Nearly two years ago, I sat up with interest as Jared Spool spoke about UE Governance at the UI East 10 conference in Cambridge, MA. I found his breakdown of UE governance models so simple and obvious that I’ve used it again and again as I have pushed for governance change at IBM. I thought I should reiterate it again here with due appreciation to Mr. Spool:
How is good Experience Design facilitated throughout a company?
- A consultative approach, where a design team handles a small number of projects and consults directly.
- A review and approve approach – establishes order and prevents “wild wild west,” eventually creates a compliance process bottleneck, a “policing” mentality, and can prevent progress.
- An educate and administrate approach, where the entire organization focuses on the principles behind successful experience design.
The third approach, Spool suggested, is the most difficult yet most effective approach. I think that in large companies like IBM where the traditional model (#2) has been followed for some time, a successful Intranet Management strategy must look at an evolution to get to #3. This can take time, effort and persistence, but I believe that it is the best, most efficient and effective way to manage good experience design over a large and complex Intranet.
