sps chicago - practical information architecture

1 | SharePoint Saturday Chicago 2013Twitter: @SPSChicago Hashtag #SPSChicago

Ruven Gotz

Practical SharePoint Information Architecture

2 | SharePoint Saturday Chicago 2013Twitter: @SPSChicago Hashtag #SPSChicago

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3 | SharePoint Saturday Chicago 2013Twitter: @SPSChicago Hashtag #SPSChicago

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© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Ruven Gotz

@ruveng

spinsiders.com/ruveng

ruven.gotz@avanade.com

About me

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

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

SharePoint can be dangerous to your career!

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Expectations are set very high

Reality: The waters can be rougher than expected…

…but the results can make it worthwhile

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

What is an Information Architect?

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

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

What is a Business Analyst?

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

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

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Dealing with humans in tough circumstances

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Soft skills

You have got to get everyone onto the same page

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

The key to shared commitment is Shared Understanding

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Visual tools are a great way to get to shared understanding

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

We will cover visual tools that assist with SharePoint

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Let’s start with Mind Mapping

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Building a simple mind map

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Using a mind map for navigation

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Using a mind map for prioritization

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Discovery workshops

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Using a mind map for taxonomy

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

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

Short-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Djungarian dwarf

hampsters

Roborovski Hamster

Long-tailed dwarf

hamsters

Voles Gerbils

Porcupines Guinea Pigs

Fish Amphibians Reptiles Birds

Taxonomy

Species

Shared Drive Zoo X:

Production Sales & Marketing

Marketing

Commercial Industrial Government Healthcare

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 Zoo X:

Production Sales & Marketing

Marketing

Major Hospitals Commercial Industrial Government 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

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

© 2012 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

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Build Mind Map (based on inventory worksheet)

Dealing with Wicked Problems

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Dialogue Mapping

Facilitation & Mapping

Shared Display

Notation (IBIS)

Dialogue Mapping

http://cognexus.org/

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

A very simple example IBIS map

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Real example

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Wireframing with Balsamiq

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Process mapping

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

This stuff is hard

© 2012 Ruven Gotz

Social complexity makes every problem ‘wicked’

© 2012 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