Structuring Serendipitous Collaboration

Structuring
Serendipitous
Collaboration
Nick Inglis, CIP,
IGP, INFO

Nick Inglis,
CIP, IGP, INFO
Nick Inglis is Executive Director, Content &
Programming at ARMA International
(formerly President of the Information
Coalition, before the two organizations’
merger). Inglis is the author of
‘INFORMATION: The Comprehensive
Overview of the Information Profession.’ Mr.
Inglis’ writing has been featured in U.S. News
& World Report, The Providence Journal,
Yahoo! Finance, CMSWire, and others. Before
his Co-Founding and leading the Information
Coalition, Mr. Inglis served as the Director of
Professional Development at AIIM and was
one of the youngest Assistant Vice
Presidents in Bank of America’s history.
When not adding to his collection of
certificates and certifications (CIP, IGP, INFO,
ERMm, SharePointm, BPMm, E2.0m, ECMm,
IMCP), he is likely spending time with his son,
Conor Atom.
@nickinglis | nick.inglis@armaintl.org

Everyone
wants better
collaboration
we've never been
more separated than
we are today.

In June (2020), just under one-third of
workers teleworked or worked from home
for pay because of the coronavirus
pandemic. The share of workers who
teleworked in June (31 percent) was
lower than the figure for May (35
percent). - U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Separate,
together.
Accoding to a
research report from
Buffer, 98% of
respondents would
like to work remotely,
at least some of the
time, for the rest of
their career.

Common Structures:
• Org Chart
⚬ Departments
⚬ Groups
⚬ Teams
Uncommon Structures:
• Subjects
• Interests (non-work)
• "Ask Me About"
• Location
What are our
commonalities?

"Collaboration is when two or more
individuals, software systems and
applications, departments,
organizations, and/or stakeholders
work together towards a common
goal"
- The ARMA Guide to the Information Profession
CollaborationHuman
Technology

Information
Architecture
"Information Architecture (IA) is the art
and science of making information
usable, finable, manageable, and
securable. This is accomplished by
applying information science to
enterprise information environments
to model and design logical systems
for organizing labeling, navigating,
and searching information."
- The ARMA Guide to the
Information Profession
• Support the user's
ability to find
information.
• Applied consistently

Containers are structured hierarchically
Establish policy once and push through hierarchy
Container names vary by system:
• Site Collections
• Groups
• Sites
• Teams
• Libraries
• Content Types
• Folders
• Etc.
"Containers"

Traditional
containers
approach vs.
faceted approach:
both are familiar.
Traditional
containers
approach:
• single facet
• browsable
Facetedapproachusesmultiple
characteristics(metadata)

Elements of IA
Structure(Using SharePoint structure naming as example)
Site
Collections
Sites Libraries
Content
Types
Fields
(Metadata)
Structural Containers Taxonomic Elements

Elements of IA
Structure
Site Collections
Sites
Libraries
Fields
(Metadata)
Content Types

Elements of IA
Structure
Site
Collections
Sites Libraries
Content
Types
Fields
(Metadata)
Workflow
Content
Organizer /
Auto-
Classification
Records
Declaration
In-Place
Records
Management
Multi-stage
retention
Automated
disposition
eDiscovery /
litigation holds

How do the
following
find/interact?Example
Piece of information uploaded to:
- Site Collection: Marketing Department
- Site: Inbound Marketing Team
- Library: Marketing Assets
- Content Type: Contract
- Metadata:
- Vendor: XYZ Marketing Co.
- Contract Size: $160,000
- Term Start: 9 November 2020
- Term End: 8 November 2021
- Signer: Jane Smith

How do the
following
find/interact?
Marcy Gerard
Director, Outbound Marketing
Benefits of Marcy collaborating
on this contract:
- Better understand vendors in
Marketing Department
- Repurpose some of the
marketing assets from this
contract if she's able to interact
in advance
- Can review contract details
for another marketing contract
she is working on
Example
- Metadata:

How do the
following
find/interact?
William Novell
Contracts Specialist
Benefits of William
collaborating on this contract:
- Identify inconsistencies in
contracting
- Enforce contract terms
- Identify contract terms that
could be beneficial if utilized
across the organization
- Leverage for similar contracts
comparisons
Example
- Metadata:

Work Backwards
from Collaboration
Site
Collections
Sites Libraries
Content
Types
Fields
(Metadata)
Workflow
Content
Organizer /
Auto-
Classification
Records
Declaration
In-Place
Records
Management
Multi-stage
retention
Automated
disposition
eDiscovery /
litigation holds

