"My Sites" as Wastebasket Taxons

Taxonomies are a lot easier to manage if they include a "wastebasket taxon" which is a catch-all for things that don't fit elsewhere.  Eventually, if a wastebasket taxon starts to catch a large number of items that fit together, it is time to create a new taxonomy category.

For the taxonomy purist, wastebasket taxons are a bad idea just on principle.  It is considered something of a cheat.  However, in the world of business, the 80% rule applies especially well to taxonomy development and management.  It doesn't cost much to apply taxonomy organization to 80% of your data, but the last 20% is a killer.  So, true taxonomy adherence is assymptotic-- you never quite get all the way there.  But that is OK!  That is where Policy Governance comes into play, in handling the 20% that escapes categorization on the first try.

So why are My Sites so very important in making your taxonomy run smoothly and inexpensively?  Give each member of your organization a My Site to act as their network drive, portal into the web, method for organizing tasks. Let them create their own subsites below the My Site, but hold them to a quota.

Periodically review My Site use and look for trends.  If all the project managers have gotten together and created a project site template they voluntarily use, then you have a new standard to promote.

Without a wastebasket taxon like My Sites, you have to figure out exactly where each element of data fits before you can store it.  This creates a bureaucratic nightmare that will force people to subvert and marginalize your beautiful taxonomy.

When information is published from a My Site to a larger audience, then the document's location within the Policy Taxonomy is determined.

© 2008, Mark Ragar Schneider, All Rights Reserved

Comments

[Alex Dinnouti]

Mark, do you think a tag cloud driven by users could be a wastebasket taxons?

Alex.