Emma Chittenden's talk 'IA debt' from World Information Architecture Day Bristol, 2015.

1. IA DEBT
(OR HOW TO MAKE AN IA HAPPY)
Emma Chittenden
Hi, I’m Emma and this is my presentation ‘IA Debt’ from
World Information Architecture Day Bristol, 2015.
'Knock it down, and start again’ a line that we've heard often when discussing
information architecture. But what if knocking it down and starting it again creates a whol
e new set of problems, on top of what already existed?
This is an all to regular occurrence, I will be discussing the concept of IA debt and
why understanding it is the key to building successful Information Architecture.

2. Emma Chittenden
In the beginning there was a single page

3. I'm sure those of you who remember the days
of Internet explorer 3.5 will remember those pa
ges with awful backgrounds, 10pt times new ro
man and the odd rolling smiley.

4. Emma Chittenden
As with the dawn of many things, we tend to
find our way

5. Emma Chittenden
When humans started building homes, they
were rudimentary, meant to keep beasts out
and the heat in. It was shelter and it served a
purpose. Over time a person's home became
a symbol of their wealth and status in society.

6. Emma Chittenden
From the favelas of Brazil…

7. Emma Chittenden
…to our stately homes, each says
something about the people who
live in them.

8. Emma Chittenden
The same is starting to be said about websites, they are
becoming a representation of the wealth that the organisation
can display. From start-ups (http://www.hellonomad.co.uk/) to
corporate behemoths .

9. Emma Chittenden
Each also represents the wealth of the business.
But does the amount of money you throw at a
website really reflect a good website?

10. Emma Chittenden
MONEY WEBSITE
+ =
?
I would argue not

11. Emma Chittenden
MONEY WEBSITE
+ =
TRUST
that builds trust with its
visitors.

12. Emma Chittenden
For those of us who deal with
architecture like this you will know
that this is counterintuitive, why?
because if you’ve ever had to hunt
for something on a website, you’ll
have felt the pain and may well
have voted with your feet… and
left.

13. Emma Chittenden
I’m also sure that many of you
here today will have encountered
the demolition
conundrum. Whereby a client or
your own business will have told
you to flatten it and start again.
A little bit demoralising isn’t it?
more so if you’d been instrumental
in building it in the first place.

14. Emma Chittenden
What can be learned from
demolishing an entire
architecture?
Very little if it’s done without any
consideration.

15. Emma Chittenden
THE FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT IS GOOD AND BAD
ABOUT A WEBSITE
What can be learned from
demolishing an entire
architecture?
Very little if it’s done without any
consideration.

16. Emma Chittenden
THE FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT IS GOOD AND BAD
ABOUT A WEBSITE
THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO
CONSIDER IA DEBT

17. Emma Chittenden
THE FAILURE TO UNDERSTAND
WHAT IS GOOD AND BAD
ABOUT A WEBSITE
THIS IS WHAT I LIKE TO
CONSIDER IA DEBT
In most instances the reason for
starting over is that there is
something inherently bad about
the architecture that has started
this.

18. Emma Chittenden
Users can’t find anything

19. Emma Chittenden
It’s just too big to maintain

20. Emma Chittenden
We’ve renamed most of our
products

21. Emma Chittenden
We want people to get to things
quicker

22. Emma Chittenden
We want people to buy more

23. Emma Chittenden
ARE YOU SITTING
COMFORTABLY?
I thought I’d finish off with a nice
little story (no falling asleep at the
back, milk and cookies won’t be
provided).

24. Emma Chittenden
MEET BOB

25. Emma Chittenden
MULTINATIONAL
Bob is the leader of a
multinational company. But it
wasn’t always that way.

26. Emma Chittenden
STARTED SMALL
Bob started out with humble
beginnings, and his little company
called ‘Bobs bits ‘n’ bobs’

27. Emma Chittenden
BIG IDEAS
Bob had big ideas
His business grew. With the
growth his operational base
grew.

28. Emma Chittenden
As Bob’s business
grew, so did his
problems.
The little whispers
of dissent became
louder and louder,
and louder until...

