Tears, Tantrums and Triumphs OZIA 2009

OZ-IA 2 October 2009 Ladan Wise Meghan Hayes An IA & UX CASE STUDY & TRIUMPHS TEARS TANTRUMS

Ladan Wise Meghan Hayes An IA & UX CASE STUDY

Setting the Scene…

ABOUT THE DEPARTMENT
Public housing
Aged care
Disability services
Health
Hospitals
Mental health
Child protection and wellbeing
Adoption
Youth justice
Licensing of chemicals
Managing of funded agencies that provide services
Cemetery and crematoria regulation…

WHY DHS NEEDED THIS PROJECT
Organisation-based IA
Between 40 and 240 internet sites
Over 35 intranet sites
No consistency across sites - 7 different web teams
Inconsistent compliance with standards
Limited use of good practice in terms of IA:
eg. Left nav on one site had: "useful links" and then "really useful links"
Left nav spawns new sites (but not consistently)
Overloaded quicklinks replacement for proper navigation

Scene 1: In the Beginning

INITIAL REVIEW (2005)
Deloitte strategic review
Findings:
Websites inconsistent and based on internal organisational structures
Not capitalising on the web as a service delivery tool
Recommendations:
Move all content into a single CMS
Consolidate many sites into a smaller set of thematic/user centred sites (and a single intranet)
Formation of the central strategic web team

Bumpy road
No user consultation
Limited business consultation (web managers only)
3 options, no recommendation
Final position was “without user validation there is no recommended option”
Things up in the air
Internal dissatisfaction
Web managers put forward own alternative recommendations
Started to go around in circles
Oh no! What are we going to do, Brad? Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein FIRST IA PROJECT (2006)

Need strong support from the top; someone to have final say - avoid a stalemate
Need end user consultation
Need strategic business consultation
Consultants worked independently
DHS may have jumped the gun (governance not set up yet)
Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein Brad, where did we go wrong? LESSONS

DID YOU TELL SOMEONE SOMETHING THEY SHOULD KNOW? Scene 2: There’s a New Sheriff in Town

GOVERNANCE PUT IN PLACE
Things in limbo until Web Director appointed
Web director - single role with overall responsibility for the web
Central web team (strategy) put together (reporting to Web Director)
Web Management Advisory Group consisting of representatives from each division in an advisory role
Federated model of governance with other web teams across the department

NEW START
Scene now set for another attempt at the project
Stamford consultants embedded with DHS central web team
Different to first attempt when the consultants worked somewhat autonomously
Side-by-side mentoring would assist long-term success

IA PROJECT – AGAIN
Began in March 2008
Objectives:
Deliver cost effective online delivery
Follow best practice in Information Architecture
Devise a maintenance strategy
Redesign both internet and intranet
Broader 'no wrong door' policy at DHS

THE TEAM
Manager, Web Domain Group
Ladan Wise, Project Manager (and internal IA)
Suze Ingram and Lisa McArley, initially
Meghan Hayes and Taryn D'Souza for stages 2 onwards
Matthew Daniel and Michael Fradd (internal support and IA)
Support from other WDG members

PROS OF EMBEDDING EXPERTS We’re one big happy family!
Organisation:
Mentor for internal team
Easy access to consultant
Consultant gets to know organisation quickly
Consultant:
Better understanding of organisation’s climate
Build relationships with team
No lost time on simple questions
Easier access to departmental system
Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein

CONS OF EMBEDDING EXPERTS Oh Brad! I wish you could help with my affinity diagram!
Organisation:
Stakeholders may not see consultants as separate from internal team
Hard to keep consultant "neutral"
Consultant:
Limited access to other consultants (sanity checks) & knowledge sharing with peers; isolated
Drawn into internal "situations"
Slower pace: as a consultant, ready to go on day 1 but had to slow down, be more sensitive to the environment
Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein

TRICKY PROJECT AHEAD
Tried once before
Organisational climate; big shift for DHS
Adjusting to new governance
Lots of content: 100,000+ content items for internet & 30,000+ for intranet
Frequent consultation with MANY stakeholders essential to keeping everyone happy and project moving
A lot of risk mitigation work
An evidence based organisation - not enough to be an expert
This is all too much to take! Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein

