Ania Mastalerz works for Optimal Workshop, a company that offers an online card sorting tool (among others). It’s another 20-minute talk.
I heard a few folks mumbling about how, since Optimal Workshop is a sponsor and this presentation was heavy on things that their tool can do, it must be a product placement talk. But frankly, I took home more skills I could immediately apply to my job from this talk than most of the rest.
Don’t underestimate the power of the card sort, is what I’m saying.
Ania works for Optional Workshop and researches other researchers (us) for their products #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
She’s from Wellington, NZ, one of the other windiest cities. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Sometimes to solve a problem, all it takes is repurposing something we already have. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Sometimes we’re tied to the tools we use because of procurement, security, privacy, etc. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Unexpected tools she’s seen: Use slack and instagram to do diary studies. Evernote, google drive, airtable as research repositories. Google sheets or Trello to synthesize research. Card sorting for collaboration. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
For many of us “card sorting” = “information architecture”. Card sorting helps us understand how people group and digest information. #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Open card sorts allow them to make as many categories as they’d like, closed card sorts require them to use a set of categories #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
People categorize things differently, so we need to make sure the content we make available is easy to find #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Card sorts can be quite time consuming with large groups of people. Sample sizes need to be very high to communicate quantitative data. They result in giant spreadsheets too #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Optimal’s card sorting tools do help seeing data more easily and reaching more people #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Card sorting isn’t just AI. It’s an assessment tool by teachers. Product managers building roadmaps with product teams. Learning designers developing sequences of instructional materials. Steps in customer journey maps #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Or IA even. The concentration on artificial intelligence this week occasionally threw my typing off.
Collaboration helps to push our discipline forward. But not everyone’s engaged and happy like in stock photos. It’s often all meetings. It takes a lot of planning to get it right #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Some of the limitations of collaboration they can be directly addressed with unmoderated remote card sorts. Getting people involved from many offices, or handling limited space issues #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
7 creative and collaborative ways to use card sorting! #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Also, right about here I tried experimenting with threading my tweets by replying to myself. A) Didn’t do much for the process, and B has made all the tweets extra large in the notes. So I’m glad I didn’t do it for long.
Involve product teams in feature prioritization using card sorts – put all the backlog items in the card sort and get everyone to prioritize, then look at the results. Can be anonymous online #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Determine which features people have access to at the top of the page or navigation using card sorts by sorting into “really important”, “somewhat important”, “not important” “i don’t know what this is” – great for intranets, or multiple stakeholders, for example #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Make collaborative design decisions with the team to figure out if design was understandable by everyone. Drag image to category – if everyone does it it tells us they all get the same meaning #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
This can be used for icons you intend to use or are already using. Does the icon need a label? #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Understand brand identity by using a card sort to see how users perceive them. Take a list of values. Does this value apply to us, not apply, not sure, not applicable? #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Consult with others in the organization using card sorts – doesn’t replace face-to-face conversations, but it may help people have their say. Gain consensus with internal product teams. Where do we start? What’s most important? Where does it live? #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Crowdsource content ideas via cardsorts. What do you want to hear about or learn? What level should it be at? “Top three pics”, “totally into this” “quite interested in this” “not too keen on this” “not sure what this is” #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Understand group differences using card sorts by conducting anthropological research. How do they conceptualize information? Understand how people group and categorized social media platforms and how they’re perceived. How do they fit together? #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018
Sort your life out by using card sorting to get better information about any number of different topics #IAS18
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) March 23, 2018