Re-Introducing Page Description Diagrams by Colin Butler and Andrew Wirtanen.
From the post:
There’s no such thing as a “standard” client or project in a typical agency setting, because every business has its own specific goals—not to mention the goals of its users. Because of this, we’re constantly seeking ways to improve our processes and better meet the needs of our clients, regardless of their unique characteristics.
Recently, we discovered the page description diagram (PDD), a method for documenting components without specifying layout. At first, it seemed limited, even simplistic, relative to our needs. But with some consideration, we began to understand the value. We started looking at whether or not PDDs could help us improve our process.
As it turns out, these things have been around for quite a while. Dan Brown devised them way back in 1999 as a way to communicate information architecture to a client in a way that addressed some of his primary issues with wireframes. Those issues were that, looking at wireframes, clients would form expectations prematurely and that designers would be limited in their innovation by a prescribed layout. Brown’s approach was to remove layout entirely, providing priority instead. Each component of a page would be described in terms of the needs it met and how it met those needs, arranged into three priority columns with wireframe-like examples when necessary. …
Because of its UI context, I originally read this post as a means of planning interfaces.
But on reflection, the same questions of “needs to meet” and “how to meet those needs” applies equally to topics, associations and occurrences.
Users should be encouraged to talk through their expectations for what information comes together, in what order and how they will use it.
As opposed to focusing too soon on questions of how a topic map architecture will support those capabilities.
Interesting technical questions but no nearly as interesting, for users at any rate, as their information needs.
The post also cites a great primer on Page Description Diagrams.