What’s more, if you want to change things in the long term, you need time. This means that you have to survive. And for sure, people who left a footprint on the world were usually long-lasting: the reign of Louis the fourteenth of France lasted more than seventy-two years; Queen Victoria ruled for 63 years; and Picasso died at 91 years old.

Information architecture and, more generally, user centered design are not widespread in every European country. In France, where I live and work, information architects and user experience managers are relatively uncommon: probably less than 50 professionals, mainly working within the big digital agencies.

So what is it like to be the first information architect in a digital agency in this context? That’s what happened to me two years ago. But none of the books I’ve read on IA prepared me for my work environment. I’ve been practicing IA in what I consider a hostile environment. To cope with this, I’ve learned how to change that context as well as adapt my practices. I’d like to share with you my experiences and how I’ve been able to survive.

What is a hostile context?

If you’ve ever felt that all odds are against you, then you know what it’s like to work in what I call a hostile context. In my observation, there are a few key reasons that give rise to hostile contexts.

No room: Projects often get organized without taking information architecture into account. Some tasks are already performed by people, while other tasks are neither identified nor planned. For instance, in France, project managers are in charge of creating site maps, wireframes, and detailed specifications (believe it or not). But they don’t do this according to a user centered approach. So, there is no user research, and all the deliverables related to the users are missing. There’s no room in the team structure for you to do your job. No time: The time allocated to do information architecture work is limited because the job is somehow perceived as a kind of luxury, something you can easily live without. And obviously, it is something that web agencies have successfully lived without for years before you arrived. I once worked on a pitch where I had 2 days to do both a content inventory and create a sitemap for a 5,000 portal site. People may question the value of IA and not give you enough time to adequately work.

No shared knowledge: Very few people, if any, may really know what you’re doing, what value you can add, and when to get you involved. You cannot count on a common culture and a common language to communicate with. Unfortunately, each one has his or her personal definition of your job. After some months, I began to stress each time somebody uttered “information architecture” in front of me. It usually had non-sense connotation, or at least a complete misunderstanding of the work we are doing. A lack of a common understanding of your work contributes to the rise of a hostile environment.

No common process: Many times is no common methodology that account for IA on projects. For instance, you can be asked to work on a project once the site map and the story board have already been done. Having a clear process that accounts for IA work is critical to your success.

No partner: How do you work with professionals who have never previously collaborated with IA? There is no established working habits and structure you can fall back on. Usually, nobody is expecting anything from you. I remember a project where I was working alone to create personas and users journeys, and to identify the main functionalities for the site. I presented the final deliverable to the client and it ended there. The file was saved on the server, but nobody in the team never read it. You can achieve a deliverable for the client, but the team does not necessarily feel they should use it too.

How to improve context?

Don’t despair. There are many ways you can improve the context to work in more comfortable conditions. Focus your time: Concentrate your efforts on the user experience. Collect everything you can about users’ needs and expectations: you will be the only one doing this. Focus also on the specific problems that only information architect can address, i.e. those related to users, journeys, and finding information. Spend most of your time – if possible all your time – on fixing them (e.g., user’s research, defining an overall experience, identifying users’ journey breakdowns). Rely on networks for the rest: books, discussion lists, social networks, best practices and case studies are all of great help. For example, use best practices, existing research or design patterns. Share your knowledge: Explain user centered approach to the people around. Help them to understand what you are doing. Organize formal presentations. Evangelism has to be part of your job in hostile environments. When I arrived at the agency, I was the first information architect to be hired. I quickly organized many internal presentations. Some were dedicated to the whole staff, some focused on specific audiences: one for the project managers, one for the account managers. Each time my purpose was to show information architecture’s benefit from their own angle. You can also teach your discipline informally whenever it’s relevant. Develop your teaching skills, and mentor your juniors or somebody who do not know your job.

Improve processes: Start changing the company’s methodology to take information architecture into account. You first need to identify the people in charge of the methodology – in my case, these were production managers – and discuss with them to see how it can be changed. Be careful not to change everything, and don’t be dogmatic. At first, the idea is not to change the entire company culture, but to just enough to give you space to work. Try to negotiate what is acceptable for everyone without stepping on their toes. Perhaps the most difficult thing is to make them understand that you are not “just another job to integrate into the process.” It is a brand new way to do things, but it doesn’t mean you must change everything at once.

Find partners: First of all, the client can be your best ally. Meet them as much as possible. Think to them as a player in your team, never like an enemy. Each time I get together with the client, I take the opportunity to make him or her discover information architecture, usability, and user centered design. Each time he or she was convinced easily and some of them asked for information architecture afterwards, sometimes even asking for us namely.

Second, think of the user as a valuable partner. Insist to have usability tests performed. The results can be quite powerful and one of your best advocates. It’s hard for others to oppose the results of a usability test and what the users have to say. Third, make friends with the team you are working in: cooperation is the key to the success.

Last but not least, the broader professional network can help by giving you expertise and credibility. There are many smart and helpful groups out there, such as LinkedIn, IxDA, euroIA, and the IA Institute.

Adapt your practice

Once you improved the context, change the way you work. Your goal is to become perfectly adapted. You cannot expect others to make all the efforts. You too have to meet them halfway…at least.

Adapt deliverables: Deliverables are supposed to communicate findings. If they are not doing this well enough, depending on the context, change them. Outside of France information architecture has existed for only a decade. As a result, deliverables are not some part of a rigid, highly-defined scientific protocol. If a deliverable is difficult for others to understand, replace it by another one. For instance, I experienced some problems with personas. Both the team and client didn’t catch on to them. I replaced them with profiles and red routes. Profiles are not as precise as personas: there are user’s segments defined by their main characteristics and the tasks they perform. I borrowed the red routes concept from David Travis, at Userfocus (www.userfocus.co.uk). These are the main roads in London on which parking or any form of obstruction is absolutely forbidden, to prevent major disruption of the city’s traffic flow. So, by the same token, red routes in IA for the user are thoroughfares that must be kept free from obstruction.

Keep quality: Staying professional with limited means is one of the main challenges to face. Limited budget and time are manageable, but having absolutely no budget is not. That’s why you must fight to get a budget, even a small one. In return, your challenge afterwards is to choose the right method to match your constraints, and above all maintain the highest professional quality in your work. This will give you the respect and credibility you need the next time you request more money.

Collaborate: Re-think team cooperation. A domination of IA would be as bad as domination of any other field. Make space for all professions to create better interfaces and experiences together. Collaborate with art designers: draw wireframes together. At Duke Razorfish, there is no fighting between information architects and art directors because we’ve learned to work together. Also collaborate with strategic planners: combine consumers’ insights with users’ insights. The more consistent, the better. Lastly, collaborate with account managers: use the strategy they have already defined for the project in your own work to reflect a unified, holistic approach to IA.

Turning the Tide

One thing is for sure: making your way out of a difficult situation takes time. You need a good dose of patience and the ability to return after set-backs. Things aren’t going to change overnight. If you persist and if you have a clear roadmap for making change happen, you can get there. Just remember to be flexible and adapt to the setting.

Changing a hostile environment in your favor doesn’t have to be bloody revolution. As long as your in the game, you can surely and slowly make difference, but do so in a constructive way. In just two years at Duke Razorfish, I’ve already seen great improvements. People now invite to participate in up-front discussions about projects and methods, and they now request and rely on key deliverables, like users research and personas. I hope my personal experiences recounted above can give the guidance you need to turn a hostile environment into a hospitable one instead.

Thanks to Jim Kalbach for his help in editing this story.