sharepoint fest - new york - 2014 - practical sharepoint information architecture

PRACTICAL SHAREPOINT INFORMATION ARCHITECTURERuven Gotz

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Ruven Gotz

@ruveng

spinsiders.com/ruveng

ruven.gotz@avanade.com

Buy the Book (or Kindle):http://amzn.to/JnxlcC

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

SharePoint can be dangerous to your career!

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Expectations are set very high

Reality: The waters can be rougher than expected…

…but the results can make it worthwhile

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

What is an Information Architect?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/racingmix/274777460/

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

What is a Business Analyst?

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

In the SharePoint world, it’s a bit of a hybrid

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Dealing with humans in tough circumstances

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Soft skills

You have got to get everyone onto the same page

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

The key to shared commitment is Shared Understanding

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Visual tools are a great way to get to shared understanding

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

We will cover visual tools that assist with SharePoint

What is Metadata?

The BIG Question

Data about data

Ruven Gotz

Thank you for coming!

@ruveng

spinsiders.com/ruveng

ruven.gotz@avanade.com

What is Metadata?

I think I get it

Oh! Now I see(Mostly)

What is Metadata?

I think I get it

The BIG Question

Meta for?

What is

Metaphor

Let’s use a

What does a cow say?

What does a chicken say?

What does a duck say?

The sounds these animals make are attributes that distinguish them

Example from Yoav Lurie

• Prince• Pop/Rock• 1984

Adapted from the “pea soup” story by Serge Tremblay

What is our Base Metaphorfor files?

What if we saw this?

Better…

Solve with folders

Hire an intern

What is metadata?

This is metadata!

Not this!

or this…

What is Taxonomy?

Carl Linnaeus (1751)

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Superclass

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Class

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Order

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Suborder

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Family

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Subfamily

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Genus

Animal Kingdom

Invertebrates Vertebrates

Mammals

Predators Primates Whales Rodents

Squirrels

Mice

Mice & Rats

Hamsters

and

Voles

Real Hamsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed

dwarf hamsters

Voles

Gerbils

Porcupines

Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Species

Shared Drive ZooX:

Production Sales & Marketing

Marketing

Commercial Industrial Governme

ntHealthcare

Labs

Hospitals

Private

Public

Large

Urban

Not Associated

University

Rural

Medium

Small

Clinics

Mobile

Sales Web Design

Newsletter Social

Taxonomy

As we’ve already seen: This always works out great

Findability vs. Putability: a basic asymmetry

Shared Drive ZooX:

Production Sales & Marketing

Marketing

Major Hospitals

Commercial Industrial Governme

nt Healthcare

Labs

Hospitals

Private

Public

Large

Urban

Not Associated

University

Rural

Medium

Small

Clinics

Mobile

Colleges

Big

Small

Sales Web Design

Newsletter Social

Moving this mess to SharePoint makes it worse

SharePoint Sux

The #1 rule of SharePoint?

Never use folders

Except when it makes sense

ever

Folders for Security

Permissions assigned per folder

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Let’s start with Mind Mapping

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Building a simple mind map

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Using a mind map for navigation

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Using a mind map for prioritization

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Discovery workshops

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Using a mind map for taxonomy

A SharePoint Taxonomy (Navigation)

Customer Type• Lab• Hospital• Clinic• Mobile

Sector• Private• Public

Size• Large• Medium• Small

Location• Urban• Rural

University• Yes• No

A SharePoint Taxonomy (Metadata)

Adding Metadata (when uploading)

A SharePoint Simulation

Document Type Inventory Worksheet

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

What is metadata?

What is Taxonomy?

What are content types?

Name _________Emp. # _________Date _________

Dates Requested:From __________To: __________

Manager ________Approved Y/N

Name _________Emp. # _________Date _________

Dates Requested:From __________To: __________

Manager ________Approved Y/N

Name _________Emp. # _________Date _________

Drug Used:Name __________Cost: $ _________

Manager ________Approved Y/N

Name _________Emp. # _________Date _________

Drug Used:Name __________Cost: $ _________

Manager ________Approved Y/N

Vacation Request

Drug Reimbursement

Both Content Types in One Library

Content Types for:

Workflow,

Policy,Security

Back to the Inventory Worksheet

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Build Mind Map (based on inventory worksheet)

Dealing with Wicked Problems

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Dialogue Mapping

Facilitation & Mapping

Shared Display

Notation (IBIS)

Dialogue Mapping

http://cognexus.org/

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

A very simple example IBIS map

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Real example

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Wireframing with Balsamiq

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Process mapping

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

This stuff is hard

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Social complexity makes every problem ‘wicked’

© 2014 Ruven Gotz

Getting to shared understanding is crucial

Visual tools with shared displays can help

Slideshare.org/ruvengRuven Gotz

@ruveng

spinsiders.com/ruveng

ruven.gotz@avanade.com

Tools Mentioned:- Mindjet MindManager- Balsamiq Mockups- BizAgi Entry Level- Microsoft Visio

REMINDER – TOMORROW

• 8:30 Keynote Panel – Bridging the gap:– On Prem vs. Cloud

• 1:30 Understanding Enterprise Social– The value that social can bring

Highly recommended• 4:20 today: SPT107 - Shifting the

paradigm of requirements gathering