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Information ArchitectureInformation Architecture& Strategy& Strategy
“In strategy, surprise becomes more feasible the closer it occurs to the tactical realm.”
Carl Von Clausewitz, On War, 1832
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in·for·ma·tion ar·chi·tec·ture n.
The structural and semantic design of an information space to facilitate task completion and access to content.
The Many Facets of IA
• A Site Component
• A Phase
• A Job / Role
• A Discipline / Degree
• A Community
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busi·ness strat·e·gy n.
Defining how an organization will use its scarce resources to achieve sustainable competitive advantage.
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The Origins of Strategy
“That general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack.” circa 500 BC
Sun Tzu, The Art of War
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What is Strategy?
strat·e·gy• The science and art of using all the forces of a
nation to execute approved plans as effectively as possible during peace or war.
• The art or skill of using stratagems in endeavors such as politics and business.
strat·e·gem• A clever, often underhand scheme for
achieving an objective.
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What is Business Strategy?
“Strategy is the creation of a unique and valuable position, involving a different set of activities.”
“But the essence of strategy is in the activities – choosing to perform activities differently or to perform different activities than rivals.”
Michael Porter, Harvard Business School
in his book On Competition
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Strategy Formation
InternalCapabilities
ExternalEnvironment Opportunities
Strengths Weaknesses
Threats
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Strategic Fit at Vanguard
Early in its history, Vanguard established “a mutual structure without precedent in the industry – a structure in which the funds would be operated solely in the best interests of their shareholders.”
Since “strategy follows structure,” it made sense to pursue “a high level of economy and efficiency; operating at bare-bones levels of cost…for the less we spend, the higher the returns – dollar for dollar – for our shareholders/owners.”
John C. Bogle, Founder of The Vanguard Group
http://www.vanguard.com/bogle_site/october192000.html
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Vanguard’s Activity System Map (partial view). Adapted from On Competition
Featured in Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
http://webword.com/download/chapter18.pdf
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“Why do we have so many unusable things when we know how to make them usable? I think it has to do with the fact that the usability advocates don't understand business.”
Don Norman recent interview on NewScientist.com
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“There's a gigantic gray area between good moral behavior and outright felonious activities. I call that the Weasel Zone and it's where most of life happens.”
Scott Adams
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“…management theory and practice…move on tragically separate paths…between 1988 and 1994, I followed a group of visionary top managers and watched each one fall prey to corporate politics, self-interested boards, and the whims of financial analysts.”
“Companies invest billions in endless cycles of quick fixes to ‘rediscover’ their end consumers.”
“Organisms that confront system-threatening challenges tend to keep doing what they know how to do successfully, only with more vigor.”
transaction crisis, mass production, enterprise logic, deep structures, consumers, employees, chronic stress, organizational narcissism…
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“People have changed more than the business organizations upon which they depend.”
“In the late 1990s pent-up demand for sanctuary, voice, and connection exploded upon the new digital medium called the Internet, driving a frenzy of innovation.”
“Today’s individuals have new dreams… Dreams make markets.”
“When we face discontinuity, the answers we seek cannot be found under the light from the lamppost.”
new enterprise logic, deep support, relationship value, federated networks, complexity, fractal geometry, feedback, adaptation…
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Strategy for the IA Community
1. Understand the context.
2. Turn weaknesses into strengths. (see also: embrace your weasel nature)
3. Leave the lamppost.
“What is our aim? I answer in one word. Victory – victory at all costs, victory in spite of all terror, victory however hard and long the road may be, for without victory there is no survival.” Winston Churchill
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Organizational Context
• Compensation• Incentives• Mission, Vision, Goals• Strategy• Value & ROI Metrics• Politics & Culture• Human Resources• Governance• Staffing
• Content Management• Knowledge Management
• Technology Infrastructure• Processes• Project Management• Scope• Schedule• Budget
• Society, Markets, Culture…
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“It is a common mistake in going to war to begin at the wrong end, to act first and to wait for disaster to discuss the matter.” Thucydides
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“Most of the complaints we get are due to the way users search; they use the wrong keywords.” - manufacturing company manager
“On a scale of 1 to 4, I would rate our search as a 4; it’s excellent. If it wasn’t good, then I’d expect a higher % of people calling our toll-free number.”- telecommunications manager
Forrester Research, Must Search Stink?
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“The Fortune 1000 stands to waste at least $2.5 billion per year due to an inability to locate and retrieve information.”
“While the costs of not finding information are enormous, they are hidden within the enterprise, and…are rarely perceived as having an impact on the bottom line.”
The High Cost of Not Finding Information
An IDC White Paper, July 2001.
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Invisible Information Architecture
Sorting Things Out“Large information systems such as the Internet or global databases carry with them a politics of voice and value that is often invisible, embedded in layers of infrastructure.”
