Drowning in data: Living through a content inventory when your customer is an information hoarder
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Originally presented at Intranets2014, Sydney, Australia -- It may seem easier to just install another network drive but when your customer irrationally refuses to part with useless information during a content inventory, it can end up costing the company countless dollars in the form of missed opportunities or wasted productivity. It can even create safety or legal concerns when outdated content continues to surface in search results. During her years of serving as a full-time "information organizer" for a decentralized intranet supporting over 60,000 employees, Gianna has helped dozens of content owners get through the decluttering phase of a web redesign project (usually with a minimum of hair-pulling). In the process she has developed a deeper understanding of the unique relationship people have with their website content, as well as the pathology of hoarding in general. In this session, she will: -- Explain the negative consequences of keeping everything -- Discuss similarities between compulsive hoarders of physical objects and people who hoard information -- Describe tactics that help maintain trust and encourage customer involvement during the grueling content inventory process -- Arm you with transferable skills to, in turn, teach your customer -- empowering them to make rational keep-or-toss decisions on their own
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Drowning in data: Living through a content inventory when your customer is an information hoarder
- 1. Drowning in Data: Living through a content inventory when your customer is an information hoarder Intranets2014 - Sydney
- 2. A little bit about me Team Member Researcher Standards author Humanity evangelizer Project Lead 2
- 3. Alittlebitabout Mayo Clinic Largest integrated not-for profit group practice 60,000 employees at 3 different locations 1.2 million patients seen in 2012 3
- 4. Alittlebitabout Mayo Clinic Decentralized intranet Team supports 8,000 authors publishing 2,000 individual websites Estimated Size: 1.5 mil pieces of content 4
- 5. Maud Mellish Wilson Established Mayo Clinic’s first library (1909) 5
- 6. Photo credit: Bookfinch @ Flickr Earliest Known Relational Database Circa 1911 6
- 7. Photo credit: Sarah Cady @ Flickr Primitive Information Hierarchy Circa 2007 7
- 8. “Filing sure is swell!” (…said no secretary, ever.) 8
- 10. 10 Disk space is cheap.
- 11. Disk space is cheap. Source: Mkomo.com 11
- 12. 12
- 13. 13
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- 15. Extremely under-reported Tends to appear along with OCD (but not related) Typical behavior: Indecisiveness Perfectionism Avoidance Procrastination Trouble organizing Cognitive errors 15
- 16. Information processing • Perception • Attention • Memory • Categorization • Decision-making Early experiences Core beliefs • Unworthy • Unloveable • Helpless Personality traits • Perfectionism • Dependency • Anxiety sensitivity • Paranoia Mood • Depression • Anxiety Cormorbidity • Social phobia • Trauma Beliefs about possessions • Instrumental value • Intrinsic beauty • Sentimental value Beliefs about vulnerability • Safety/comfort • Loss Beliefs about responsibility • Waste • Lost opportunity Beliefs about memory • Mistakes • Lost information Beliefs about control Positive emotions • Pleasure • Pride Negative emotions • Sadness/grief • Anxiety/fear • Guilt/shame Clutter Acquiring Difficulty discarding, saving Model of Compulsive Hoarding Steketee & Frost, 2007 16
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- 23. Knowledge workers: …cannot find what they need for their jobs about 40% of the time …spend 2.5 hrs/day searching for information …is duplicating information that can’t be found 90% of the time The High Cost of Not Finding Information Susan Feldman, International Data Corporation (IDC) http://www.hi.is/~joner/eaps/notfind3.htm 23
- 24. ? ? ? ? ? 24
- 26. 2626
- 27. 27 [Printers] fill the world with pamphlets and books that are foolish, ignorant, malignant, libelous, mad, impious and subversive; and such is the flood that even things that might have done some good lose all their goodness. --Erasmus “ Information Overload, the Early Years Ann Blair, The Boston Globe, Nov 28, 2010 27
- 28. Too much data can land you in court. 28
- 29. Too much data can harm people. 29
- 30. Too much data can kill you. Just Breathe: Building the Case For Email Apnea Linda Stone, The Huffington Post, Feb 8, 2008 30
- 31. The story so far: What it is Why it’s happening Similarities Why it’s bad 31
- 32. Tell me about your project. 32
- 33. Ask the Five Whys. 33
- 34. Profits are down from last year. We need to work more efficiently. Working efficiently supports the strategic plan. This website will tell you how to do that by increasing your awareness.by 34
- 35. 35 insight n. 1. The recognition of sources of emotional difficulty. 2. An understanding of the motivational forces behind one's actions, thoughts, or behavior; self-knowledge.
