evangelism101

Dan Willis, [email protected] 101 March 5, 2005

Evangelism 101

Warning: This presentation contains male frontal nudity


About me

• I’m 6 ft. tall, weigh 215 pounds, I enjoy long walks on the beach …


About meThe obligatory slide that tries to convince you that my past experience somehow qualifies me to be worth a ninth of your registration money (not counting food) instead of just some guy who’s really just saying a bunch of stuff that you already know, but perhaps haven’t thought about it in quite the way I’m outlining.

• Jobs I’ve had where I was a OVERT evangelist:

– Art Director (Start-up print magazine for Tribune Co.)

– Senior Producer/Design and Production (Tribune Co. Web and AOL sites)

– User Experience Director (washingtonpost.com)– Director of Site Development (washingtonpost.com)


About meThe obligatory slide that tries to convince you that my past experience somehow qualifies me to be worth a ninth of your registration money (not counting food) instead of just some guy who’s really just saying a bunch of stuff that you already know, but perhaps haven’t thought about it in quite the way I’m outlining.

• Jobs I’ve had where I was a COVERT evangelist:

– Associate Editor (Tribune Co. print magazine)– Design Manager (washingtonpost.com)– Senior Information Architect (K12: online education

co.)


Evangelism: The there there

• Enthusiasm to the point of zealotry• Group dynamics• Change


Change

“Progress is a nice word. But change is its motivator. And change has its enemies.”

--- Robert Kennedy


Evangelism and the IA

• IA as a discipline– “There is this thing and it is called information

architecture.”

• IA as a legitimate discipline– “What are you laughing at? C’mon, I’m

serious, a solid information architecture is essential to your success.”

• IA solutions– “Why are you still laughing? Stop that. This

stuff is going to work. Probably.”


Evangelism and the IA

• IA mechanisms– Easy sells: Site maps, content inventories– Harder sells: Conceptual wireframes, user task

flows, non-linear interaction maps

• IA building blocks– Primacy of user goals– User-centered design– User research


Bad reasons to be an evangelist

• Fame• Power• It looks cool on a business card• Chicks dig it


Evangelism + quest for fame =


Evangelism + quest for fame =

Paris Hiltonat a charityevent


Evangelism + lust for power =


Evangelism + lust for power =

Pat Buchananrunning forpresident


Credibility

• Using evangelism for your own fame or power damages your credibility

• Credibility is essential for an evangelist– Requires honesty, integrity, consistent

excellence

• The appearance of credibility is secondary

– Requires credibility, presentation/facilitation skills


Good reasons to be an evangelist

• Status quo is not enough• You have the passion and mad

skills• You just can’t help yourself

• Square pegs: round holes– Three-side pegs: square or round holes

• Are you an evangelist and don’t know it?


You might be an evangelist if …

You stop your department’s monthly brown bag lunch with the CEO to demand:

“When are we going to cut all the crap and finally talk about the real problem here???”



You’ve seen the beginning of the movie Jerry Maguirea dozen times and you still can’t figure out

why Tom Cruise got fired.



You drop Bill Gates a personal e-mail every time you think of another thing that bugs you about that damn talking paper clip.



Every week, you find yourself trying to convince the office cleaning crew to install the toilet paper roll in the “correct” way.



You have a recurring nightmare where the company’s adherence to existing processes inadvertently opens the Gates of Hell and initiates Armageddon.


So what does an evangelist do?

• They help things change• By the work of their “day job”

– Solve problems rather than just alleviate symptoms, trade ownership for consensus around new kinds of thinking

• By their involvement within projects– Function as an outside consultant whether they are

one or not.• By initiating group creative exercises

– Run workshops, Home Cookin’ sessions• By circulating information

– Author e-mail newsletters, collect timely articles from other industries


So what does an evangelist do?

