Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Juan Ruiz

Juan Ruiz — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 03:40:37 GMT

James, this is a very good article outlining what needs to be done before tackling the problem already defined by our clients, especially for internal applications (ie. intranet projects). As you mention, many times, the real problem is not well understood by the client and they tend to focus on common and/or popular solutions rather that understanding the real problem and finding the proper solution.

I would like to mention though, that ‘needs analysis’ is successful if performed inside the organization because we have direct contact with staff and other workers within the organization. As for building external web applications or websites, where the general internet user will use the application, I find it hard to incorporate a ‘needs analysis’ approach since I don’t have direct contact with external users. Putting together a ‘Business Analysis’, ‘Project Requirements’ on the organization side of things, and a ‘User research’, ‘User tasks and goals’ on the user side on things, help identify what the ‘needs analysis’ achieves for the internal projects. Or, do you have an example on how to use this approach on external web applications?

Juan Ruiz — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 03:51:40 GMT

It is a topic for an article. Most of the information avaible now for IAs is based on the Enterprise IA model and organization-wide point of view. Where is the IA for small business? how can we tackle this new market?

Juan Ruiz — Tue, 01 May 2007 01:19:12 GMT

We could look at a current software package that promises to solve all intranet needs: Intranet Dashboard. I’m not advertising the product, but it would be good to know how they based their desicions for building each application / component.

Juan Ruiz — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 16:28:39 GMT

Good article, Amy and B&A Staff. It is always important to remember how to evangelize the IA and UX practice. I have found that lately our community (we) have been focusing on Enterprise IA or IA/UX for major projects, but, what about small projects? What about small-to-medium businesses that are just learning what IA/UX means? Or don’t have an idea of what IA/UX is?

In my case, I work for a non-profit organization. I have introduced these new concepts onto their project management methodologies, but it has been a very tough road. A major roadblock was that my clients were used to work with Business Analysis documentation and deliverables, and I had to modify my IA/UX findings to look and read like BA documents. While I found this frustrating, I understood that, I had to speak their language first before they speak mine. Now, my documentation is looking more like IA/UX deliverables, but like I said, it took some time to achieve this.

One of my best days at work was when my supervisor (PM) was training a new employee and she was introducing IA/UX methodologies to the new team member. That’s when I knew I was making a change!

Keep up working on evangelizing our profession. While I feel that large corporations know about it, we still have to educate small-to-medium businesses about IA/UX methodologies and the ROI of implementing them. Like Seth said: “Often times, it’s more about the person than the process.”

Juan Ruiz — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 02:37:16 GMT

Nice, very nice! I cannot only put a face on their names, now I can put a voice too. I have to attend one of these summits

Juan Ruiz — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 23:20:01 GMT

Hi B&A team,
I was talking to one of my new colleagues on where to find good and reliable information in regards to IA, and the first thing I said was “Go and check out the Boxes and Arrows website”. I’ve been using the website for 4+ years now, so I think I owe you guys a big “thank you” for your hard work and for helping to shape the industry to what it is now.