- 36. 36
- 37. Cognitive errors Look out for 37
- 39. FearDealing with of the future Documentation 39
- 40. 40
- 41. FearDealing with of the future Documentation Communication 41
- 42. 42
- 43. Documentation Worst Case Scenario Plan Communication FearDealing with of the future 43
- 44. Responsibility Dealing with feelings of Editorial Committee 44
- 46. Responsibility Dealing with feelings of Oversight Committee After-Action Reviews 46
- 47. Identity & Self Worth Dealing with sense of Facts & Data 47
- 48. 48
- 49. 49 Facts & Data Identity & Self Worth Dealing with sense of Outside authorities
- 50. External Consultant Syndrome Step Two Designs (steptwo.com.au/tag/intranets) Nielsen Norman Group (nngroup.com/topic/intranets/) 50
- 51. FilteringFacts & Data Identity & Self Worth Dealing with sense of Outside authorities 51
- 52. Photo Credit: Marina Noordegraaf @ Flickr 52
- 53. Let’s review: Establish insight Set project goal(s) Address cognitive errors 53
- 54. Material that is not personally relevant Hoarder The Value of Possessions In Compulsive Hoarding: Patterns of Use and Attachment Randy Frost, et al., Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol. 33, No. 8, 1995 PMID: 7487849 54
- 55. Material that IS personally relevant Hoarder The Value of Possessions In Compulsive Hoarding: Patterns of Use and Attachment Randy Frost, et al., Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol. 33, No. 8, 1995 PMID: 7487849 55
- 56. Non-Hoarder Shirts with long sleeves Shirts with short sleeves The Value of Possessions In Compulsive Hoarding: Patterns of Use and Attachment Randy Frost, et al., Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol. 33, No. 8, 1995 PMID: 7487849 56
- 57. Hoarder Orange striped shirts Red shirts that go with my black pants Ugly shirts Ex’s Sweaters The Value of Possessions In Compulsive Hoarding: Patterns of Use and Attachment Randy Frost, et al., Behaviour Research and Therapy, Vol. 33, No. 8, 1995 PMID: 7487849 57
- 58. Teaching organization skills Organizing Skills Tips for Teaching Use visual aids 5858
- 60. Teaching organization skills Organizing Skills Tips for Teaching Use visual aids Explain decisions 6060
- 61. Teaching organization skills Organizing Skills Tips for Teaching Use visual aids Explain decisions Be a good role model 6161
- 62. Teaching organization skills Organizing Skills Tips for Teaching Use visual aids Explain decisions Be a good role model Do it in small chunks 6262
- 64. Not doing “homework” Unproductive meetings Complains Cancels, comes unprepared Wastes meeting time Lack of Motivation 64
- 66. External Distractions Photo Credit: BuzzFarmers @ Flickr 66
- 67. Establish a dedicated project room Photo Credit: BuzzFarmers @ Flickr Difficult to find Unlisted phone number Take email/social media breaks Block big chunks of time to be there 67
- 69. Recognize that this is a stamina challenge Know when to call it quits (for now) Thinking is hard work! Do sprints, not marathons Watch out for perfectionismprocrastination 69
- 70. Congratulations, You made it. Hoarders & Organizing Teaching Organization Skills 4 Common Barriers Recommendations 70
- 72. Questions? 72
Editor's Notes
- +====================================================+ | | << Adjust Speaker Notes panel to fit this area without wrapping >> | | | a) Hello & thank you | | b) My name is Gianna Pfister-LaPin (just got married) | | c) Flown over 9000 miles to talk to you about an interesting phenomenon | | d) Big / Small problem / Not a problem at all – its affecting all of you | | e) Time to talk about data hoarding | | | | | | +====================================================+
- a) Senior UI / UX Designer at Mayo Clinic – Rochester, Minnesota, United States b) Belong to a 13-person in-house team c) Typical day: -- Interaction lead for big strategic projects -- Perform User Research -- Write standards for web based communication -- Most important: Evangelizer for human side of human-communication interaction
- a) First & largest integrated not-for-practice medical group practice in the world b) 60,000 employees at 3 different locations -- 7300 Physicians / Nurses / Scientists / Residents / Fellows / Other students -- 52000 Non-clinical Allied Health staff c) In 2012 saw over 1.2 million patients
