Sometimes, it can be so weird working in UX because from job to job, you may work in completely different industries. I actually find it fun because, as a lifelong learner, I love diving into a new space and uncovering new information about it. But even still, part of it is weird because something will be reported in the news or come up in conversation, and I'll inevitably wonder about the users from a past industry that I no longer serve. Since 2019 alone, I've worked in aerospace, e-commerce, logistics, and cybersecurity.

The minute I saw the news about CrowdStrike last month, all I could think about was the primary user group from my previous job: cybersecurity professionals. I spent over a year and a half thinking about and advocating for these users. Already knowing the cognitive load of their jobs, I immediately thought about what kind of mornings the over 60 cybersecurity professionals I had interviewed might be having. 😓

Or take the launch of the last TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite) in 2017. It reminded me of my time working on the TDRSS (TDRS System) team back in 2007. In that role, I was part of a three-person team tackling the TDRSS physical library digitization project (and doing IA before I knew what IA was). We were going through literal physical files housed in a secured room, shredding the unneeded ones and scanning the important stuff so that everyone on TDRSS moving forward could have easier access to them. I like to think that someone on the TDRSS team in 2017 might have referred back to something I scanned into the system in 2007. (Fun fact: we found a 1970s candy wrapper in one of the manila folders -- luckily no moldy chocolate or bugs were involved 😅🍫.)

Reflecting on my time working in various industries reminds me how each role has shaped my perspective, even long after moving on. 🤔💭 Have you ever had a moment where current events suddenly transported you back to a past role? What industries or user groups still occupy a corner of your mind, even though you no longer work directly with them?

Have you ever completed a big, juicy UX project only to realize you aren’t sure how to “sell” it to relevant stakeholders? I think this happens to all of us UX-ers at one point or another. We get so immersed in the research and design that, once we climb out of that hole, we think, “Who wouldn’t be into this?!” But that’s why storytelling is such a hot topic right now! We can’t just expect stakeholders to understand the long journey we went on that informed our research/design decisions. We need to be able to convey that journey in a way that makes sense to them and their needs!

Building Structural Arguments is Storytelling

Abby Covert recently published an amazing article, Structural Arguments for Information Architecture, where she discusses the importance of creating effective structural arguments when evaluating and comparing different options for information architecture (IA). 🧩📐 If you don’t know Abby yet, I’m so excited to introduce you to her. She is an information architect and the author of How to Make Sense of Any Mess and Stuck? Diagrams Help. She’s also the organizer of The Sensemakers Club.

Abby’s method of building a strong structural argument for a proposed structure is a valuable tool for the end(-ish) of any IA project because it helps you reflect on your choices in a structured and informative way. It also helps you tell the story of your proposed IA with more confidence!

Abby presents seven common components of effective structural arguments: intention, information, content, facets, classification, curation, and trade-offs. For each component, she also provides examples and relevant questions to consider to help you strengthen your argument. Her article really highlights the importance of thoughtful evaluation and documentation in making informed decisions about IA, as well as increasing stakeholder buy-in for your proposed structure.

Applying Abby’s Advice IRL

This article couldn’t have come at a better time for me, as I was in the middle of a meaty IA project of my own at work. As I finalized my proposed IA structure, I knew I wanted to apply Abby’s advice to my own workflow, even if only to strengthen my own understanding of the value of the IA I was proposing. My first step was to build a template on FigJam, since that’s where I do a lot of my research-related brainstorming and braindumping. 🧠 As I was building out the template, inspired & informed completely by Abby’s article, I realized that the Structural Argument template could be a really fruitful group activity to go through with the product manager, UX designer, & UX manager on the IA project.

Visit my Figma Community page to use this template!

During our team’s weekly sync about the IA project, I proposed that we go through the Structural Argument activity together. Not only was it extremely illuminating, but it also improved stakeholder alignment, facilitated meaningful discussions, clarified different perspectives, and ultimately led to a shared vision for the IA structure. WHEW! Here is the impact of going through the Structural Argument activity as a team in more detail:

📄 It got all of us on the same page — Throughout our IA project, we all kept learning and gathering more and more information in different ways. I was, of course, conducting card sorts and tree tests. But everyone else was also gathering relevant information, too. For example, our product manager was meeting with cross-functional teams, reprioritizing based on business needs, and uncovering internal insights about the product all the time. Doing this activity together allowed us all to share what we had learned and really see the whole picture.
✍️ We had the opportunity to document all relevant information — I start every research project with a problem-scoping exercise that I conduct as a group activity with relevant stakeholders. It helps us better understand the problem, which helps inform our research based on our goals for the project. Doing this Structural Argument activity toward the end-ish of our IA project was a great bookend to starting the project with a problem scope; it allowed us to document everything and make sure that our argument for the proposed structure supported the initial intent of the project.
🫣 It uncovered areas where we didn’t have all of the answers… yet — Abby laid out the seven common components of effective structural arguments, with questions to ask ourselves in order to reflect on how our proposed structure fit into that component area. Going through each component, we found some areas harder to answer than others — which is a good thing! It helped us realize that there is still some information we need to uncover and understand better to make sure that our proposed IA is appropriate for the intent of the project.

Publishing the Template on Figma

After chatting with Abby about how awesome this activity was, we wanted to make this template available for anyone to use for their own information architecture projects! So I published it on my FigJam community page. I would love to know if any of you end up using this template in your next project! Drop a comment with your thoughts! 💭

Links:
Structural Arguments for Information Architecture by Abby Covert
Information Architecture (IA) Structural Argument Template on FigJam by Sahar Naderi