Information Architecture in Practice

There is another world where I spent all of 2024 alone in my office writing a full information architecture curriculum, while popping up to teach it occasionally throughout the year. 

Instead I took a radical leap and invested a whole year into expanding The Sensemakers Club into an active community that runs 20+ meet-ups for members every month. 

I created this club because of a realization of just how important community is in sensemaking work, and how hard community is to find. 

At Makesensemess this year I framed eight challenges of contemporary sensemakers, while highlighting how community supports contemporary sensemakers:

Being in community …

• Allows you to recognize of your own bias
• Provides a sense of safety in exploring your ideas
• Engages you in reciprocity and mutual aid
• Broadens your perspectives 
• Gives you the feeling of being seen
• Models examples of a variety of problems and contexts
• Invites you to observe, and act even if your professional position is stuck in one or the other
• Provides valuable practice in making allies (and friends)

As a result of my time spent this year, there is now a growing group of folks who are helping me to create a community where people are safe to explore, get things wrong, and invent whatever might be next. 

Now that the club is in full swing, serving 125+ members attending peer-lead, small group discussions hosted every weekday, I want to take another big leap.

In 2025, I am taking on my most audacious project yet. Information Architecture in Practice is a year-long commitment to developing an information architecture curriculum within the Sensemakers Club community. 

I have designed a process to research, develop and test educational models and materials with and for anyone who participates. 

If this works, we will have used the broad topic of information architecture to explore what could be collectively done to “make sense” of the other 20+ topics at the club. 

Information architecture is messy. The rules don’t always fit, and frameworks only get you so far. Experts love to tell you what to do—but what if the real answers come from talking about what might be possible, even if never attempted before? 

While I might be an expert in information architecture, I’m not here to teach you the ‘right’ way—because I don’t believe that one right way exists. I’m not here to sell you an answer. I’m here to ask better questions, with you, and share what we find along the way. 

Information Architecture in Practice isn’t about me teaching from a pedestal. It’s more about me field reporting in real time, shaping ideas with diverse community input, and sharing tools you can actually use. 

Each month in 2025 we will be discussing, dissecting, developing and documenting a new focus area of information architecture practice:

• January: Auditing an Existing Information Environment
• February: Establishing Measurements in Preparation for Change
• March: Conducting a Heuristic Evaluation
• April: Managing Stakeholders
• May: Diagramming & Modeling
• June: Controlling Vocabularies (and People)
• July: Designing with Metadata
• August: Proposing Thoughtful Taxonomies
• September: Arguing for Structural Resilience
• October: Proposing ROI for Architectural Improvements
• November: Collaborating in Information Architecture
• December: Managing Changes in Information Architecture

This monthly progression is carefully designed to mirror the actual process of understanding, designing, and transforming information environments. 

My goal is to go from my own experience and a set of guiding discussion questions at the start of each month, to a fully-tested workshop by the end of each month, along with publication of a new chapter of a growing sensemaker’s handbook here on my blog.

How this Works

I have planned four methods of collaborative learning every month:

• Weekly Chat Discussions: I have more questions than anyone has time to answer, but I have edited it down to 52 weekly questions about IA that will allow us to dig in to the nuts and bolts slowly over time. 
• Monthly Moderated Discussions: To kick off each month we will gather to have a casual, moderated discussion about the monthly topic. This will be a time for members to tell stories, share resources, and outline the questions a curriculum could valuably cover.
• Monthly Guide Chapters: I am tickled at the idea of being the reporter assigned to the IA beat for the next year. My plan is to capture what our discussions yield, as well as do background and desk research to publish a new “Sensemaker’s Guide to [Topic]” chapter every month on abbycovert.com.
• Monthly Workshops: Everything I find, know and learn will be packaged up into a 2 hour workshop I will be teaching on the third Friday of every month. I haven’t taught regularly in way too long and I am SO ready to get back into the flow. 

For each topic, my goal is to research, produce and test curriculum answering important questions like:

• What are the key concepts?
• What processes, tools, methods, and education already exist and are trusted?
• What frameworks, templates or guides might be helpful but haven’t been formalized into training materials?
• What are the pitfalls, bad approaches and failed methods to watch out for?
• What research has been done into the effectiveness of common advice in this area?
• What are some actionable ideas from good examples?
• How do we talk about this with other people? 
• What are the known-unknowns? To-be-known-soons? Oughta-know-by-nows?

In each of the areas of practice I chose, I have done A LOT of teaching and practicing – so while I already have a lot to say, I want to do something I have never done before while teaching. 

I want to take a sensemaker’s mindset instead of an instructor’s mindset.  

My hope is I will be able to apply some of the magic I have learned about sensemaking to the difficult art of teaching people to practice the messy art of information architecture. 

In other words, I want to be in the thick of defining a practice while in community with fellow practitioners, not standing at a pulpit preaching to a choir who has been well rehearsed to sing along.

Why You Should Join 

This educational experience offers three key benefits:

1. Learn by doing real work: Practice IA concepts on actual challenges from your job. Each month, you’ll master specific skills you can use immediately, instead of just reading about them.
2. Share and grow together: Exchange proven solutions with peers who face similar IA challenges. By learning from each other’s successes and setbacks across different industries, you’ll discover approaches you wouldn’t find on your own.
3. Build tools that others need: Help create practical IA frameworks that solve today’s common problems. These aren’t theoretical exercises – they’re tools you and your colleagues can use tomorrow to improve their work.

This isn’t just another course – it’s a chance to join a growing community of practitioners who are actively reshaping how we think about and practice information architecture. Whether you’re new to IA or have decades of experience, your perspective will help build a more complete understanding of the field.

How to Participate

I hope you will consider joining me on this journey. There are a few ways to do so:

1. Subscribe to my emails [FREE] Starting in January my monthly emails will include progress on this project and announcement of the publication of any content I produce as part of it. 
2. Join the Sensemakers Club [$50 to $75/month] to get access to both my weekly questions, and monthly LIVE moderated discussions. 
3. Join the Sensemakers Club as a Premium Member ($100/month] to get access to my weekly questions, monthly LIVE moderated discussions and all my monthly workshops (including recordings) 
4. Buy an All Access Pass [$1100] for a year of premium membership at the club, and a special gift from me. This is a limited offer only available until Jan 1.
5. Drop in to any workshop [$125 per workshop] if you just want to skip all the collaboration and purely consume a specific workshop, we will have a few drop in tickets available for each workshop.

I am psyched to learn in community in 2025. So, are you in?