Taxonomy Standards

Taxonomy Standards

Overview

This skill defines standardized taxonomy rules for organizing knowledge, documentation, and data across the enterprise. Consistent taxonomy ensures information is findable, cross-referencable, and understandable by any agent regardless of their company or domain.

When to Use

• When creating new documentation, knowledge entries, or skill files
• When tagging content with gigabrain tags
• When organizing files in PARA structure
• When creating classification systems for data or documents
• When resolving taxonomy inconsistencies across the enterprise
• Don't use when: Working exclusively within a well-established taxonomic system that doesn't need updates

Core Procedures

Step 1: Apply Standard Taxonomy Levels

Use this hierarchy for all organizational structures:

1. Domain: High-level category (engineering, security, finance, creative)
2. Subdomain: Specific area within domain (structural-engineering, threat-protection)
3. Type: What kind of content (procedure, reference, analysis, report)
4. Topic: Specific subject matter
5. Tags: Cross-cutting attributes (automated, critical, deprecated)

Step 2: Follow Naming Conventions

Step 3: Tag Consistently

Gigabrain tag rules:

• Always include company/agent tag (e.g., promptforge, devforge)
• Always include domain tag (e.g., security, engineering)
• Always include content type (e.g., skill, procedure, analysis)
• Add situational tags as relevant (e.g., cross-company, urgent, deprecated)
• Maximum 6 tags per item (avoid over-tagging)
• Minimum 2 tags per item (always company + type)

Step 4: Validate Taxonomy

Before finalizing:

• Names follow conventions (lowercase-with-dashes for files/dirs)
• Tags include required minimum (company + content type)
• No duplicate or near-duplicate terms used
• Hierarchy is logical and consistent
• Item is findable by someone searching for this topic

Step 5: Handle Edge Cases

• New category doesn't fit existing taxonomy: Create new entry at appropriate level, document rationale
• Multiple valid categorizations: Pick ONE primary, cross-reference from others
• Taxonomy changes over time: Update current items, mark old taxonomy as deprecated

Quality Checklist

• All naming conventions followed
• Required tags present on all items
• Hierarchy is logical and consistent
• No duplicate terms in taxonomy
• Item discoverable by target audience
• Cross-references provided where appropriate

Error Handling

• Error: Content doesn't fit existing taxonomy Response: Create new taxonomy entry, document it, announce to knowledge managers
• Error: Existing content has inconsistent taxonomy Response: Update during next content review, don't block delivery for taxonomy cleanup

Cross-Team Integration

Related Skills: knowledge-capture, knowledge-retrieval, file-naming-standards, agent-development-standards Used By: ALL agents creating content, especially Archivists, Librarians, documenters, knowledge managers