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Taxonomy Design

A consistent set of categories, and rules for filing and tagging things in them.

What is Taxonomy Design?

A consistent set of categories, and rules for filing and tagging things in them.

What you learn

Categories work only if two people would file things alike.

When it helps

things are tagged inconsistently, or new topics don’t fit the categories.

Use it at work

  1. Define each category in one sentence.
  2. Write a rule for borderline cases.
  3. Have two people file the same 20 items.
  4. Fix the categories where they disagree.

Your output

Give five items to two colleagues and ask them to file each one with your categories. Fix every rule where they disagree.

Watch for

Writing vague categories with no rule for where things go.

Related practices

Sources

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