- a) Humanitarian patient care mission supported by decentralized intranet b) Nobody owns it – my team considered the stewards c) Support 8000 authors publishing 2000 websites d) Universally non-technical people e) Not sure of size but Google Search Appliance indexing 1.5 million pieces of content
- Started by Maud Mellish Wilson b) Hired in 1909 to set up Mayo’s first library -- Clinic open 43 years -- Over 300 scholarly articles -- Numerous books / journals purchased / donated
- ??? Who recognizes this? ??? a) Maud used the Dewey Decimal System b) At its heart a big relational database -- Giant pre-determined information hierarchy -- Everything could fit within it / Everything could be found
- Idea was adopted by businesses & individuals b) Required general agreement on labels / structure c) Allowed everyone to find information quickly & easily (in theory)
- As information accumulated, had to hire file clerks b) Used complex metadata system, required training c) Still managed to function d) Then someone got the bright idea to GO PAPERLESS
- Everything was digital –> AWESOME! b) Upload / download / network drives / make websites / Sharepoints c) Keep multiple copies and revisions of everything d) Didn’t have to hire professionals to organize it e) Didn’t file > pile instead, Google it (best results on front page) f) What’s the problem?
- Uh oh, we’re running out of disk space. So what? Disk space is cheap!
- 1980 - $300,000 a GB b) 2010 – under $0.10 a GB c) Just buy more GBs if you run out
- Everyone wants a server room in their house – blue lights / blinky things b) This is what I imagine the digital cloud looks like
- Display by Maxtor (hard drive company) – 8 years of digital photos printed out ??? Who has kids? ??? b) I put my camera on burst mode – kids move so fast they are blurry c) End up with 50 slightly different shots each time d) So hard to delete pictures of my kids
- Connection between my digital photos & this kitchen b) Binge-watching HOARDERS on Netflix ??? Who has seen this show? ??? c) Great motivator – I want to clean everything d) Hoarders on TV == Owners of intranet sites during content inventory
- Appears to be highly under-reported – only when authorities are alerted b) Found with other impulse control disorders like anorexia c) Most frequently appears along with OCD – but not related d) Typical hoarder personality traits: -- Indecisive -- Procrastinate -- Avoid persons or places that make them anxious -- Hold selves / others to unrealistic standards Most important for us: -- Have trouble organizing -- Tend to make cognitive errors
- Model developed by Gail Steketee & Randy Frost in 2007 -- Trouble organizing appears in “Information Processing” antecedent -- Cognitive errors appear in “Beliefs About” antecedent -- Both == clutter growing out of control b) Are you getting worried? -- Medical student syndrome – literary self-induced hypochondria c) Hoarding tendency in all of us: not a problem unless: -- Danger to health & welfare, authorities are called in --- Like the Health department --- Or the Information Architect
- Customer asks for help with redesign b) Meet / Explain our Process / Give blank content inventory spreadsheet c) Document every web page / image / PDF / word doc d) If keep, assign owner / review date e) Usually this goes smoothly – but sometimes I get back a spreadsheet that looks like this…
- I used to go ahead and IA this site b) Too much content / getting old / nobody was using it c) Shoveling garbage old > garbage can shinier d) Learned that this was having negative consequents on fellow employees / whole organization
- Internet – stuff never goes away b) Intranet – same thing
- Residency Supervisory Policy – six years old Olive Grill Menu – three years old c) Renal Pathology Resident Rotation schedule – over ten years old
- a) Duplication of content is also a problem b) Three bottom examples are duplicates of top (official copy) of Dental-Vision reimbursement form c) How do you know which one you should use?