Scene 3: A cunning plan…

START MAKING PLANS
How would we tackle this behemoth?
Let’s talk the same language
Couldn’t talk to the business…yet
Decided on a 5 stage process
The project included intranet and internet but
Will mainly cover internet today (but lessons apply to both in most cases)

DHS Internet Information Architecture Strategy Approach IA Maintenance Strategy Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Interaction & Visual Designs and Style Guide Domain Familiarisation Business Stakeholder Research Understanding the business needs and goals for the DHS web presence. User Research Understanding the DHS users’ informational needs and goals. Analysis of Research Findings Analysis, synthesis and summary of all findings from business stakeholder and users research. DHS Website Architecture Working out how many DHS websites there will be and what they will be called.
Consultation and Analysis Findings Report
Interactive Tools Requirements (Internet) Report
Best Practice Analysis Report
Information Architecture (IA) Designing IAs for each of the DHS websites. This includes the following activities:
Card sorting activities with users
Draft Information Architecture
Review of information architecture
CMS information architecture
Documentation of IA evolution and rationale
Final Information Architecture Report
Interaction Design
Designing key interaction and wireframe screens for each of the DHS websites. This includes the following key activities:
Collaborative design sessions
User testing sessions
Iterative design processes
IA Maintenance Strategy Developing an ongoing strategy to ensure IA is maintained appropriately. Style Guide Development Developing guidelines, specifications, design rationale and style guide for the DHS web presence.
IA Maintenance Strategy
Style Guide
Wireframes
Visual Design mock-ups
Implementation Stage 5 TBC
TBC
Visual Design Creating visual designs for each of the DHS websites. Consultation & Analysis Information Architecture Design

DHS Intranet & Workspace Portal Information Architecture Strategy Approach Produced by DHS and Stamford Interactive. Draft v0.2 - 20 Mar 2008 IA Maintenance Strategy Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Consultation & Analysis Information Architecture Design Domain Familiarisation Business Stakeholder Research Understanding the business needs and goals for the DHS intranets and the Workspace Portal. User Research Understanding intranet and Workspace Portal users’ informational needs and goals. Analysis of Research Findings Analysis, synthesis and summary of all findings from business stakeholder and user research.
Intranet Consultation and Analysis Findings Report
Interactive Tools Requirements (Internet & Intranet) Report
Intranet Best Practice Analysis Report
IA Maintenance Strategy
Style Guide
TBC
TBC
TBC
Information Architecture (IA) Designing an IA for the intranet. This includes the following activities:
Card sorting activities with users
Draft Information Architecture
Review of information architecture
Documentation of IA evolution and rationale
Final Information Architecture Report
Interaction Design
Designing key interaction and wireframe screens for the intranet and Workspace Portal. This includes the following key activities:
Collaborative design sessions
User testing sessions
Iterative design processes
IA Maintenance Strategy Developing an ongoing strategy to ensure IA is maintained appropriately. Style Guide Development Developing guidelines, specifications, design rationale and style guide.
Wireframes
Visual Design mock-ups
Implementation Stage 5
TBC
TBC
TBC
Interaction & Visual Designs Visual Design Creating visual designs for each of the DHS websites.

Internet Intranet Intranet Website 1 Website 2 Website 3 Website 4 Website 5 Key: Resources Jun 08 Jul 08 Aug 08 Sept 08 Oct 08 May 08 Nov 08 Dec 08 Jan 09 Feb 09 Mar 09 Apr 09 Jun 09 Jul 09 Aug 09 Sep 09 Oct 09 May 09 Oct 09 Visual Design# Visual Design# Stage 1: Internet Consultation & Analysis Stage 2 Stage 3 & part of Stage 4 Stage 2 Stage 3 & part stage 4 Stage 2 Stage 3 & part of Stage 4 Visual Design# Visual Design# Visual Design# Lead Consultant #1 VPS resource #1 Visual Designer Stage 2 Stage 3 & part of Stage 4 Stage 2 Stage 3 & part of Stage 4 Lead Consultant #2 VPS resource #2 Resources required for implementation Stage 5: Intranet implementation (estimate only) Resources required for implementation Lead Consultant #2 VPS resource #2 Stage 1: Intranet Consultation & Analysis Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 Stage 5: Internet implementation (estimate only) Apr 08 Nov 09 Stage 2

