I’ll tell you a secret. One that my friends and family mostly know about, and many people who meet me eventually figure out. But it is one of those slightly embarrassing secrets – one that I don’t usually just tell people when I meet them for the first time. But you’re going to be my friend for the next 300 pages, so you may as well know this.
I really like organising stuff. Like, really. There are few things I enjoy more than having a day off and tidying the pantry, re-organising all my yarn (I’m a weaver and have crates and crates of yarn) or pulling all my wine off my wine rack and putting it back in a different order. Well, that would be if I actually had time to do any of those things. But when I do, I get into the zone and organise and tidy. It’s bliss.
So knowing that, can you imagine how I feel when someone calls me up and says “Our intranet/website is in a total mess. No-one can find anything and there’s stuff hidden in there that has been out of date for years. We need help!” Yep, you know where I’m going with this – I love it. And I love that people pay me to do it.
But there is actually one thing I like even better than organising things. I love teaching other people how to do it. I’ve been teaching information architecture workshops at conferences and in-house for about 8 years now. It’s been cool to watch how things have changed, and how people’s general awareness of IA has increased over that time. It’s been cool to spend a day with people and hear them say “Wow, I actually knew a whole lot of that, I just didn’t know I knew it” and go away feeling more confident about their messy projects.
Now I’ve written down some of what I know about IA. Now you too can read this book and say “Wow, I actually knew a whole lot of that” (I do hope you learn some new things too of course) and can go away feeling more confident about your messy projects.
At least that’s the plan – I hope it works out for you.