- Another way digital hoarding costs your company is through wasted productivity.
- a) Susan Feldman – International Data Corporation writes: b) Knowledge workers: -- Cannot find what they need 40% of the time -- More than half of intranet searches are abandoned -- Spend 2.5 hrs/day searching for info (One quarter of a work week) -- 90% of time spent preparing reports generates data that already exists
- a) All adds up to missed opportunities for your company b) Highly skilled / highly intelligent employees are wasting time: --- Trying to find info --- Giving up / adding more to the clutter --- Could be spending time doing better things
- We have all heard about information overload
- Not a new thing b) Gutenberg – printing press 15th century c) Erasmus – Dutch theologian / social critic d) Written 400 years before the internet
- a) The situation has not become much better b) Too much data --- land your company in court c) The Joint Commission -- Nonprofit accreditation entity in the US -- Assesses health care organizations for quality / performance standards (handwashing) -- Also checks that staff has fast / accurate access to ------ Clinical procedures ------ Emergency response plans d) Unannounced visits > clinical staff panic
- a) Information overload == any typical hospital b) “Alarm fatigue” research is being done BUT firehose of info > Electronic Medical Record c) IT Team in charge of the EMR interface keeps getting asked to add more info to the screens d) Physicians call the shots at most hospitals e) Dr Vitaly Herasevich -- EMR interface f) Much less data / only shown when triggered g) Statistically significant reduction in errors
- Linda Stone – Huffington Post – 2008 -- 80% of us hyperventilate / hold breath during information processing tasks (reading/writing email) b) Medical apnea --- Disturbs balance of oxygen, carbon dioxide, nitric oxide --- Body becomes acidic == suppresses immune system --- Directly linked to heart attacks
- What digital hoarding is b) Why it’s becoming easier to do it c) Similarities to compulsive hoarding of physical objects0 d) Why it’s so bad to do Time to talk about fixing this situation.
- a) UX / IA Role > becomes sort of a therapist b) Working on intranets == fellow employees as customers c) Different spots in org chart == different emotional baggage e.g. Quantifying work hours because of layoffs -- Create administrivia categories / labels -- “Synergistic supply management” -- “Operationalizing strategic advantage” e.g. Quality improvement initiative -- Created lots of content – only important to small work area d) Often we have a solution but don’t now the problem e) Need to find the real problem to fix – Therapists call this “determining treatment goals”
- Ask “why” they are doing the project – 5 times b) Be careful not to sound like a jerk Why are you doing this website? -- Because we want to increase awareness of the Whatever Initiative 1) Why do you want to increase awareness? -- Because it supports our strategic plan 2) Why is it important to support our strategic plan? (Customer fidgeting – assumed shared cultural awareness) -- Because strategic plan sets the direction that all employees should work towards 3) Why should all employees work in the same direction? -- Because it makes us more efficient 4) Why is it important to be efficient? (Going in circles – bear with me) -- Because we had to cut operating budgets by 20% this year 5) Why did we cut operating budgets? -- Because profits down last 3 quarters and we aren’t as profitable as last year
- Profits are down from last year b) We need to work more efficiently c) Working efficiently supports the strategic plan d) This website will help you do that by increasing your awareness of the Whatever Initiative Fill in the blank -- THAT is a real UX problem to solve
- a) Insight: understanding of problem & recognition of ability / responsibility to fix it b) Critically important – can’t do treatment without it c) Sketekee & Frost > hoarders universally lack insight d) Therapists show hoarders photos of hoard to achieve insight e) Info Architect can draw a map of the digital hoard f) I like to do it manually