29. “…We need to be closer to accounting…”
Emma Chittenden

30. “…We need an open plan office for
our teams to be productive…”
Emma Chittenden

31. “…We need more natural light
to remain healthy…”
Emma Chittenden

32. “…WE NEED!
WE NEED!
WE NEED!…”
Emma Chittenden

33. Emma Chittenden
LOUD H.I.P.P.O.
(HIGHEST PAID PERSON)
One day, Bob had had enough. The
HiPPO’s voices got so loud he
couldn’t take it anymore.

34. Emma Chittenden
BRIGHT IDEA!
Bob had a bright idea, he decided a
new building would fix ALL his
problems.

35. Emma Chittenden
FAMOUS ARCHITECT
So Bob found a famous architect.
Meet Andy, Andy’s the architect

36. Emma Chittenden
“I’M KIND OF A BIG DEAL”
Andy’s company lived (and died) by
its reputation.

37. Emma Chittenden
…WHO LISTENS TO NO ONE
Andy didn’t listen to
anyone else, he knew what
was best.

38. Emma Chittenden
“I’M KIND OF A REALLY BIG DEAL”
Andy’s architecture practice
had also grown, and grown
over the years and he’d won
many prestigious accolades
for his work.

39. Emma Chittenden
Kings hired him

40. Emma Chittenden
Presidents hired him

41. Emma Chittenden
YOU’RE HIRED
Yeah, you guessed it. Bob
hires him

42. Emma Chittenden
*BOB SHARING HIS WOES
Bob shares all his woes with
Andy. ‘They just won’t shut
up!’

43. Emma Chittenden
*ANDY NODS

44. Emma Chittenden
*NOT HIS ACTUAL OFFICE
Bob tells Andy that his head office is old, it’s
creaking.
The walls are thin, the windows even thinner,
the maintenance costs are astronomical. He
can’t find anything.
He doesn’t know where anyone works.

45. Emma Chittenden
Andy nods his head some more and makes
the right noises. He gets out his pen and
paper and with a quick flourish, he draws
Bob’s new building.

46. Emma Chittenden
Andy’s a vision of glass and concrete. It won’t need air
conditioning because the sun’s rays will heat it and the
greenery in the atrium will cool it.
It’ll win awards, everyone will think Bob has made the
best decision for his company.

47. Emma Chittenden
“THIS’LL SHUT’EM UP!”
Bob is in awe! ‘This’ll shut ‘em up’ he thinks

48. Emma Chittenden
Out comes Bob’s cheque book and a firm handshake
seals the deal.

49. Emma Chittenden
After years, Bob’s new building is open for business.

50. Emma Chittenden
Staff are in awe.

51. Emma Chittenden
Customers are amazed

52. YEAH… YOU
GUESSED IT…
Emma ChittendenEmma Chittenden

53. Emma Chittenden
Now, there’s 500, ev
voices!
They make even more
the original 5… and the
worse things

54. Emma Chittenden
AWFUL
TRANSPORT
CONNECTIONS
The building is 10 miles away from
the old building with awful transport
connections, it’s costing people a
fortune to get here.

55. Emma Chittenden
OFFICE IS
TOO HOT
Next, the building is too hot from the
sun and isn’t getting cooled down
for most of the day.

56. Emma Chittenden
EVERYONE’S
DEPRESSED
They’ve moved all the departments
around in the open plan layout and
it’s really affecting productivity.

57. Emma Chittenden
“HOW DO I FIX THIS!?
Bob is at a loss. What has he
done?

58. Emma Chittenden
“I’LL GO SPEAK TO ANDY!”
Bob knows what to do. He’ll go and
speak to Andy, Andy’s always got
the answer. How do I fix this?

