Making sense of a mess

3 min readMar 11, 2022

This week I finished reading “How To Make Sense of Any Mess: Information Architecture for Everybody” by Abby Covert. As usual, you can find my summary below.

Identify the mess

A mess is any situation where something is confusing or full of difficulty.
Causes for confusing information: too much information, not enough information, not the right information, or some combination of these.
Information is not a thing, it’s subjective.
It’s important to identify the edges and depths of a mess, so you can lessen your anxiety and make progress.

We change our options by choosing our words
Good is in the eye of the beholder
Beauty and quality are not always related
Meaning can get lost in translation
Having a strong why will get you further
Why, what and how are deeply interrelated (this connects to Simon Sinek’s idea of a golden circle and the definition of systems from Thinking in systems (what=parts, how=interconnections, why=purpose))
Language is the material of intent
Face reality
When you discuss a specific subject, you subconsciously reference part of a large internal map of what you know. Other people can’t see this map. It only exists in your head.
We create objects like maps, diagrams, prototypes, and lists to share what we understand and perceive. Objects allow us to compare our mental models with each other.
Start with scope and scale.
Architecture before design
If people judge books by their covers, they judge diagrams by their tidiness.
Everything is easier with a map.

People often get in their own way by becoming overwhelmed with choices, choosing not to choose instead. (this connects to Essentialism).
When we reference things, they exist within other things. Nothing exists in a vacuum.
One tiny decision leads to another, and another.
The way we arrange a place changes how people interpret and use it.
Without language, we can’t collaborate.
Create a list of words you say. Documenting language standards can reduce linguistic insecurity.
Create a list of words you don’t say.
Think about nouns and verbs.
Think about relationships between nouns and verbs.
Admit where you are.
Keep evaluating where you are in relation to where you want to go.

Progress is as important to measure as success.
A baseline is the measurement of something before changing it. Without baselines, assumptions will likely lead us in the wrong direction.
Measurements have rhythm. Beware of its time frame.
Fuzzy is normal.

There are many ways to structure things.
Sorting is easy when clear rules are in place.
The most challenging part of classification is working with other people to agree on a set of rules.
Ambiguous classification require more thought to decide where something goes.
Ambiguity costs clarity.
Exactitude costs flexibility.
Ambiguity hides in simplicity.
Facets are the lenses we use to classify
The way you organize things says a lot about you.
The key to strong rhetoric is using language, rules and structures that your audience can easily understand and use.
Heterarchical: when individual pieces exist on one level without further categorization
Hypertexts don’t change where things are located, just how they’re found.
Signpost directing you to a store around the corner is also hypertext.
Most things need a mix of taxonomic approaches.
Learn these patterns: Broad and shallow, Narrow and deep, heterarchy, Sequence, Hypertext. (See illustrations from the book)

Adjustments are part of reality
Making maps and diagrams alone at your desk is not practicing information architecture.
Discuss it until it’s clear. (this connects to Essentialism).
When structure and intent don’t line up, things fall apart.
People don’t compliment or even critique information architecture unless it’s broken.