Essential Communication Skills for Information Architects

Information Architects need to be strong communicators to be able to organize, conceptualize, and present information to project teams, clients, and end-users. The skills needed, however, vary greatly from one project phase to another. The following are vital communication skills for Information Architects to possess, as they move through project phases.

Phase 1: Discovery

1. Inquiry/Investigation - The first order of business for any initiative is to identify and document goals and objectives. During a project discovery phase, Information Architects are required to play the role of lead investigator, as they conduct research to assess the needs of both clients and end-users. As investigators, IAs develop lines-of-questioning that are skillfully aimed to uncover vital insights to achieving project objectives. Facilitating and maintaining the flow of a conversation, as well as asking skillful questions, is necessary in order to gather rich insights during interviews.

2. Cognition/Evaluation - Wikipedia defines "cognition" as the "process of thought." After collecting business objectives from client stakeholders, data from previous research studies, and data from newly conducted research studies, Information Architects have the daunting task of analyzing this mountain of data. This evaluation involves the identification of trends that can be used to conceive conceptual models for information and user behavior. Information Architects process information by collecting data, and then identifying and documenting data trends.

3. Conceptualization - Once information has been organized and documented, IAs develop mental models, process flows, and information graphics to attach meaning to information and data trends.

• Mental models aggregate the trends in end-user tasks that have been collected as a result of behavioral research. It is the goal of the Information Architect to facilitate the completion of these tasks with a planned information architecture for a web site or application.
• Process flows are extremely important tools for Information Architects to visually document and communicate sequential processes. Process flows are especially important when collaborating with developers, who need to build the underlying infrastructure to support a key, end-user process.
• Information graphics use graphic elements and charts to visually communicate complex informational concepts and data trends. They are useful in presenting concepts in a summary or abstract manner.

4. Verbal Communication/Presentation - Research findings, once documented, need to be presented and accepted by internal and external teams. Excellent presentation skills are needed to develop a compelling narrative framework for research findings and proposed concepts. During this phase, Information Architects face the challenge of presenting their "proposal" to various stakeholders with different agendas. For business stakeholders, Information Architects must present their proposal within the context of business requirements and objectives, otherwise the presentation will not resonate with the audience. For project managers, designers, and developers, the Information Architect must quickly illustrate how findings lead to Design recommendations that can be put on a time-line and quantified in terms of "level of effort."

Phase 2: Design

5. Negotiation/Persuasion - It typically takes a series of presentations, delivered to various sets of stakeholders, for an Information Architect to make a convincing case for a business to change how it communicates to its customers. Educating a client requires fine-tuning and adjustments to the presentation to accommodate each key stakeholder's agenda. The IA may face challenges when his/her methodology is called into question. If this is the case, the presentation may need to amplify a rationale for the decision to limit the sample size of the research population (for example). It is important to remember that, as an Information Architect, the informational needs of the audience for the presentation should be considered and accommodated. Addressing the audience's informational needs directly will elevate the credibility and persuasiveness of the presentation.

6. Organization - The process of organization entails taking a large amount of information, placing it into high and low level groupings, and then prioritizing the groupings as well as the information contained within each group. If the Information Architect is given the "green-light" to proceed with tactical recommendations, he/she must create an organizational model for content that exists to satisfy the needs of end-users. The mental model, which aggregates expected end-user key tasks, should be leveraged to conceive the organizational scheme for the application or web site (documented in the form of a site map).

7. Visual Communication/Information Design - Described above, is the process to develop a high-level, information organizational model for an application or web site. It takes an entirely different skill, however, for Information Architects to establish information relationships at a low-level, by defining information relationships and interactions on a screen-by-screen basis.  Information and Interaction Design is a subset of an Information Architect's total set of skills.

8. Collaboration - There isn't a single solution to every Design challenge. Therefore, great Information Architects understand that Design is improved with insights gathered from a team of talented professionals. Being collaborative requires Information Architects to have an open-mind, and proactively solicit alternative design patterns that successfully accommodate the needs of end-users. Selecting the right solution from many proposals covers a wider range of options than relying on a single source for recommendations.

Jonathan Lupo
@userexperience (Twitter)