59. Emma Chittenden
“YOU ASKED FOR SOUTH FACING”
Andy sits down and say he’ll bring
his business consultancy agency
and they’ll look at productivity.
Next he admits there might be a
problem with the temperature, but if
Bob hadn’t insisted on it being south
facing they wouldn’t have the
problem.

60. Emma Chittenden
“WHAT HAVE I DONE!?”
Bob walks out of Andy’s Architects
and thinks ‘what have I done?’ So
he turns around and goes back in.

61. Emma Chittenden
“YOU’RE FIRED ANDY!”
He fires Andy.

62. Emma Chittenden
*WHILE RESEARCHING…
He then goes and does some
research into his problem and finds
Carol

63. Emma Chittenden
*TALKING TO CAROLS OTHER CUSTOMERS
He talks to people who Carol has
helped. He visits the place that
Carol has built…

64. Emma Chittenden
“CAROL, YOU’RE HIRED.”
He hires Carol

65. Emma Chittenden
“LETS TALK TO PEOPLE”
Carol says ‘let’s talk to
people’ 'Let’s find out what the
problems are’.

66. Emma Chittenden
After a LOT of talking. Carol now
knows everyone in the business,
from Bob at the top to Xander in the
mail room. She knows what the
problems were and what they are.

67. Emma Chittenden
“GET OUT H.I.P.P.O.!!!”
The old, loud voices (HiPPo’s) don’t
work there anymore. They just
wanted a shiny building to reflect
their status, they never had a
problem.

68. Emma Chittenden
The loyal workers who’ve
stuck by Bob said ‘sure, the
old place was a bit cold in
winter and a bit warm in
summer’
But…

69. Emma Chittenden
“PEOPLE TALKED TO EACH OTHER”

70. Emma Chittenden
“FINANCE WAS NEXT TO SALES”

71. Emma Chittenden
“PRODUCTION WAS NEXT TO DESIGN”

72. Emma Chittenden
“THE LOCAL PUB WAS
A GREAT HANGOUT ON A FRIDAY”

73. Emma Chittenden
“THERE WAS A CULTURE”

74. Emma Chittenden
*SITTING BACK TOGETHER AGAIN

75. Emma Chittenden
*NEW PUB, MAY ALSO BE THE OLD PUB

76. Emma Chittenden
*A/C TO SOLVE HEATING
She couldn’t however change which
direction the building faced. So the
heat problem became more of a
challenge to fix. Lots of little
changes didn’t make much of a
difference, so ultimately Bob had to
get air con.

77. Emma Chittenden
From the first ‘sight’ of the problem,
to the eventual fixes, Bob was 10
years older and millions of pounds
lighter. The improvements weren’t
enough to justify the spend

78. Emma Chittenden
ZAHA HADID
Of course, this is a
thoroughly ridiculous story. You
would never hear Zaha Hadid…

79. Emma Chittenden
NORMAN FOSTER
…or Sir Norman Foster accepting a job like
this and making a complete disaster of it
like Andy did.
They have built successful architect’s
practices on their ability to listen to their
customers and solve their problems.

80. OF COURSE NEVER!
Emma Chittenden
And of course, nothing like this would
ever happen with Information architecture.
Kidding, the sad truth is, that this sort of thing
does happen all the time. If businesses
considered that their digital bricks and mortar
were just as, or if not MORE important than their
physical bricks and mortar we wouldn’t be asked
to demolish entire sites.

81. Emma Chittenden
ANDY, BOB AND CAROL
So what can we learn from Andy, Bob and
Carol?

82. ASK
Emma Chittenden
Talk to people.
What is working as
well as what is not.
Talk to people. Find out what’s working and
what’s not working.

83. BLEND
Emma Chittenden
…What you’ve got
now with
improvements
Blend what you’ve got now with improvements.

84. CHALLENGE
Emma Chittenden
…Anyone who tells
you that it needs to
be knocked down and
built again
Challenge anyone who tells you that it needs to
be knocked down and build again. Small
problems can become astronomical if we fail to
understand everything,

85. THANK YOU
Emma Chittenden
@EMCHI