- Node map from Department of Nursing intranet redesign Written up in James’ Robertson’s book “Essential Intranets” Content inventory already completed but it was so big > incomprehensible to the team / very clinical content for me Took 4 days to make this map Exposed obvious symptoms of hoarding, duplication, even missing content Overwhelming; helped get Nursing leadership to approve timeline extensions / additional contractor resources
- a) I started thinking cognitive errors > lack of project goals / lack of insight b) Cognitive errors == negative patterns of thought / beliefs that affect mood c) Tend to show up as Mistaken Beliefs
- a) Fear of something in the future -- Believe their info will save the day (reality: will never find it) ---- Seen in people who lived through legal trouble ---- Seen in people who tried / failed to delegate effectively b) Inflated sense of responsibility -- Believe they must shelter / collect info or it will be lost & homeless ---- Always very proud of collection ---- I’ve seen meeting minutes / agendas, project files, photos, videos, scanned receipts c) Customer has strong tie to website / validates sense of self -- Might be out of control in other areas of life -- Compensates by “owning” the site & all content ---- Resents you / sees as an intrusion ---- Most difficult to deal with
- a) Fear of future seems to be most common b) Fear of: retaliation / legal trouble / looking stupid / general anxiety c) Documentation == security blanket
- Information hierarchy b) Project process > what happens at each phase c) Gantt chart done in Excel d) Real time dashboard These help communicate past, present, future events
- a) Well informed customer == calm customer
- Regular update meetings b) Send recaps of minutes by email c) Listen; you don’t solve their problems or take on more work d) Karen McGrane – 2013 IA Summit – “cognitive” vs “real empathy”
- Sometimes there’s a real future danger b) Archive old material away c) Organize it so it can be found d) Ask customer to promise to delete when no longer needed
- Customer feels responsible for data b) May have historical or nostalgic significance c) More likely: customer feels unqualified to make IA decisions – just adds everything d) Points to lack of editorial oversight support
- Ideal website editorial committee provides oversight b) Helps with decisions about content & structure c) Should include SMEs / Representatives from major work areas d) Should be informed by good user research e) Put persona info in meeting room
- Content seems related to old projects > lack of a post-mortem process at company b) Serves same purpose as funerals c) Lots of info on the web about after-action reviews / project post mortem d) Part of an Agile workflow / Continuous quality improvement
- Professor Dick: leading physicist from CERN – can find anything in 5 seconds b) This kind of hoarder can be especially hostile / resent your intrusion into his space c) May challenge your authority / expertise d) Best to defend yourself with facts & data
- My favorite data: website usage statistics b) Common cognitive error is belief that collection is very valuable c) Therapists appraise hoards > sometimes worth something, usually junk d) Website not performing well > a real problem UX can help with
- External Consultant Syndrome b) Has a level of credibility in-house team doesn’t have
- a) Two good sources of information: b) Step Two / Nielsen Norman Group
- a) Finally it’s important to stress the importance of filtering information
- a) It is impossible to collect every fact / article on a topic b) Better to be the local authority with the best / most relevant info
- Discussed how to figure out project goal – even when customer doesn’t know it b) Reviewed insight – how to promote it c) Went over cognitive error / mistaken beliefs – how to deal with them d) Remember the other hoarding behavior relevant to us today? Trouble organizing.
