How can you lead your information architecture team to take risks and experiment?

1. Accept limits, focus on users, check in regularly 2. Advocate for smaller, manageable experiments that carry lower risks first. 3. Make yourself room to fail, which means plan with risk management included. 4. Use the methodologies, which are more agile, like ShapeUP for example 5. Make active collaboration and open discussions a habit, culture, not an exception. This is actually a part of any flexible framework, but good to highlight anyways.

In the midst of an IA overhaul, diving into the unknown felt like stepping off a cliff. Embracing uncertainty wasn't just a strategy; it became a mindset shift. Failures weren't setbacks but rather chapters in a story of growth, turning apprehension into excitement.

To create anything innovative you have to embrace uncertainty while designing or in this case organising the information but don't keep the end result uncertain. Test your IA with users to make sure they're able to find what they're looking for. Don't be afraid to think differently. One notable example of IA innovation contributing to a product's popularity is the redesign of the Facebook News Feed in 2006. The redesign shifted the emphasis towards a centralized News Feed that aggregated and displayed recent activities, updates, and posts from a user's friends in a continuously updating stream. Innovation can be polarising & can lead to a steep learning curve to avoid that always test your IA with real users.

- Cultivate an innovation-focused culture that values continuous learning. - Recognize and celebrate constructive failure as a learning opportunity. - Set ambitious goals that require innovative approaches. - Allocate time and resources for specific experimentation projects. - Encourage collaboration among team members with diverse skills. - Promote autonomy, allowing team members to make decisions and try new solutions. - Create a trusting environment where team members feel safe sharing ideas. - Provide constructive feedback, emphasizing lessons learned from successes and failures. - Facilitate regular brainstorming sessions to generate creative ideas. - Support professional development

Ux é o lugar onde os testes ocorrem para mitigar possíveis erros conceituais em produ??o. Isso significa que antes de empacotar a ideia para um projeto (handsoff) os UXers já testaram, erraram e encontraram a solu??o mais adequada dentro do contexto desse projeto. Ent?o a lideran?a de UX deve refor?ar sempre que o erro n?o só faz parte do trabalho de idea??o de UX mas também é um dos pilares do nosso trabalho. Se n?o existem erros quer dizer que n?o existe trabalho de UX, por que para que existam erros e acertos decis?es precisam ser tomadas. Nosso trabalho tem a ver com aprendizado (divergir) mas também com tomada de decis?es (convergir), e essa dinamica "caótica" é o que possibilita que a melhor experiência seja encontrada.

A well-designed information architecture should in its nature be quite stable. If you need to experiment a lot, you have probably done something wrong (or you are a startup). The real value will come if you build an environment of creative and respectful friction between fast-moving, agile development teams and information architects who safeguard the integrity of information structures. It is in the cross-section of those perspectives you will find the best solutions.

Picture this: crafting a roadmap for our IA experiments felt like sketching a blueprint for an adventure. Clear goals weren't restrictions; they were beacons guiding our team through uncharted territory, ensuring every step had purpose and direction.

Ohne eine klare Zieldefinition und Erfolgs-KPIs kann man auch keinen (Miss-)Erfolg messen. Tests werden bei Purelei nur dann durchgeführt, wenn wir genau wissen, was wir testen wollen, wieso und wann der Test erfolgreich war. Dafür definieren wir eine klare Hypothese und KPIs mit Grenzwerten, die wir schon w?hrend des Tests immer wieder überprüfen.

Many times, I have seen teams filled with people of the same field sitting in a room and brainstorming ideas about a project at hand. The sounds buzzing in that room are not out of their boxes. Infact, sometimes they are full of assumptions. For example, a room full of designers brainstorming on a website restyling and bringing up crazy ideas that are really good but impractical for implementation. With diverse people in the room, ideas are enhanced, brought out of imagination and get more practical with developers, market team around. Everyone is working towards the same goal, the experiments & ideas must be in coherence with each other. It reduces biases of stakeholders (especially those who think they know what they want)

In the bustling world of IA, our team's diversity wasn't just a checkbox; it was our secret sauce. Imagine brainstorming sessions resembling a lively market of ideas, each member contributing a unique spice. Collaboration wasn't just a process; it was the symphony that made our designs resonate with a broader audience.

Collaboration is the key. To collaborate means everyone is equal and strives for the common goal. No idea is stupid and you never know it could turn out to be an important solution to the problem. Having a safe productive environment helps promote creativity so in the end creating your user-centric design.

Die richtigen Tools sind meiner Meinung nach nur ein Hilfsmittel, das wichtigere ist das Mindset. Egal wie gut und modern ein Tool aufgebaut ist, ohne die richtige Einstellung des Teams kommt man damit auch nicht weiter. Die Tools sind deshalb eher zweitrangig, sollten aber dennoch nciht vernachl?ssigt werden. Wenn man die falschen Tools hat, macht man es dem Team nur umso schwerer zu experimentieren und Risiken einzugehen.

Imagine our IA team as explorers equipped with the latest gadgets on a quest. Tools weren't just instruments; they were our compass in the wilderness of possibilities. Resources weren't mere assets; they were the fuel propelling our experiments, turning abstract ideas into tangible innovations.

In the rollercoaster of IA endeavors, celebrating wasn't reserved for victories alone. Picture cheers and applause after daring experiments, acknowledging the courage it takes to push boundaries. Recognition wasn't just a formality; it was a genuine nod to the passion and resilience embedded in every team member.

Risk Management Strategies: Implement strategies for responsible risk-taking. Develop a risk management framework that helps the team identify, assess, and mitigate potential risks associated with experiments. Having a structured approach to risk management provides a sense of security and allows for informed decision-making.

By fostering an environment that values exploration and innovation, you're essentially guiding your IA team on an exhilarating voyage of discovery, where risks are embraced, lessons are learned, and new paths are forged towards better and more innovative information architectures.

It’s an exciting time to be in this industry because AI is evolving our approach to how we engage with information. We all thought we wanted a chatbot to bridge the gap between a website that relayed information, and the user’s desire to obtain that information. But ChatGPT proved that the interface was more akin to a search and fetch query. Websites may become specialised AIs with a simple search field and an AI prepared to answer any query a user may have. As an information architect you must be ready to adopt this shift in mentality.

Encourage a culture of open communication, where team members feel safe proposing ideas. Foster an environment that values learning from experimentation, even if outcomes aren't always successful. Provide support and resources for trying new approaches while emphasizing the importance of learning from both successes and failures.

As we reflect on our IA journey, imagine a gathering of storytellers sharing tales around a campfire. This space is our campfire—an invitation to share not just successes but the raw, unfiltered moments, the lessons learned in the trenches. It's a dynamic exchange where each story enriches the collective narrative of the IA community.