Road to the Taxonomy Rollercoaster: How to keep your stakeholders engaged during a taxonomy implementation
- 1. ©2023 Ulteig Road to the Taxonomy Rollercoaster Kate Vilches, Ulteig Laurie Gray, Enterprise Knowledge
- 2. ©2023 Ulteig You have an idea, but they have options Taxonomies aren’t built in a vacuum – you need buy-in, experts’ times, leadership sponsorship – What is the story that will have them lining up to get on board? At Ulteig, the big ask and therefore the story was Findability. The secondary motivating factor was information and data categorization to better reporting. Tailor your message: All employees were interested in Search – it was consistently complained about in company surveys – but technical managers who resource projects were especially interested in better people + project data being pulled from multiple systems. 2
- 3. ©2023 Ulteig Getting Riders Into the Queue Convincing your users that you have an exciting option: • What are organizational goals? • How are different groups/divisions going about solving them? • How are they support or detract from ultimate success? Other things to consider: • The importance of vision • Getting the right people to the table • Getting them to understand the power of taxonomy – and the benefits to them • Determining how best to engage
- 4. ©2023 Ulteig Taxonomy Use Cases to Consider Apply faceted search to enable faster access to content. Frequently this includes document types, departments, products, etc. Add a layer of findability and discoverability through metadata tagging. This accelerates the rate at which work can be completed and increases user satisfaction. Involve users from across the organization to improve overall user-centrism. Construct a taxonomy that resonates with the way the organization views and does business. Increase the accuracy of search results by tagging content using taxonomy terms that are relevant to the content needs of groups. Provide a customized experience for internal or external end users by targeting content to specific audiences, ensuring that the right people have access to the right content when they need it. Ensure the taxonomy remains relevant and meaningful by designing and implementing a governance model.
- 5. ©2023 Ulteig The Right People on Your Ride Potential riders are milling around the initiative theme park, eying the taxonomy. Who gets on first? • Sponsors – tell the story and explain the why • Representatives of each function • Bring even more people in for verification • Be prepared to revisit the taxonomy frequently, especially as you do your first few implementations • Don’t forget to emphasize what’s in it for them every step of the way 5
- 6. ©2023 Ulteig Building Coalitions Assessing and tracking stakeholder influence and interest can accelerate success by allowing you to devote resources to those stakeholders most likely to experience – and influence – success. Meet Their Needs Key Player Least Important Show Consideration Stakeholder Interest Stakeholder Influence
- 7. ©2023 Ulteig The First Big Drop 7 On your first implementation of the taxonomy, you might be hit with panic, resistance, screaming as your users go over that first hill. You may have found that the drop off is steeper than expected! For Ulteig this happened with the Power Systems Design section of the Topic taxonomy when we rolled it into our Learning Management System. Members of our Transmission & Distribution engineering teams did not know how to categorize their videos and courses, spotted errors in the taxonomy (yikes!), and there was disagreement about what level of specificity they should categorize at. Tips: • Don’t be afraid to go back to the beginning • Look for compromise, talk it out, keep explaining your “why” and look for what motivates your users • Highlight and reward feedback
- 8. ©2023 Ulteig Managing Ups and Downs 8 • Change management • Governance – hold steady, don’t respond to every bump and bounce • Communicate the governance plan out, make sure people are included, feel included
- 9. © Prosci. All Rights Reserved. 9 Current Transition Future Ultimately requires individuals to move from their current to their future state C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C C T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T F F F F F F F F F F F F F An Organizational Move to a Future State
- 10. ©2023 Ulteig When to Purchase the SpeedLine Pass? Getting external support can reduce friction and smooth out internal battles 10
- 11. ©2023 Ulteig Amplify your fans Toot your own horn – when the taxonomy helps solve a problem, communicate that out Better yet, get your people-managing fans to communicate it out for you Educate your fans on how to spot opportunities for taxonomy in the business, build its reputation as a problem solver Don’t let the taxonomy stagnate, a retro wooden roller coaster is a fun change-of- pace, but it can’t be the only ride in the park 11
- 12. ©2023 Ulteig Back to the Beginning • Get the right people in the room • Get them going in the same direction • Sustain the momentum 12 Ensure Happy Riders:
- 13. ©2023 Ulteig Thank You & Questions More questions or thoughts to add? Kate Vilches, kate.Vilches@ulteig.com Laurie Gray, lgray@enterprise-knowledge.com 13