Digital spaces are the productivity apps, cloud systems, intranets, dashboards, spreadsheets, communication tools, and otherwise any screen real estate we inhabit during our work days. Despite companies having one main centralized system for offical office work, non-technical employees will often design supplemental mini-systems that better fit their workflows. This phenomenon is sometimes called "shadow IT" or "End User Development" and is a sign that the centralized ordained system is failing. Technology has progressed enough that most digital spaces allow for customization. Employees across every organization spends considerable time and effort designing their own digital spaces. Is this time well spent? Does the effort payoff in efficiency gains? Are your employees *happier* in the digital spaces they've made? These are questions every organization should ask themselves. Not all digital spaces are created equally. Simply launching a company resource hub, or implementing a new project management tool won't guarantee the benefits listed on the box. Nor does it mean employees will adopt the system into their daily workflows. Some digital spaces are helpful, and widely adopted, while others are notoriously unintuitive and thus eagerly avoided. These dreaded digital spaces create what is known as the **Knowledge Deficit**, and can cost an organization thousands of dollars per employee. Conversely, when employees retreat into smaller, custom made replicas, the benefits of their efforts are short-lived, and often result in duplicated efforts and poor collaboration. Organizations can overcome these challenges by fostering the creation and utilization of Happy Digital Spaces. What makes for a *happy* digital space is its level of intuition, functionality, and accessibility. A happy digital space is one where navigation feels intuitive, and information is presented in a timely and relevant format. Digital spaces are also happiest when they're widely adopted and incrementally improved by a knowledgeable group of contributors. Happy digital spaces make anyone who inhabits them, *happy*. That may sound obvious with clear benefits, but many digital spaces unintentionally foster negative emotions which then spread across an organization. We call these Grumpy Digital Spaces, and it's our job to help you eliminate as many as possible. Grumpy Digital Spaces are cluttered, unintuitive, and often completely unhelpful to the user. Grumpy Digital Spaces provoke overwhelming feelings of confusion, frustration, and on occasion, panic. People tend to work towards goals with clear deadlines. But our bosses rarely account for the time spent searching for the information they need when determining the time it takes to complete a task. What's worse, Grumpy Spaces only beget *more* Grumpy Spaces. When as system fails, employees will attempt to design their own mini-systems. These supplemental systems work well for the team member who designed it, but When a team member becomes overwhelmed by a complicated spreadsheet, or a cluttered Sharepoint site, their instinct is often to design their own version of that space the moment they have some downtime. Or worse, in lieu of completing mission-critical work. And because that space isn't likely designed under the guiding principles of Information Architecture, your company now has *two* Grumpy Digital Spaces. Why do some people go through the trouble to make something new instead of learning the current solution? 1. Building something new provides people with a sense of accomplishment, whereas searching for something that's difficult to find feels like wasted time. 2. As the architect of a digital space, you have the benefit of context and memorization. You know where things are because you put it there. And you understand *why* you put it there. Unfortunately, both justifications are based on flawed logic. Obviously, picking up the phone to ask your Human Resources representative where the vacation policy document is located would be easier than creating your own Sharepoint site with all the documents important to you. And while system memorization has clear short-term benefits, it is a poor substitute for intuitive design. Eventually, the creator will set aside their digital space for a long period of time, and the structure they thought was perfect before, now feels just as overwhelming as the original space. This phenomenon then creates another negative effect we call [[Self-inflicted Silos]] where team members create digital spaces but do not share them for fear of reticule by their peers. While navigation through an Excel Workbook may feel obvious to its designer, other team members may find it confusing. This is because the designer benefits from memorization, where other team members must rely on intuition and contextual signals of the design. A happy digital space is one that is widely adopted across your organization. But, mass-appeal doesn't happen by change. Before employees can adopt it into their workflows, a digital space must posses three distinct traits. The three traits of any happy digital space are: 1. Intuitive 2. Functional 3. Accessible A digital space becomes **intuitive** when anyone in your organization can navigate through the space without exerting too much brain power, or having to pick up the phone and ask for help. A digital space becomes **functional** when users can use it to complete their work more efficiently. A digital space becomes **accessible** only after the first two criteria are met, and when the design of the space has considered all who would potentially utilize it. A happy digital space fosters understanding for those who use it, and growth for those who tend to it. Happy digital spaces come in all shapes and sizes. We've identified three main categories of digital spaces: Personal Collaborative Communal