Extensible
SITE
COLLECTIONS
& SITES
Creating a planned environment
structured for collaboration must
start with your information
architecture.
Should support
navigation and
browsing.
Should be
logical to all
users.
Should allow
flexibility for new
site provisioning
(extensible).
Site
Collection A
Site C
Site
A
Site
B
Site
C.1
Site
C.2
Site
C.3
Extensible

CONTENT
TYPES /
INFORMATION
CATEGORIES
Manufacturing wants facilities
blueprints to be separate from
product blueprints.
Can be used for
Workflow &
Auto-
Classification.
Should be used
for information
categorization
Can be used for
Retention &
Disposition
rules
Manufacturing
Extensible

CONTENT
TYPES /
INFORMATION
CATEGORIES
Site Admin can EXTEND the
Content Type "Blueprints" and add
"Facilities" and "Products" to meet
departmental needs, while
ensuring organizational needs are
still met.
Can be used for
Workflow &
Auto-
Classification.
Should be used
for information
categorization
Can be used for
Retention &
Disposition
rules
Manufacturing
Facilities Products

CONTENT
TYPES /
INFORMATION
CATEGORIES
The same metadata fields will be
carried from parent, "Blueprints", to
children, "Facilities" and "Products".
Additional fields may be added to
children (that already exist in the
system, not new fields).
Can be used for
Workflow &
Auto-
Classification.
Should be used
for information
categorization
Can be used for
Retention &
Disposition
rules
Manufacturing
Facilities Products

Planning your content types / information categories
Manufacturing
Blueprints
Facilities
Associated Metadata & Policy Application:
Metadata: File Name, Created By.
Policies Applied: Retention Rules, Disposition Rules.
Information not added (some containers are structural only).
Metadata: (All metadata associated with Manufacturing), Blueprint ID.
Policies Applied: (All policies associated w/ Manufacturing), Print
Restrictions. Information may be added.
Metadata: (All metadata associated with Manufacturing & Blueprints).
Policies Applied: (All policies associated w/ Manufacturing & Blueprints).
Information may be added.

Plan
Your
Metadata.
Update your metadata schema
in conjunction with your
information architecture and
holistically in alignment with
information governance
planning. Your metadata can
enable functionality today and
prepare future functionality.
Findability Workflow
Retention &
Disposition
Auto-
Classification

Metadata
Planning
Checklist.
Identify common
information
categories &
related fields.
Identify roles
and timing for
ongoing
management of
metadata.
Which fields
should be
immutable
(closed) / user
discretion (open)?
Identify managed
metadata /
metadata
syndication
needs.
Determine
language
requirements
and rules.
Create a logical
hierarchy of
terms.
Establish
standard terms
and sets of
terms.

What does a
metadata
plan look
like?

Establish turnkey templates,
tailored to your company's
requirements and common
activities.
Deployment
Through
Information
Architecture
Know what's
required at the
highest level and
where you can
provide flexibility.
Make it easy to
follow the rules
by building the
rules into what's
already easy.

Establish information
architecture ownership and
metrics for improvement.
Prepare for
change.
Establish a regular
schedule for ongoing
IA review.
SUSTAINING
INFORMATION
ARCHITECTURE
Leverage search
data, user feedback,
metadata usage, etc.
to improve IA over
time.

What are our
commonalities?
We

What are our
commonalities?
areWe

What are our
commonalities?
areWe all

What are our
commonalities?
are
human.
We all

Asana profile concept designed by Ryo Lu

informal
made
formal.
Create space for informal interactions
amongst your teams - there is no
virtual watercooler, you must create
them for your teams. Leverage your
enterprise collaboration platforms,
your virtual meeting spaces, or
however you connect.
Here's a list to get
you started:
• Recipe sharing
• Cooking clubs
• Pet photo Friday
• Trivia night
• Book clubs
• Foodie groups
• Podcast listening groups
• Groups of employees by job titles
(this varies widely)
• Find employees who want to lead
When employees meet other employees on an
informal basis, they are more comfortable in
building new work relationships. More
connections creates greater opportunity for
serendipitous collaboration. More connection
also creates a greater sense of belonging which
improves morale and productivity.

Structuring Serendipitous Collaboration

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Structuring Serendipitous Collaboration

Similar to Structuring Serendipitous Collaboration (20)

More from Nick Inglis

More from Nick Inglis (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Structuring Serendipitous Collaboration

Editor's Notes