guiding others through the maze: working with stakeholders to build a taxonomy
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Copyright (C) Key Pointe Usability Consulting, Inc.
Guiding Others Through the Maze:
Working with Stakeholders to Build a Taxonomy
Theresa PutkeyInformation Architect
Copyright (C) Key Pointe Usability Consulting, Inc.
What We’ll Cover
• How to help people in a taxonomy workshop
• Continuing to build knowledge while building the taxonomy
• Teaching others about the maintenance process
Copyright (C) Key Pointe Usability Consulting, Inc.
Taxonomy Workshop
• Beginning, middle, end• History on taxonomy • Metadata vs taxonomy• Process• Who it is for• Maintenance• Give real life examples (think Zappos,
Amazon, REI)
Copyright (C) Key Pointe Usability Consulting, Inc.
CBC
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CBC Archives
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Amazon
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Not Able to Do a Workshop?
• Go over the central ideas with the client one on one or one on two
• It’s important to give them examples that they can explore on their own.
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Building a Taxonomy
• Don’t hold out till the end!
• Review and iterate frequently.
• You’ll get valuable feedback
• You’ll be able to demonstrate how it works.
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Enlist the Client
• To build parts of the taxonomy. This way they can learn as you go along.
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Maintaining the Taxonomy
• When the client starts making appropriate revisions to the taxonomy, that’s when you know they’ll be able to maintain it on their own.
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Like Usability Testing
• It’s important to remember that others don’t understand taxonomies like we do, but they are the ones that will need to use them.
• If the client doesn’t understand the taxonomy, it’s because we haven’t explained it well enough or we haven’t structured it properly.
Copyright (C) Key Pointe Usability Consulting, Inc.
Summary
• Recommend a workshop, if possible. If not, then go over the principles one-on-one.
• Continue to reinforce these ideas by getting reviews early and often to help reinforce taxonomy principles.
• Someone understands the principles when they start reviewing it and modifying it accurately.
• Do what works for the client.