• They lead change from behind• They stimulate change by asking

questions• They unearth and encourage expertise

(especially under-appreciated expertise)

• They are a resource for, and supporter of other evangelists


8 random rules of evangelism


1. Be shameless



1. Be shameless• Do what you have to do

to make change happen, no matter how personally embarrassing– But first, identify the envelope

you are trying to push:

Your audience + Your goals = Your envelope


2. Be fuzzy



2. Be fuzzy• Skill sets are more useful

than job descriptions• Utilize different levels of

evangelism for different challenges or projects


3. Don’t be fuzzy



3. Don’t be fuzzy• Demystify everything

– Use existing words if commonly understood» If not, create a new

common language– Utilize a common

perspective» That’s the beauty of

User-Centered Design– “Demystify” doesn’t always

mean “explain everything”


4. Be tactile



4. Be tactile• Bind squishy concept to

hard pixels– Action items– High concepts/practical

implications– Illustrations– Case studies


5. Own minutia



5. Own minutia• People tend to give away

the most influential aspects of a project– Process– Grunt work– Details


6. Fear the incremental



6. Fear the incremental• Incremental change is

frequently confused with evolutionary change




Incremental: Changing how related links are displayed




Evolutionary: Developing an automated way to create

related links


7. Incite the riot, but try not to lead

it



7. Incite the riot, but try not to lead it

• You will be more effective if the self interest of those being evangelized is greater than your own.


8. Protect your poets and pirates



• Poets– Those who tend to

think about and describe things in quite unique ways

8. Protect your poets and pirates

• Pirates– Those who are most

comfortable working outside existing structures on projects to which they have a deep personal attachment


PoetsThere's a hole in daddy's arm where all the money goes,

Jesus Christ died for nothin' I suppose.Little pitchers have big ears,

Don't stop to count the years,Sweet songs never last too long on broken radios.

- From “Sam Stone”by John Prine


Poets

Gordon MacKenzieOrbiting the Giant Hairball


Poets


Poets

Gordon MacKenzieOrbiting the Giant Hairball

• “A pyramid is a tomb.”• “A tree is a living organism.”


Poets

• Things to know about the care and feeding of poets

• When you try to protect them, they will distrust you.

• They will doubt that you truly understand what they’re talking about. They may be right.

• They tend to be less loyal to the company than typical workers, but more loyal to other people.

• They don’t play well in the sandbox, if at all.• Sometimes, they completely freak out.

• Why bother?• The singular work of poets can change the world.


Pirates

Monty Python


Pirates• "You've got to do something about this dreadful

program. It's simply not funny.” -- Tom Sloane, BBC executive

• “By the second series they were wanting to see the programs before they went out. And by the third series ... they wanted to see the scripts before we filmed them.“ -- Terry Jones, Monty Python executive


Pirates• "You can start any (Monty Python) routine and people

finish it for you. Everyone knows it like shorthand." -- Robin Williams, annoying American comedian

• “They're comic gods.” -- Eddie Izzard, an English comedian who is less annoying than Robin Williams but who wears annoying clothes nonetheless


Pirates

• Things to know about the care and feeding of pirates

• They resent attempts to protect them.• They will usually assume that you don’t

understand what they’re about to talk about.

• They are sometimes surprisingly and fiercely loyal to the company.

• They dominate any sandbox, or are willing to die trying.

• Sometimes, they self-destruct.


Pirates

• Why bother?• They will never settle for the status quo.• They work very hard all the time.• They ask great questions (although

sometimes in the form of a complaint rather than a question)


Poet & pirate protection tactics

• Keep them away from managers who can’t appreciate them; point them out to ones who can

• Translate their work• Over-deliver on giving them credit for it

• Praise your poets• Praise must be meaningful and well-timed

• Empower your pirates• If it’s somebody else’s call, secure their

empowerment

• Don’t take negative reactions personally


They are among us

• Are you:A. More poet than pirateB. More pirate than poetC. So much more than some silly ass

label some joker speaking at the IA Summit is trying to stick to you, in other words not even close to being either a pirate or a poet


They are among us

• Who would your rather work with?

A. A poetB. A pirateC. Neither, they would both piss me off

too much!


They are among us

• Who would you rather have working for you?

A. A poetB. A pirateC. Neither, let them read their T.S. Eliot

and wave their skull and crossbones flag somewhere else!


They are among us

• Who has at least one poet or pirate working for them right now?


But enough about me

• Your evangelism success and horror stories

evangelism101

Business

evangelist fame power

covert evangelist

different levels of

credibility credibility

ia solutions

ia ia mechanisms easy

beauty of user

appearance of credibility