1. Strategies LLCTaxonomy May 17, 2005Copyright 2005 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved. Benchmarking Your Search Function: A Metadata Maturity Model Ron Daniel, Jr. Taxonomy Strategies LLC

2. 2 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Motivating Experiences Different organizations have different levels of sophistication in their planning, execution, and follow-up for CMS, Search, Portal, Metadata, and Taxonomy projects. Last year we had back-to-back engagements with clients who had very different levels of sophistication. Tool Vendors continue to provide ever-more capable tools with ever-more sophisticated features. We live in a world where a significant fraction of public, commercial, web pages dont have a tag. Organizations that cant manage tags stand a very poor chance of putting an entity extractor to use, which requires some management of the lists of entities to be extracted. Taxonomy governance processes must fit the organization In terms of scale and complexity

3. 3 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Desiderata Wanted a method to: Predict likely sources of problems in engagements Help clients identify the things they can do, and the things that stand an excellent chance of failing Generally identify good and bad practices These desiderata are not unique Such methods have been defined for software development and other areas They are known as Maturity Models

4. 4 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Goals for this Talk Provide you with basic knowledge of maturity models Give you the tools to do a simple self-assessment of your organizations metadata maturity Suggest practices that are, and are not, likely next steps in your organizations development of: Processes to manage search, metadata, and taxonomy deployments. Overly-sophisticated processes will fail Expertise around search, metadata, and taxonomies Systems to create, manage, or use metadata and taxonomies Tool selection Overly-sophisticated tools will be very poor value-for-money Have some fun

5. 5 T AXONOMY S TRATEGIES The business of organized information A Tale of Two Maturity Models CMMI (Capability and Maturity Model – Integrated) vs. The Joel Test

6. 6 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information CMMIs Levels of Maturity, Translated 1) Initial: You build software like you never have done it before and will never do it again. One hero spits out code and you don't worry about maintaining or documenting it. Whatever the programmer gives you is good enough for the end users. 2) Repeatable: You actually have a project plan, and the plan might even include some quality assurance, documentation, and things like that. 3) Defined: You follow the plan, which is at the organizational level rather than the project level. You expect to train people, have compatible software, and follow organizational standards. Think of skilled craftsmen following a blueprint and using the standards of their trade. 4) Managed: The organization follows the plan and measures the progress as it goes, similar to an assembly line for software. Managers know what's happening as it happens and the software is also monitored. 5) Optimizing: The final phase is when the factory becomes self-aware. The lessons learned on the project are used to prevent defects before they occur and manage technological changes. There's a constant organized feedback mechanism to improve the cycle time and product quality. Modeling Data Management – A report on discussions of Metadata Maturity at the 2002 DAMA Conference Joe Celko http://www.intelligententerprise.com/020726/512celko1_1.jhtml

7. 7 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information 22 Process Areas, Keyed to 5 Maturity Levels… Process Areas contain Specific and Generic Practices, organized by Goals and Features Maturity Model Axioms: A Maturity Level is not achieved until ALL the Practices in that level are in operation. Individual processes at higher levels are AT RISK from supporting processes at lower levels. These axioms are very questionable for the Metadata Maturity Model

8. 8 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information CMMI Structure Source: http://chrguibert.free.fr/cmmi Previous Diagram only shows these two levels Maturity Models are collections of Practices. Main differences in Maturity Models concern: Degree of Categorization of Practices Descriptivist or Prescriptivist Purpose

9. 9 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information CMMI Positives Independent audits of an organizations level of maturity are a common service Level 3 certification frequently required in bids …compared with an average Level 2 program, Level 3 programs have 3.6 times fewer latent defects, Level 4 programs have 14.5 times fewer latent defects, and Level 5 programs have 16.8 times fewer latent defects. Michael Diaz and Jeff King – How CMM Impacts Quality, Productivity,Rework, and the Bottom Line If you find yourself involved in product liability litigation you're going to hear terms like "prevailing standard of care" and "what a reasonable member of your profession would have done". Considering the fact that well over a thousand companies world-wide have achieved level 3 or above, and the body of knowledge about the CMM is readily available, you might have some explaining to do if you claim ignorance. Linda Zarate in a review of A Guide to the Cmm: Understanding the Capability Maturity Model for Software by Kenneth M. Dymond