- a) Randy Frost & colleagues – research on how hoarders sort & classify b) Material that is NOT personally relevant: behaves the same as non-hoarders c) Creates same number of categories
- a) When sorting materials that IS personally relevant: b) Hoarders make many more categories c) Report much higher levels of anxiety d) Test turns out to accurately present hoarding tendencies
- a) Non-hoarders take 4 shirts b) Arrange into rational, objective categories – logical to others
- a) Hoarder will organize same 4 shirts very differently b) Makes many more categories c) Categories arranged according to emotional / subjective qualities d) These are not easy to understand by others
- a) I was surprised to find out not everyone is good at organizing b) I was asked to document my process / workflow; got frustrated because I couldn’t explain what I did c) Looked at teaching adults with ADD d) ADD is becoming commonplace – we all suffer from it once in a while e) ADD is a disorder of the Executive Functioning part of the brain (like compulsive gambling or Autism Spectrum Disorders) f) Seems to respond well to visual aids
- a) Weight chart – records progress b) Checklist – steps that need to be accomplished c) Node map – visual menu of choices
- a) Explain decisions about content b) Best ways to teach c) Requires patience / persistence
- a) Being a good role model establishes customer trust b) Don’t need to have everything labeled with sticky notes c) Show up for meetings / workshops; be on time d) Have necessary documentation available e) Appear calm and competent f) If you are anxious == customer will be anxious
- a) We always underestimate how hard it is to do a content inventory for a redesign b) Department of Nursing took 750+ hours to complete c) 2 full-time employees working 10 weeks straight d) Required taking regular breaks and a flexible schedule One day the project manager tells you content inventory is taking too long… -- Four common barriers to finishing this phase of the project
- a) It’s possible that project members are simply lacking motivation
- a) Lack of motivation looks like: b) Customer isn’t doing homework c) Pattern of meeting cancellation d) Comes to meetings unprepared e) Wastes meeting time by complaining about workload / health / other projects f) May require meeting with customer’s supervisor to determine project priority
- a) Speaking of supervisors, who recognizes this guy? (Bill Lumbergh – Office Space) b) Support from leadership is essential; otherwise project will keep circling drain c) Your administration helps your project by: -- Protecting working time -- Communicates project status to their leadership -- Authorizes timeline extensions / budgets for contractor help
- a) Third barrier is external distractions; includes: -- Checking email / Facebook / Twitter / Yammer / other social network (even if work related) -- Being paged excessively -- Frequent phone calls -- Visitors to office with questions / gossip b) Any other intrusion that interrupts “flow” / important headspace
- a) Establish dedicated project space b) Should be difficult to find c) Should be difficult to call as well d) Take regular breaks for email / social communication e) Schedule big chunks of time to spend there, alone / with the customer
- a) In protected cocoon in project room b) Staring at mountain of work c) Just can’t seem to get started d) Last barrier is Internal Distractions – can’t outrun them.
- a) Information architecture and categorization is exhausting b) Daniel Kahneman – Thinking, Fast and Slow – 2011 -- System 1 Thinking: snap decisions, quick judgment, emotional, subconscious -- System 2 Thinking: slow, logical, ponders, considers past experience / future predictions ------- Info architecture is System 2 Thinking c) Couch potato can’t run triathalon without training d) Customer can only work for 5-10 minutes; set a timer e) Sometimes you have to call it quits f) Watch out for perfectionism --- really procrastination
- a) You made it to the end, congratulations! b) Covered: -- How hoarders differ from non-hoarders in how they organize -- How to teach organizational skills -- Four common barriers to completing content inventory -- Recommendations for handling external / internal distractions
- a) A few final thoughts: --- No matter how time consuming the process --- No matter how difficult / frustrating the customer --- No matter how stupid you might feel sometimes when you don’t know the answer b) …The work you do has far-reaching affects c) Every employee at your company who comes to this site looking for an answer d) Every customer that employee helps by finding the answer e) At Mayo Clinic my work directly benefits millions of patients every year via patient care staff f) Internets get the glory, but it’s for these reasons and more that I <3 INTRANETS QUESTIONS???