as overall architect, that is someone who
sets up the structure of the Intranet which includes the structure of
the information and the interaction style (an Information architect is
more an interaction designer than librarian).

For example I find out what the users want but talking to them (user
research), make sure we know what content we have and what the
authors/content owners want to keep/remove/change (content audit) then
from that given the technical environment (working with a technical
lead(s)), company representatives, project manager and visual designer
I create a detailed functional specification in the form of user
journies (which can be translated into use case scenarios for UML
junkies), process flows, site maps and wireframes (usualy of unique
functionality and templates for the CMS).

This gets implemented, possibly in a phased way and then passed over
to the team who will run the project whilst I, as a contractor, jet
off to Peru to have some Pisco sours.


> Stew said:
> "Depends what role you're taking."
> Jay says:
> Yes, it does.  :D  I was hoping you would tell me your role.

Information Architect.  It's an interaction designer who is not
responsible for coding or visual design. User Experience is the grand
umbrella that covers interaction design under which many specialities
fit. Examples being visual designer and content strategist.  An IA
often creates the sitemaps and wireframes for the interface for others
(or themselves with a different hat on) to turn into visual designs
and working pages.

> Stew said:
> "the term design by it's self doesnt have enough context"
> Jay says:
> Ah, yes, that old line...To reiterate a theme from above - I would
> appreciate if you could fill in the context in which your (design) team
> interacts with those environments.  Forgive me for not being that direct
> earlier.
>
> For context:  In my current role, I work with visual designers, other IAs,
> project managers, product managers, front end web developers, and IT teams.
> Currently, VDs, IAs, and both PM groups only work on paper.  The front end
> web developers have the sandbox and development servers.  The (layered like
> a cake) IT teams have the development, testing, staging, and live servers.
> My aim is to get the VDs, IAs, and both PM groups visibility to the sandbox
> and development servers.

Understood.  Sounds like a very typical set up. Other IAs I have
talked to have also expressed the frustration with the lack fo
integration with the implementation process and how it would be great
to have our work fed into that process rather than just printed out
and used to indirectly create the solution.

> An additional future goal is to have the teams use the sandbox as the
> primary channel for prototyping their project work, which would replace
> paper as the primary channel today.  Also, our team wants to move towards
> smaller launches that we can track in an A/B or multivariate approach to
> build the validity and quality of new features and content.

To my view it sounds like you need a killer CMS. I've mulled over what
the idea IA tool would be for a while. In my mind, for web, the
ultimate information architecture tool would not be stand alone state
of the art diagraming  tool or even a wonderful drage and drop hi fi
prototyping environment but really a CMS where I can create my 'boxes'
and they are understood by the system to be pages and where my
wireframes have real links, real drop downs etc that can be replaced
by real final end solutions.  In effect I want to create a holiwood
set style western town with fake facades but everything in place in
terms of doors, stairs etc and for the implimentation experts to
replace all my sketches with real finely crafted building work.

By the sounds of it you are also after this.  Unfortuantly no tool
exists that does this. If anyone would like to employ me to scope out
this product let me know :)

