Taxonomy: How can I get one of them?
June 3, 2008
“I’ll have one Taxonomy, a Diet Coke and some fries please!” Today things are fast-paced, sometimes too fast. Ready, Fire, Aim! is all too common. However, when building a taxonomy, it needs to simmer for a bit and let all the flavors come together. We are building something of substance here. So, where do we begin? Here is a little prep work to consider before you begin.
As in anything of substance, look towards your ancestors! Before beginning new journeys, look at the travels and teachings of the ancients. Once upon a time, in a land far far away, things were very expensive and the littlest of changes translated into huge dollars. The ancients lived in those lands and had to navigate through the treacherous waters of high hardware costs, outrageous communication costs, high people costs, massive lines of expensive code and hidden dependencies. In this land, things were new and every notion of business had to be created. In this time, the people who inhabited that land had to use their brains, all the time. There was no drop and drag. There were no visual approaches and pre-established templates. Things had to be thought through in great detail and time was spent on foundational issues…because if we don’t do it right from the beginning, it will be bad, very bad.
So, pull out that old book in your company and turn to that portion that equates to Leviticus – read about your Moses, who came down from the mountain with the law…what was good, what was not. Listen to those stories of old and take stock. It is said that history repeats itself. Why not leverage what’s been done and what’s been done with a rigor that I would say is not the norm of today.
Turn around right now and look at the shelf behind you. There, in the corner, you see it? There’s a book (or two) right there – yes, it’s the 3” black binder that has dust all over it. Take it down, offer a quick thanksgiving and open it slowly. Spend some time with the ancients and understand where you came from – you may just stumble upon truths so great that they make your hair white. At the very least you will walk where the great ones walked and who knows maybe you can point the way to the Promised Land!
You never know where you will find gold – roll up your sleeves and start digging around!
~ Scott Felten
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It’s a really good thing you wrote this today, or we never would have gotten Jodie to clean out her office…. she’d still be dusting off books!
But, you raise a great point - the same idea is key to the strategic alignment sessions we conduct for our customers - we spend time at the beginning of the session so everyone can understand our common history and where we come from - helps figure out where we are going!
Bottom line: Before you go forward, take a look at what’s been done!