Section 18.4. Exposing Gaps in Business Strategy

18.4. Exposing Gaps in Business Strategy

Information architectures should solve problems and answer questions. Consequently, information architects must find problems and ask questions. In our quest to understand how context, users, and content all fit together, we often expose serious inconsistencies and gaps within business strategy, particularly in how it relates to the web environment.

In many cases, the problems are fixable. A company known for excellent customer service has neglected to integrate customer support into its web site. Or a widely respected online bookstore risks violating its customers' trust by secretly featuring search results for publishers who pay a fee. In a healthy organization, the architect can raise these issues and get them resolved.

In other cases, the problems are symptoms of an organization in real trouble. Consider the following examples, with names omitted to protect the guilty.

• A Global 500 company has recently been through a large merger. The U.S. division has a formal, centrally managed, top-down corporate intranet. The European division has several decentralized, informal, bottom-up departmental intranets. Stakeholders on opposite sides of the Atlantic have very different goals and ideas for their intranets. The plan? Design a single integrated intranet to foster the sense of a single, unified company. The reality? Two disparate cultures clashing on a global scale. The tail of information architecture can't wag this dog.

• A Fortune 100 company decides to enter the e-commerce gold rush by throwing $40 million into development of a consumer health portal. After discovering dozens of domestic competitors, they decide to target several European countries, all at once. One tiny problem. They know almost nothing about the health-related information needs or information-seeking behaviors of the people in those countries. And they never get to find out. Eventually the plug is pulled on this out-of-control e-business.

When we find ourselves in situations that feel crazy, it's human nature to pretend things will work out. We assume the executives really do know what they're doing and that the master plan will become clear soon. But painful experience suggests otherwise. If it looks crazy, it probably is crazy. Trust your gut. Remember, the executives who develop strategy are human, too. It is not uncommon to find situations where the people involved are aware of major gaps and flaws in the plan, but they're too afraid or unmotivated to point them out. As the information architect, you may be well positioned to be the one who cries out, "the emperor has no clothes," and then proceeds to work with the managers, strategists, and stakeholders to put together a more sensible plan.