steve krug asis&t 2002 ia summit baltimore march 16, 2002 confessions of a sigia-l lurker: a...
TRANSCRIPT
Steve Krug
asis&t 2002 IA SummitBaltimore
March 16, 2002
Confessions of a SIGIA-L Lurker: A Pinhead's View of Information Architecture
All contents © 2002 Steve Krug
For the benefit of Mr. Kite
9:00 - 10:00 As advertised, Mr. K. will attempt to… “Squeeze the entire field of IA through the wringer of
common sense and take a look at what comes out the other side”
“Touch on topics like the difference between IA and usability (slippery slope, or just a complex Venn diagram?)”
“Enumerate the top [ten] five things Information Architects love to talk about (and why they can't stop talking about them)”
“Explore the art of selling luxury services (like IA and usability) in a franks-and-beans economy”
Repeat five somersets on solid ground (time permitting)
For the benefit of Mr. Kite
10:00 - 10:30 Questions from our studio audience
10:30 – 11:30 Raked over coals by irate--and distinguished--panel
By the way…
What is this thing?
Who is this guy, anyway
Steve Krug (steev kroog) (noun) 1. Resident of Brookline, MA 2. Usability consultant 3. Husband, father
Advanced Common Sense Me and a few well-placed mirrors Corporate motto: “It’s not rocket surgery™”
What I do all day
Expert usability reviews Teach workshops Occasional testing
Mostly “neighbor testing”
How did I get here?
Odd data point You can discount me entirely
Typesetting > Computers Computers > Tech writing
Kurzweil Reading Machine > Xerox Star I’m old “You had a cardboard box to sleep in?”
Tech Writing > Software usability Software Usability > Web Usability Web Usability > Book
I’m not an Information Architect
Don’t even play one on TV “I don’t know what you know, I haven’t
seen what you’ve seen” (Hear My Song) I know how to do “Lou and Peter” IA
Hierachies/organization (broad sense) Navigation Labeling Search
Don’t have specialized skills Couldn’t create a thesaurus if…
…or detailed insights gained by experience
Scott McCloud proves beauty, creativity, and good IA aren’t incompatible
Towards a taxonomy of keynotes
Was going to create one: Lofty appeal to principles
Taking the audience to task
Inspiring call to action/New Directions
Taking stock/retrospective
Taking stock/looking forward
Thinly veiled marketing
Audience-serving vs. self-serving
Has content vs. doesn’t
So what’s this one?
A pinhead’s view An interested outsider
A picaresque novel
Fastest recorded connection speed in the history of the Marriott Baltimore Waterfront
Show of hands?
Who reads SIGIA-l? Digest or full-flow? Contributed in the last month? Why I lurk on the digest
Reduces in-box clutter Reduces temptation to do “something else”
(reading incoming messages, instead of whatever I should be doing)
Reduces temptation to reply (if you wait a little while, somebody else will answer that question)
I confess. The octopus was mine. (But it’s a friendly octopus.)
My original speech
Been thinking about it since November Was all set to go, then… How did Jesse get his hands on it?
See IA/Recon at http://www.jjg.net/ia/recon/
Waiting on the dock for the next installment
Advanced Common SenseTM seal of approval
Top five list
“Things Information Architects Can’t Stop Talking About”
#5: Tools Visio, Inspiration, Denim, etc. My platform’s better than yours The mythical tool in development Frustrating for me Tool would advance the profession (but
market needs to be broader) Include spidering > diagram feature, please
Top five list
#4: Defining things
Top five list
#2: “Big IA” vs. “Little IA” Or “Big IA” and “Little IA” I always forget the difference I know it matters, but not to me Talk amongst yourselves
Top five list
#3: Research findings “X is better than Y”
© 2000 Steve Krug
Top five list
#2: Research findings Does anybody have research that shows that
“X is better than Y” “Would a big league glove give you
confidence?” Same as certification and standards
discussions I have found very little research that helps
me practice my profession If you can prove it, it’s probably obvious You need to make sense to people You need to be able to apply principles to
specific cases
Top five list
#1: Proof of ROI Gee, why isn’t there any [much]? Holy Grail (or stigmata) Would help convince some people, but I
suspect an intelligible explanation of what you do would go further
My book gets bought to hand to other people Lou, Peter? September 2002?
What is to be done?
Not proof of ROI Not grabbing for turf
What is to be done
Jakob’s overshadowed speech at UPA There’s too much work Most people who need an IA can’t even afford
to rent one Real task: educate and generate best
practices Personally, I don’t feel bad if current project
is less than optimal
Usability Tasks: Everybody
Simple user testing (debugging a design) Applying guidelines to design Simple heuristic evaluation (debugging a
design) Field studies
Source: Jakob (UPA 2001)
Usability Tasks: Professionals
Enforcing standards compliance Measurement studies User tests of new technologies Comparative usability studies Evangelizing usability inside company
Source: Jakob (UPA 2001)
Usability Tasks: Senior Pros
International user testing Strategic heuristic evaluation
(setting directions) Developing/refining methodology Identifying guidelines Defining design standards Evangelizing usability to the world
Source: Jakob (UPA 2001)
Many pieces to this puzzle
Affective Cognitive Organizational Technological Economic Interpersonal
My definition of “legacy data”
How do you get respectability?
Not by grabbing for turf See Nathan Shedroff
“The making of a discipline: the making of a title”
http://www.boxesandarrows.com/archives/002328.php
Any questions?
