Understanding the context:
The goals of developing and deploying a taxonomy include:
- Organizing information
- Improving search and navigation
- Standardizing terminology
- Enabling personalization
- Bridging gaps between content silos
The real-life journey from identifying the need for a taxonomy to successfully implementing it is rarely straightforward. The obstacles are many, and include:
- Delays
- Shifting priorities
- Changing resources
- A lack of understanding of what taxonomy does and why it’s valuable
Knowledge workers also face pressure to integrate increasingly ubiquitous generative AI solutions while discussion often oscillates between extreme views of ‘a transformative panacea capable of delivering customer-ready content’ and ‘a risky technology fraught with hallucinations and copyright concerns’. Taxonomists must:
- Explain why taxonomy creation cannot be entirely automated by generative AI
- Find ways to integrate generative AI into taxonomy development
- Explore how to use the structure and semantic context of taxonomy to enrich generative AI-powered solutions
Challenges for taxonomists:
- How to secure buy-in amidst unanticipated events such as staff turnover or resource reallocation
- What to do when confronted with competing vocabularies
- How to know when to be flexible, and when to stand firm
- Taxonomy development and implementation in the real-world
- Balancing best practices with the realities that taxonomists are likely to encounter when working across teams and amidst shifting priorities
Some answers:
- How to navigate the journey from early taxonomy development to implementation while overcoming/avoiding the obstacles
- How to ensure stakeholder engagement and SME support along the way by illustrative storytelling and celebrating incremental wins
- How to reap the benefits and mitigate the shortcomings of leveraging generative AI
All with practical examples and illustrative case studies that map our failures and successes
IN SHORT – HOW WE APPROACHED TAXONOMY AT PAYPAL.
