Rob Fay — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 14:52:42 GMT

I’ve been an IA discussion “lurker” but have been fascinated with EIA and its implications.

I believe EIA can be quite strikingly compared to Thomas Davenport’s “Information Ecologist” metaphor – that being that EIAs should analyze an organization’s:
-strategy
-politics
-staff
-processes
-architecture

I look forward to reading James’ thoughts.

Rob Fay — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 13:56:14 GMT

James, very thought-provoking article. When I think about enterprise IA, I think about how we need to think beyond any given project and start thinking more holistically. How does the project I am working on fit into the bigger picture? Am I thinking about knocking down silos and setting up opportunities for seamless data/information/knowledge transfer?

I think you bring up good points about how we need to connect with others in the organization who are more strategically minded, but I disagree with your phrase, “As part of this team, we must understand organisational issues, but are not responsible for resolving them.” It may not be part of our job description, but I believe as enterprise IAs, we are in the unique position to be agents of change. I find that in the process of requirements gathering, I often have the chance to speak with many different folks throughout the organization. In addition, my role often takes on that of the intermediary between the tech folks and the end users. This role therefore affords me the opportunity to influence the decision-makers.

I can be a change agent, but I must be aware of the culture in the organization. So many projects fail, by way of cost, time, or quality of the product. However, if we can be change agents, both aware of the “bigger picture” and aware of the culture in a given organization, then I think we’ll be better prepared to use our people skills to get buy-in on the projects we work on.

Boxes and Arrows: Comments by Rob Fay