But it also turned out, that the majority of the client stakeholders were puzzled as to what PixelMEDIA was providing. They didn’t understand what Information Architecture was, and hadn’t even thought about the overall user experience for the product. Yet, they had requested an IA. How odd.

The understanding was that we were to immediately dive in and create a series of wireframes outlining the key screens for the application. This proved a difficult place to start, as we didn’t have (a) a clear design objective (b) we didn’t know what the users needed to do or (c) how the new product would help them do it better and more easily than they imagined possible. At our request we rewound a bit, and after a few meetings, all parties agreed on the basic design objective, which enabled us to ensure the customer’s needs, the brand, and the business objectives were balanced and clearly articulated.

Next, PixelMEDIA took the initiative to craft a set of task flows. This was an interesting decision, because we didn’t think we’d need to create such documentation for the project; but taking this step provided everyone a deeper insight into how we could craft a new experience as the design process continued. We focused our efforts on outlining the user’s primary goals and how they would achieve them in order to form the core of the application’s design. This allowed us to focus on the features that matter most to the customer. The task flows provided a visual mechanic that showed gaps in the requirements documentation, as well as providing a way to further the vision and understanding of the application.

Once the task flows were completed and approved, PixelMEDIA began designing the experience’s basic framework. We kept the requirements focused in a set of wireframes that outlined a typical scenario, to visualize how the customers would walk through the application and achieve their goals.

The client has been exceptionally pleased with the work to date, and PixelMEDIA has developed a more strategic partnership by bringing the project solution to completion. As the wireframes portion of the project nears completion, all parties feel that the resulting solution provides a more elegant, simple and streamlined experience for the customers.

Or in the customer’s own words:

We are obviously very new at some of this stuff and a large part of why we chose to go with PixelMEDIA is because we were confident that you wouldn’t just throw a design over the wall; rather, you would work *with* us, regardless of the fact that we would slow you down. We’re all learning quite a bit from this experience, and I for one am very impressed by what you guys have done and how you’ve helped our team figure out which direction we should try to head in.

By thinking less tactically and more broadly, PixelMEDIA has been able to educate the client on the importance of Information Architecture, and helped the client identify what their customers needed most from the application.

Aside from the general challenges they face in attempts to streamline project and document management – they face a greater, generational struggle.

They’ve got a good number of Baby Boomers poised to retire in the next few years – and there have been no attempts or programs put in place to facilitate the transfer of their knowledge. These are folks who have been with the firm since the 80s and have grown with – and really have the most knowledge of – the business.

They are also the least likely to adopt or embrace any new collaboration tools that may be rolled out.

On the flip side – their younger employees are all very tech savvy, with very active social media existences and practices spanning personal and education applications. They’re interested in absorbing information in any form they can get, will gladly share knowledge/insight and collaborate in ad hoc manners, and will certainly be quick to embrace new enterprise resources to do so.

My client’s challenge to us – is how to address this ‘Graying Factor’ – as he called it.

Being the ever diligent researcher I took initiative to review this syndrome – and find out how this is working out for other folks in the same situation.

It’s indeed a concerning challenge – so much so that in 2005 Big Blue decided to start an entire consulting practice around offering solutions to for the ‘graying workforce’ as they call it. Big stuff!

When you consider the numbers of folks retiring in the next 5-10 yrs it is a compelling opportunity for technology consultancies such as PixelMEDIA to understand and address this.

Like IBM – we are engaged and excited to help organizations retain employees, enhance productivity, transfer knowledge and adapt business processes.

Unlike IBM – we don’t have services such as “Maturing Workforce Diagnostic, Component Business Modeling, Learning Alignment and Learning Effectiveness Measurement, Performance Measurement Analytics, Talent Management and Succession and Workforce Evolution Modeling” at our disposal.

Therefore we’re challenged to be more innovative and spontaneous with the potential solutions. A major factor in this is the corporate culture of the company in question. There is also the consideration of ‘directed’ vs. ‘volunteered’ collaboration. This post regarding the corporate culture brings up some additional insights and challenges.

As I continue to understand and consider the options available – my foundational tenet of ‘end user advocacy’ for all technology endeavors is the grounding element here. IN as much as we need to understand and evangelize the technologies involved – we need to understand and foster the internal community of users for them to be successful. Generational and corporate cultures coexist and understanding them will be the key to successful Enterprise 2.0 roll-outs for sure.