10. 10 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information CMMI Negatives Complexity and Expense Reading and understanding the materials Putting it into action – identifying processes, mapping processes to model, gathering required data, … Audits are expensive CMMI does not scale down well to small shops Has been accused of restraint of trade

11. 11 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information At the Other Extreme, The Joel Test Developed by Joel Spolsky as reaction to CMMI complexity Positives - Quick, easy, and inexpensive to use. Negatives - Doesnt scale up well: Not a good way to assure the quality of nuclear reactor software. Not suitable for scaring away liability lawyers. Not a longer-term improvement plan. The Joel Test 1. Do you use source control? 2. Can you make a build in one step? 3. Do you make daily builds? 4. Do you have a bug database? 5. Do you fix bugs before writing new code? 6. Do you have an up-to-date schedule? 7. Do you have a spec? 8. Do programmers have quiet working conditions? 9. Do you use the best tools money can buy? 10. Do you have testers? 11. Do new candidates write code during their interview? 12. Do you do hallway usability testing? Scoring: 1 point for each yes. Scores below 10 indicate serious trouble.

12. 12 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information A Maturity Rant, in Bullet Points Metadata maturity may not be core to your business. Maturity is not automatically a good thing. Maturity is not a goal, it is a characterization of an organizations methods for achieving its core goals. Mature processes impose expenses which must be justified by consequent cost savings, revenue gains, or service improvements. Immature Processes does not mean cant do good work. It means Good results depend on whether the companys star performers are doing the job. Maturity predicts the worst that an organization might do on a job, not the best that it could do. Nevertheless, Maturity Models are useful as collections of best practices and stages in which to try to adopt them.

13. 13 T AXONOMY S TRATEGIES The business of organized information Towards a Metadata Maturity Model

14. 14 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Caveats, Disclaimers, Provisos, Exclusions, Exemptions, and Limitations on Liability Some maturity models are based on millions of dollars of research and decades of industry experience. This isnt one of them. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

15. 15 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Basis for Following Materials CEN study on commercial adoption of Dublin Core Small-scale phone survey Organizations which have world-class search and metadata externally Not necessarily the most mature overall processes or the best internal search and metadata Literature review Client experiences

16. 16 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Search and Metadata Maturity Quick Quiz Basic 1) Is there a process in place to examine query logs? 2) Is there a process for adding directories and content to the repository, or do people just do what they want? 3) Is there an organization-wide metadata standard, such as an extension of the Dublin Core, for use by search tools, multiple repositories, etc.? Intermediate 4) Is there an ongoing data cleansing procedure to look for ROT (Redundant, Obsolete, Trivial content)? 5) Does the search engine index more than 4 repositories around the organization? 6) Are system features and metadata fields added based on cost/benefit analysis, rather than things that are easy to do with the current tools? 7) Are tools only acquired after requirements have been analyzed, or are major purchases sometimes made to use up year-end money? 8) Are there hiring and training practices especially for metadata and taxonomy positions? Advanced 9) Are there established qualitative and quantitative measures of metadata quality? 10) Can the CEO explain the ROI for search and metadata?

17. 17 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Baseline for Comparison 14 Responses from 35 Attendees at a Taxonomy Workshop

18. 18 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Aspects of Search and Metadata Maturity Process AreasMaturity Levels BasicIntermed-iateAdvancedBleeding EdgeLimiting Search Capabilities Uniform Search Box Query Log Exam. Index Multiple Best Bets Simple Grouping Intranet Facet Navigation Improved Ranking Metadata and taxonomy standards System MD Stds.Organization MD Std. Reuse ERP Multipe Repos Comply Taxonomy Roadmap Highly Abstract Subject Taxonomies Tools and tool selection Requirements, then Tools Bakeoff DatasetsBudget for BakeoffsUnneeded Capabils. Tools, then Reqs. Staff training and hiring Search Analyst RoleLibrarian ExpertisePre-hire TestingSME Catalogers Data creation and QA CM IntroducedROT-EliminatiionHybrid Creation Model Adaptive Qualification Quality Measures Project management Project PlanStd. Proj. Methodol. X-Functional Teams Communication Plan Multi-Year Plan Early Termination Executive support and ROI External Search ROIIntranet ROI ModelCEO knows Search ROI Use it or Lose It Budgets We are collecting and categorizing Processes by Area and Level Limiting Processes are harmful practices which interfere with maturity.

