14 - Taxonomy Governance

Summary

Editor's note: In-house taxonomy practitioners can often end up wearing many hats. They deal with everyday tasks and taxonomy updates, as well as strategic planning and maybe even people management. Cynthia is one of the finest exponents of handling all these different demands that I have ever met. Using analogies drawn from the world of video games, she describes how to lay the foundations for a pragmatic, sustainable taxonomy governance framework.

Introduction

When you embark on a new taxonomy project the primary focus is often the design and rollout of the taxonomy, with little thought about how it will be managed. Governance is often an afterthought, a panicked response to a taxonomy that is out-of-date, out-of-control or failing to meet business needs and offer value to the organisation. A governance plan should be developed at the beginning of a new project, well before your taxonomy is launched.

Governance clarifies expectations about how the taxonomy will be managed, defines roles and responsibilities, establishes processes and guidelines, and defines metrics for measuring success. A governance plan helps ensure sustainable evolution in response to changes in user and business needs and reduces the likelihood of expensive taxonomy redesigns. It helps to maintain the integrity of your carefully designed taxonomy.

If you have already implemented a taxonomy and skipped this important work, introducing late-stage governance is better than no governance at all. This chapter will describe a step-by-step approach for designing a governance plan. Throughout the chapter, Electronic Arts (EA) will be used as a case study to illustrate how we developed our governance plan and what we have learned during the early stages of our rollout.

EA is a global leader in digital interactive entertainment. It develops and delivers games, content and online services to consoles, mobile devices and personal computers. EA has a portfolio of critically acclaimed, high-quality brands such as The Sims^TM, Madden NFL, EA SPORTS^TM FIFA, Battlefield^TM, Need for Speed^TM, Dragon Age^TM and Plants vs. Zombies^TM and more than 450 million registered players around the world.

Let's get into the game!

What's your game?

If your organisation is kicking off a new taxonomy project, now is an ideal time to identify the scope of your future taxonomy and clearly articulate its purpose.