Stewart Dean




>
> Stew says:
> "your Intranet Administration role was more technical than the roll of an
> information architect (IAs are not engineers - don't need to know SQL and
> may never write a single line of code in their life)."
> Jay says:
> Good points I'm familiar with - which is part of the contrast I'm pointing
> out here.
> The role was Systems Analyst, which from my experience is closer to the
> engineering side than a BA or IA role.  "Intranet Administrator" was just
> the name of a piece of software.  The point in mentioning it was that it was
> an analog of the company's information architecture (the actual structure,
> not the job role).  I want to have that analog again.  That's it.  I think
> that analog representation will communicate to business and creative teams
> something they don't get now.  I think that when they can interact with it,
> they will learn things that will make our company more efficient.
>
> Stew says:
> different servers or hundreds of servers - it really doesn't matter.
> Jay says:
> You're right, it really doesn't matter how many servers there are.  What
> matters is how long it takes us to launch a requested feature or content.
> That's one thing I'm working to improve.
>
> Thanks for the conversation.
> - Jay
>
>
> On 5/13/07, Stew Dean <stewdean at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 13/05/07, Jay Morgan <jayamorgan at gmail.com> wrote:
> > > I've heard it called "sandbox", "staging", "test server", "dev(elopment)
> > > server".  What do you call it?
> >
> > Sandbox, Dev server and Test Server are all outside of the main
> > workflow for deployment of contetnt.  Staging server  is the usual
> > term, although it may not be a server at all but just a different part
> > of the CMS, in which it's just unpublished content.
> >
> > > Also:
> > > Do you actually get to work on it or in it?  If yes, how do you interact
> > > with it?  (Sample answers: Yes, I shape it w/ SQL.  I do QA on it.  I
> own
> > > it.  I built it.)
> >
> > Depends what role you're taking. Information architects tend not to
> > work with the people who work with the servers.  Also between the SQL
> > and live site there may be a series of XML files used to feed the
> > site.
> >
> > > Why I'm asking:
> > > I want to know what you all call it because I want to discuss the value
> of
> > > that intermediate space between data and live as an integral part of how
> to
> > > do Design.
> >
> > What kind of design - the term design by it's self doesnt have enough
> context.
> >
> > > I think there's more potential in that approach than in linear
> > > design approaches - i.e., conceive, define, design, build, launch.  This
> > > will lead to a presentation and an article.  Hopefully, it will lead to
> all
> > > my future employers adopting the practice of enabling their teams with a
> > > sandbox or staging server within arm's reach.
> >
> > From what I've seen it's already standard practice.
> >
> >
> >
> > > Background:
> > > Several years ago, I worked for a content management ASP.  As a systems
> > > analyst there, I worked on an application called "Intranet
> Administrator,"
> > > affectionately known as "IA".  (No, this is not about the coincidence
> > > between that name and my current job title.  Just to be clear, I'll call
> it
> > > IA*.)  IA* was the backbone of our intranet, a 'site' used by thousands
> of
> > > clients across the country as a reference point for what was about to go
> > > live.  The genius of IA* is that it was a tangible, living display of
> the
> > > client's information architecture.  On my desktop, I worked in four
> windows
> > > simultaneously:
> > > - a SQL database UI (proprietary, I think)
> > > - IA* (a proprietary app)
> > > - a staging server (between IA* and the live client site)
> > > - the live site (belonging to our clients, e.g., cars.com)
> > > I could analyze and diagnose problems on the live site, query our
> database
> > > in the SQL UI to get at the root, then manipulate IA* to achieve the
> desired
> > > results, proof the results in staging area, and then launch to the live
> > > site.  (The live site had some delay, naturally.)  That three-tiered
> > > perspective makes my heart swoon.  No Design tool or approach has
> compared
> > > to that in my eyes.  To paraphrase Almashi, that is my favorite place on
> a
> > > company's information architecture.
> >
> > Why would you need a SQL interface?  Any half descent CMS will remove
> > the need to worry about the database and let you focus on the content.
> > I have created many intranets and each one has been very much a case
> > of defining the right CMS, creating the best solution and enabling
> > those who have the content to own it themselves.
> >
> > By the sounds of it your Intranet Administration role was more
> > technical than the roll of an information architect (IAs are not
> > engineers - don't need to know SQL and may never write a single line
> > of code in their life).
> >
> > The whole concept of 'servers' is really a implementation detail - not
> > anything to do with the IA it's self. When creating the work flow for
> > the CMS the data, site being worked on and site live could be on the
> > same server, different servers or hundreds of servers - it really
> > doesn't matter.
> >
> > Stewart Dean
> > User Experience Person
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Jay Morgan
> Applied cognitive scientist practicing information architecture, interaction
> design, and corporate culture manipulation


-- 
Stewart Dean