19. 19 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Search Capabilities Basic: Uniform Search Box Query Log Examination Requires reporting functions and an identified staffer Intermediate: Index Multiple Repositories Beyond simple web spidering Best Bets Simple Results Grouping Advanced: Improved Ranking from Link and Popularity Analysis Intranet Facet Navigation See Rosenfelds EIA Roadmap for more details on search capabilities staged over time. Processes, Categorized by Type and Level Highly Valuable Processes in Orange

20. 20 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Rosenfelds EIA Roadmap

21. 21 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Metadata and Taxonomy Standards Basic: System Metadata Standards Intermediate: Defined Organizational Metadata Standard Reuse of ERP Vocabularies Advanced: Multiple Repositories Comply with Metadata Standard Taxonomy Roadmap A plan for adding facets over time, based on known upcoming projects which can use them. Requires Multi-Year Plan of Upcoming Projects Bleeding Edge: Highly Abstract Subject Taxonomies e.g. categorization by Mood & Emotion

22. 22 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Organizational Metadata Standard - How is Dublin Core extended? Base: 20 corporate information managers CEN/ISSS Workshop on Dublin Core – Guidance information for the deployment of Dublin Core metadata in Corporate Environments

23. 23 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Tools and Tool Selection Limiting: Use of Unneeded Tool Capabilities e.g. autogenerated keywords Tools, then Requirements Related to Use it or Lose it Budgeting Basic: Purpose, then Requirements, then Tools Intermediate: Datasets for Product Evaluations Advanced: Budgeted Evaluations*

24. 24 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Staff Training and Hiring Basic: Search Analyst Role Related to Query Log Examination Intermediate: Adding and Appointing Library Expertise Advanced: Pre-Hire Testing Bleeding Edge Hiring Subject Matter Experts for Cataloging

25. 25 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Data Creation and QA Basic: Content Management Introduced Intermediate: ROT-Elimination Advanced: Hybrid Metadata Creation Models Bleeding Edge: Adaptive Qualification of End-User Feedback Qualitative and Quantitative Measures of Metadata Quality* * Hypothetical, not yet observed in survey participants

26. 26 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Methods used to create & maintain metadata:Note that Automation Maturity Base: 20 corporate information managers CEN/ISSS Workshop on Dublin Core – Guidance information for the deployment of Dublin Core metadata in Corporate Environments

27. 27 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Project Management Basic: Project Plan Intermediate: Standard Project Methodology Cross-functional Teams Communication Plan Multi-Year Plan of Upcoming Projects Advanced: Early Termination of Projects See Enterprise Search Report for much more on managing a search project.

28. 28 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Executive Support and ROI Limiting: Use It or Lose It Budgeting Basic: External Search ROI Intermediate: Intranet ROI Model Advanced: CEO knows Search ROI See Enterprise Search Report for much more on search ROI.

29. 29 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Conclusions Remember the rant – Maturity is a characterization of the way an organization achieves its goals, not a goal in and of itself. Not all search needs are created equal. Stock photo agencies are tops at search on external site. Their intranets are no better than anyone elses because the ROI is not clear. Consulting agencies have better intranets and KM efforts because of the clearer ROI. High Maturity really means a Metrics Emphasis Some organizations believe that is inappropriate for them Use this as a guide to decide where to improve, and to decide which processes may be more sophisticated than your organization can handle Keep in mind the difference between organizational and team sophistication. A specific team may do some very advanced things, even if the organization around them is not mature.

30. 30 Taxonomy Strategies LLC The business of organized information Recommended Reading CMMI: http://chrguibert.free.fr/cmmi http://chrguibert.free.fr/cmmi (Official site is http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/, but that is not the most comprehensible.)http://www.sei.cmu.edu/cmmi/ Joel Test http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000043.html EIA Roadmap http://www.louisrosenfeld.com/presentations/031013-KMintranets.ppt Enterprise Search Report http://www.cmswatch.com/EntSearch/

31. Strategies LLCTaxonomy May 17, 2005Copyright 2005 Taxonomy Strategies LLC. All rights reserved. Contact Info Ron Daniel 925-368-8371 rdaniel@taxonomystrategies.com Joseph Busch 415-377-7912 jbusch@taxonomystrategies.com