archive.Joe Lamantia.com

Setting good expectations for the outcomes of a taxonomy design effort is often difficult. It can be especially if any of the following are true:

• The goal is to create an initial taxonomy, and no reference exists
• The solution environment the taxonomy will “live in” is in flux (owners, tools, governance…)
• The business scope which the taxonomy will address is not well defined
• Organizational awareness of taxonomy concepts and is low
• Organizational maturity and experience with managing information architectures and metadata is low

When dealing with situations like these, consider changing the emphasis and goals of the effort to a “taxonomy pilot”. This will shift the expectations you need to meet from creating a production-ready taxonomy that can stand on its own something more reasonable, such as an interim taxonomy that effectively solves a limited scope problem, while setting in motion a well balanced taxonomy effort likely to be successful in the longer term.
The objectives of a taxonomy pilot effort that balances short and long term business needs in this way could be:

The project plan for a pilot taxonomy effort aiming to achieve the objectives above should further a culture of learning, rather than scope of accomplishment. This kind of plan would:

• Establish frequent checkpoints that bring all interested parties together to discuss the process itself, in addition to accomplishments and milestones
• Create regular forums where taxonomy designers and business sponsors make decisions on tools and standards with guidance from qualified experts
• Incorporate multiple iterations or cycles of user driven review and revision of in-progress taxonomies
• Include time for the creation of “next time” recommendations for what to do differently or the same as a group

Of course, it’s not always possible to change expectations, especially after funding and timelines are set. When expectations are unreasonable and set stone, take shelter in the inevitable “next version” and frame the taxonomy you’re designing as an initial effort that will require subsequent revision…