Section 2.1. Do We Need Information Architects?

2.1. Do We Need Information Architects?

Since information architecture happens anyway, does the world really need information architects? If you've attended any of the IA Summits^[] in recent years, you know this has been a hot topic. A few speakers in particular have stirred the pot. Andrew Dillon is fond of saying, "I know we need information architecture. Im not so sure we need information architects." And Peter Merholz suggests that "we need to teach everyone to do information architecture, rather than isolating the practice to a handful of professionals."

^[] Sponsored by the American Society for Information Science & Technology, the Information Architecture Summit is held in February or March each year. Learn more on the IA Summit web site: http://iasummit.org.

We have to give credit to the information architecture community for having the guts to ask these questions in public. But we'd like to respond with a firm assertion that we absolutely do need information architects. We're not too particular about the specific job title; if you prefer to call them user-experience designers, knowledge managers, or findability engineers, that's fine with us. What we're focused on is the need for professionals with specialized skills and experience, who know how to create useful, usable information systems within massively complex environments.

Programmers and graphic designers are great at what they do. They're not great at what we do. And information architecture design is not a skill you can pick up by taking a half-day seminar. There's real depth to the discipline. Information architecture resembles the games of Othello and Go. A minute to learn, a lifetime to master.

Does this mean that all web developers will need a licensed information architect on board before they write their first line of code? Of course not. Information architecture happens, with or without information architects, and that's just fine with us. That's why Peter Merholz is right to emphasize the vital role information architects must play in education. We can have a major positive impact on the world by sharing what we know with all those people who do information architecture in the course of doing something else.

But the most important and complex information environments already rely on professional information architects. Large organizations like IBM, Microsoft, and Vanguard already have teams of information architects dedicated to the long-term strategy and design of their web sites and intranets. Smaller organizations tend to involve information architects in a consulting capacity during a site redesign. This allows the information architect to make a major contribution without breaking the bank.

This selective use of expertise is not isolated to the field of information architecture; in fact, it is quite common. Consider, for example, the practice of law. A huge percentage of legal decisions are made every day by business managers rather than by their lawyers.

Manager #1: "Should we approve this nondisclosure agreement?"

Manager #2: "Yes, that's fine. It's no big deal. Let's move on."

Most companies don't have lawyers on staff. They get lawyers involved when the situation is particularly messy, complex, or important. The same happens and will continue to happen with information architects.

In fact, as web sites and intranets become more sophisticated and mission-critical, the demand for information architects will only rise. This demand will be partly offset as other professionals learn the basics of information architecture. Our responsibility as information architects will be to continue to push the envelope, to learn how to do what we do faster and better, and then to share our knowledge and experience with those around us. We all have so much to learn and so much to do. We fully expect information architects to be very busy for at least the next few hundred years.