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“Companies need to stop their rush to adopt generic ‘out of the box’ packaged applications and instead tailor their deployment of Internet technology to their particular strengths.”
“The very difficulty of the task contributes to the sustainability of the resulting competitive advantage.”
Michael Porter, Harvard Business School
In “Strategy & The Internet”
Harvard Business Review, March 2001
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“We are the blind people and strategy formation is our elephant. Since no one has the vision to see the entire beast, everyone has grabbed hold of some part or other and railed on in utter ignorance about the rest.”
Henry Mintzberg, McGill Universityin his book Strategy Safari (written with Bruce Ahlstrand and Joseph Lampel)
Strategy Revisited
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Strategy Defined as 5 P’s
Plan. A direction, guide, course of action.
Pattern. Consistency in behavior over time.
Position. Locating specific products in specific markets.
Perspective. Way of doing things (The McDonald’s Way)
Ploy. Specific maneuver to outwit.
From Strategy Safari (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, Lampel)
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10 Schools of Thought
Strategy Formation As:
Keywords
Design Conception Fit, Think
Planning Formal Formalize, Program
Positioning Analytical Analyze, Calculate
Entrepreneurial Visionary Envision, Centralize
Cognitive Mental Frame, Worry, Imagine
Learning Emergent Learn, Play
Power Negotiation Grab, Hoard
Cultural Collective Coalesce, Perpetuate
Environmental Reactive Cope, Capitulate
Configuration Selective Integrate, Transform
Adapted from Strategy Safari (Mintzberg, Ahlstrand, Lampel)
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Adapted from The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning by Henry Mintzberg (1993)
Strategic Planning
UnrealizedStrategy
Plans Executed
EmergentStrategy
Realized Strategy
10%
90% 90%
The paradigm “ready, aim, fire” no longer applies; it is now “ready, fire, steer.” Paul Saffo
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Prescriptive Descriptive
Top-Down Bottom-Up
Planned Emergent
Stable Adaptive
Centralized Distributed
“In today’s marketplace, it is the organizational capability to adapt that is the only sustainable competitive advantage.” Willie Pietersen
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The Yahoo Taxonomy Model
An informal count suggests more than 67,000 categories in Yahoo with roughly 4 to 8 levels of hierarchy between the main page and actual content.
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Search Log Analysis
33,000 queries (27,000 or 81% unique)
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
25000
30000
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Queries Per Term
Inst
ance
s
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con·tent man·age·ment n.
The organization and structuring of information resources so they can be stored, retrieved, published and reused.
• cms software
• information models
• content types & granularity
• sgml, xml & metadata
• single source strategy
• syndication
• business processes & workflow
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Wine.com by the Numbers
Facet # of Vocabulary Terms
Type 46
Region 16
Winery 750
Price 6
Ratings 6
Total Terms 824
Total Combinations 19,872,000
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endeca.com
Guided Navigation“Multi-dimensional indices are both lighter-weight and more powerfully expressive than a single large taxonomy.”
“The Library of Congress uses a “monolithic taxonomy of compound subjects, and needs a five Volume reference catalog of over 250,000 subject terms…”
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Corporate FacetsFacets Description
Topics Enterprise-wide subject hierarchy.
Organizations Businesses, functions, departments (authors/owners).
Countries & Locations Geographic indicator of intended audience.
Products & Services Complete range of products and services.
Formats Content/object types that are meaningful to employees.
Roles Major employee roles (e.g., managers, admins).
Languages Language of documents.
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Management by Metadata
Enterprise Certified • Metadata approved by Enterprise IA Team.• Featured in Taxonomy.• Featured in Searching (“Best Bets”).
Organization Certified • Metadata approved by Information Steward.• Secondary placement in Taxonomy / Search.
Author Certified • Metadata provided by Individual Employee.• Not in Taxonomy.• Included in Search Results.
Uncertified • No metadata provided.• Not in Taxonomy.• Not in Default Search Results.
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Tools for Adaptive Web Sites…• User Interviews• Card Sorting (e.g., affinity modeling)• Task Performance Analysis (varied levels of fidelity)• Ethnographic Observation• Adaptive Framework (facets, thesauri, novel UI)• Usage Logs (search, page hits, clickstream)• Link Analysis (Google, referrer logs) • Customer Interaction (via the web site)• Collaborative Filtering (Amazon)• Social Computing (Slashdot, Babble)
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“Our plans miscarry because they have no aim. When a man does not know what harbor he is making for, no wind is the right wind.”Seneca, circa 65 AD
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The End
Peter Morville
Semantic Studios
http://semanticstudios.com/
Presentation
http://semanticstudios.com/events/strategy1102.ppt
“We shape our buildings. Thereafter, they shape us.” Winston Churchill
“The beginning of all understanding
is classification.” Hayden White