Sea Change: Charting a Course Through Murky Work

As information architects, we get involved in sprawling, ambiguous projects that cross many organizational boundaries. Messy projects that often stall due to disagreement between parties. Consider this: how many of us have ever grimaced at the politics involved in managing a navigation project?

When we “do IA”, we are asking our colleagues to engage with abstract concepts, across siloed teams, with limited time, to address some murky problem. We’re taking on others’ assumptions, hopes, and beliefs, and turning them into things like navigation, object models, and taxonomies.
This isn’t about politics – this is about discomfort, uncertainty, and fear.

Making IA decisions is only a fraction of our work – we must also light the way through uncertainty and into a more confident collaboration space. I’ll share lessons learned and tactical methods to chart a course through murky work with higher stakeholder confidence, less churn, noticeable progress, and to bring the JOY of clarity to all!