Brad, are you even listening to me? Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein
By project board (of 11 key stakeholders)
Controversial because group of web managers' perceived limited authority to influence this approach
Web director (project executive) instrumental in moving past first hurdle
PROJECT ACTIVITY SIGNOFF

Senior support is essential
LESSONS Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein

Scene 4: Just the facts please

What did we need to get out of Stage 1?
Business goals
User goals
Answer to the $1,000,000 question: “How many websites should there be and what should they be called?"
CONSULTATION & ANALYSIS

Internet
1 x Executive stakeholder workshop
(10 participants)
12 x Business stakeholder workshops
(38 participants)
9 x Web manager interviews (17 participants)
12 x User workshops (87 participants)
12 x Card sorting (97 participants)
Intranet
Similar set of activities; large amount of participants
CONSULTATION

I’m just not sure about us anymore, Brad. Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein
“ Are you talking to enough people?”
“ What about Web 2.0? Blogs? Wikis?”
“ Why worry about IA, can’t we just get a search like Google?”
Key messages worked into all communications and discussions by team members
Preparing a communication strategy helped
KEY MESSAGES = BROKEN RECORD

Have your key messages ready - and be ready to repeat them many times
Utilise a change/comms manager from the very beginning
LESSONS Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein It works like a charm!

DID YOU TELL SOMEONE SOMETHING THEY SHOULD KNOW? Scene 5: Back to headquarters to examine the evidence

MAKING SENSE OF IT ALL
Heaps of analysis to do!
Mind maps
Affinity diagrams
Analysing card sort results – looking for patterns

GOALS - INTERNET
Business Goals
DHS services easy to understand and access
Foster knowledge sharing, networking and communication
Encourage Victorians to manage their health and wellbeing
Provide more opportunities for Victorians to have their say
Reduce non-DHS related email and phone enquiries (incl costs)
User Goals
Quickly understand what DHS does
Easily understand their eligibility and how to access DHS services
Quickly locate content
Interact more easily with DHS
Have a pleasant, friendly experience

FINDINGS & RECOMMENDATIONS
Business stakeholders were expecting to hear about a number of websites
But user research didn’t point that way….

“ It can’t be split up, all falls under same heading.” “ Annoying having to click from one site to another.” “ How would you know what all of the department’s websites are? Where would you find that out?” “ Hard to navigate back if going site to site.”

ONE SITE
The final recommendation was for a consolidation into a single departmental site
With one exception: a "Better Health Channel" site

Knew it was going to be a tough sell
Single site model controversial given previous state of autonomy
Decided needed to talk to each Board member individually to address individual concerns
Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein What do you mean I only get one!!?!

Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein I’m so glad we talked about our problems.
One on one road-shows work well
LESSONS

Scene 6: Sort ing it out

STAGE 2: IA DESIGN
43 card sorting sessions (open and closed) with 122 data sets
Results often inconclusive for (conceptual overlap, split down middle)
Decided on extra, unplanned business consultation to help clarify grey areas
Excellent final solutions for both intranet and internet were found
Utilising role and topic-based navigation, cross linking, faceted classification, polyhierachy...

Apologies to Roy Lichtenstein Take that ! I’m fighting for the users!
One on one road-shows work well
User feedback should influence every step you take
LESSONS

Scene 7: Now we see what it looks like

STAGE 3: INTERACTION & VISUAL DESIGN
Completed stage for intranet; about to start for internet
Staff responded very well to the intranet layout
Met their needs

AND THE SAGA CONTINUES
As internet IA was formally approved and the intranet visual designs complete, the Premier announced the split of DHS into 2 departments
Revalidation necessary
Impact on intranet?
Changes to IA with creation of 2 internet sites (instead of just 1)
Do business goals change?
MORE user consultation...
I can’t believe this is happening!

DID YOU TELL SOMEONE SOMETHING THEY SHOULD KNOW?
Senior support in place from day 1
Took stakeholders on the journey
Broke steps up into manageable bites
Adjusted to new needs as they arose
Used embedded experts - works well in an organisation that needs user champions and mentoring
KEY THINGS WE GOT RIGHT

Thanks to… Suze Ingram – original concept & development Scott Lacey – graphic design Matt Daniel – sanity checking Roy Lichtenstein – artwork

Tears, Tantrums and Triumphs OZIA 2009

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Tears, Tantrums and Triumphs OZIA 2009 Presentation Transcript