This presentation provides case study and best practices you can use to cultivate IA expertise in your organization, regardless of size.

1. @Speaker #LavaCon
Need Information Architects?
You Can “Grow Your Own”!
Best Practices for
Cultivating IA Expertise
Beth Thomerson

2. @Speaker #LavaCon
About the Speaker
• Documentation Manager & Senior Leader
within Innovatia’s Technical Documentation
line of business
• Over 20 years of experience in information
design and development
• Agile training & ScrumMaster certification

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Innovatia Highlights
• 600+ knowledge management
professionals globally
• Canadian company headquartered
in Saint John, NB Canada
• Global presence
• End-to-end knowledge management
company
• Committed to R&D

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Fast, effective
learning that
works.
Design, develop
and delivery
Progressive,
competency-based
learning solutions
where, when and
how the learner
needs it
24/7/365 support,
with 10+ years
experience.
Multi-shore
Workforce
Quality service
Competitive pricing
Low attrition
Experts in making
complex products
& procedures
simple.
Leverage standards
Architect for reuse
Simplify the content
Improve information
integrity
Engage the audience
Software tools
that make content
management
easier.
ProcedureFlow
Content Development
Suite
Procedure Accelerator
An Innovative Solution Provider
Documentation Learning
Technical
Support
Software
Products

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Why do you need Information Architect expertise?
• Complex content
• Multi-channel content delivery
• Dynamic content
• Sophisticated end-user requirements
• Content quality no longer “enough”
And it’s only going to get more
complex, interesting, and
challenging in the future!

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What skills differentiate IAs?
Can Perform:
 Content analysis/audit
 Content strategy
 Audience analysis
 Competitor analysis
 Content architecture
Content Architecture:
Content models
Taxonomy
Metadata strategies

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Hiring outside your organization
Advantages:
•Fresh perspective/point of view
•New skills/expertise
•New ideas/new person helps
energize an organization

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Hiring outside your organization
There are drawbacks:
•Company knowledge
•Customer knowledge/insight
•Competitor
knowledge/challenges
•Few Information Architect
resources available; time-
consuming to hire
•Strategy, vision, mission

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Growing your own IA experience
Advantages:
•Company knowledge
•Customer knowledge/insight
•Competitor knowledge/challenges
•Strategic vision, mission
•Existing business relationships
•Retention of key talent/
career path creation

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Growing your own IA experience
Drawbacks:
•Time-consuming
•Stale perspective

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Our situation
• Medium-size organization,
multiple clients/projects
world-wide
• Finding the right mix of skills to
hire is challenging
• We need more IA expertise to
support growth

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Our “grow your own” solution
Defined Approach:
 “Night school” concept
 Curriculum designed so
“students” can use existing
project work
 Focus on repeatable
processes
 Select candidates across
project teams
Benefits:
Applying IA principles
benefits deliverables
immediately
As students progress, we
have pool of in-house
talent when IA roles are
available

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You may have some doubts…
•Too small
•Too big
•Too busy
•No existing IA expertise / Not sure
where to start
“Do not wait until
conditions are perfect to
begin. Beginning makes
the conditions perfect.”
–Alan Cohen

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Too small or too big?
Small:
 nimble
 may also equal more autonomy
 fewer hurdles for buy-in on a plan
 focus on growth opportunities/value
to the business
Big:
 plethora of talent
 (if IA role or IA expertise is in-house) career
development; if not, new career path
 established process for business case
recommendations

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Too busy?
•Chart a multi-phase approach to
demonstrate value; start small
and build
•Prove value and efficiencies; earn
buy-in from stakeholders
•Incent writers for results
“Focus on being
productive instead of
busy.”
–Tim Ferris

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No expertise or not sure where to start?
•Learn together
•Network for mentors, advisors
•Consider online resources
(budget-friendly)
•Invest in top-talent via instructor-
led training, conferences, books
“One sure-fire way to stay
creative: force yourself to
learn something new.”
–Harvey Mackay

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Selling the idea
• Identify objectives (you can have more than one)
• What problems are you trying to solve?
• What benefits do you anticipate for your organization?
• What changes, stays the same, or regresses if you
don’t grow IA expertise?
• Do you need a full-fledged IA, or do you want to
cultivate IA expertise to grow into IA role(s)?
• Be able to articulate how IA as a role or expertise can
help with top talent retention
• Consider building a business case to get initial interest
and buy-in
• Suggest a proof of concept project that clearly
illustrates benefits of applied knowledge
• Create RACI matrix/ensure you identify the right
stakeholders for communications
• Find a champion/sponsor

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Identifying the needs
•Create a checklist – look for gaps,
where to strengthen existing skills,
and add new skills
•Prioritize items on checklist; backlog
those less-critical
•Consider expectations & be clear on:
̶ What you want/value to organization.
̶ What applicants want/value to their
skill sets.

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What to consider
•What approach will work best in your
environment?
•Series of sessions or ongoing program or hybrid?
•Do you have in-house expertise to leverage?
̶ Instructors
̶ Mentors
̶ Coordinator
•Can you “clear the decks” to ensure
program’s success?
•Plan program as a project; ensure
accountability/responsibility

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Assemble the team
Important roles:
• Project Lead
• Curriculum Lead
• Communications Lead
• Instructor(s)
• Mentors
• Coordinators
• Program Manager
(optional)
Start small;
add more team
members if needed
Smaller team
nimble, bias for action; but…stretched
thin, no backups, multiple roles/person
Larger team
thorough planning, one role/person; but…
less nimble, harder to make decisions

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Develop curriculum
•Identify foundational skills
•What fills identified gaps?
•What strengthens existing skills?
•Does the curriculum include
multiple aspects of IA?
̶ Strategy
̶ Analysis
̶ Process/SDLC
̶ Auditing
̶ Modeling
̶ Communicating results
•Validate and iterate until
curriculum meets needs

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Identify ideal student profile
Profile
• Seniority level
• IA activity expertise (e.g., content
modeling, auditing, analysis)
• Communication expertise (across,
down, up)
• Passion
• Previous projects/initiatives
Create application (optional)
• SharePoint
• Survey applications
• Word or Excel

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Plan, interview & select
Plan your approach and
communicate to the organization
Interview interested candidates;
standardize on base questions
Determine which candidates
are the best fit for your needs

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Plan & communicate – our approach
•Create project plan; assign owners and dates
•Create communications plan with milestones
•Provide early information to managers
•Announce to organization
•Open application

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Interview applicants – our approach
• Review applications; triage most
promising based upon profile wish list
• Select applicants for interviews;
communicate to all applicants
• Develop scoring mechanism for
interviewers
• Determine base questions; use in all
interviews
• Score interviews independently

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Select candidates – our approach
•Collate interview scores after
all interviews are complete
•Project team members discuss
& select final candidates
•Notify managers of selected
candidates
•Communicate to all candidates

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Begin program
•Regular project team meetings
̶ Discuss progress
̶ Evaluate feedback
̶ Adjust as needed
•Frequent/regular mentoring
for all attendees
•Office hours for “drop-in”
questions, discussions
•Training=lecture and hands-on
•Exercises reviewed/critiqued
•Formal measurement not required

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Wrapping it up
•Survey attendees
•Survey managers
•Schedule retrospective
•Record findings/lessons learned

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General best practices
 Research
 Whiteboard ideas
 What does success look like?
 Network! What works in other
organizations?
 Attend conferences
 Invest in training (time or budget)
 Create elevator pitch around value
 Determine metrics
 Cultivate executive
sponsor/champion
 Get buy-in from stakeholders
 Communicate early and often

30. Questions?