documentation-information-architecture

Documentation Information Architecture

Use this skill to organize developer documentation so readers can find the right content at the right time. It works at doc-set and site level rather than single-page prose level.

This skill is derived from Docs for Developers: An Engineer's Field Guide to Technical Writing, especially Chapter 10, "Organizing documentation." It is expanded with paraphrased guidance from Christopher Gales and the Splunk Documentation Team's The Product Is Docs: Writing Technical Documentation in a Product Development Group, especially Chapter 17, "Tools and Content Delivery," plus related audience, learning-objective, maintenance, and SaaS guidance from Chapters 3, 9, 10, and 25. Do not copy book prose into user outputs. Source: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4842-7217-6

Quick Start

1. Load guidelines.md to choose the smallest useful reference set.
2. Identify user mental models, common tasks, and existing content inventory.
3. Choose or combine sequence, hierarchy, and web structures.
4. Use workflows/evaluate-doc-platform.md when choosing or migrating documentation tooling.
5. Use workflows/audit-doc-ia.md for full IA audit or redesign.
6. Preserve redirects, metadata, source decisions, and maintenance rules.

Default Output

When auditing or redesigning IA, return:

1. Current-state findings - navigation, gaps, duplication, stale content, and findability issues.
2. User model - major audiences, tasks, and entry points.
3. Recommended structure - sequence, hierarchy, web, landing pages, and navigation cues.
4. Content actions - keep, remove, review, merge, split, move, or create.
5. Migration plan - redirects, metadata, owners, and validation.
6. Maintenance plan - how IA decisions stay current.

Contents

| Need | Start Here |

|------|------------|

| Understand IA patterns | references/core/knowledge.md |

| Apply IA rules | references/core/knowledge.md |

| See IA examples | references/core/knowledge.md |

| Audit or redesign IA | workflows/audit-doc-ia.md |

| Evaluate docs platform/tooling | workflows/evaluate-doc-platform.md |

| Route by task | guidelines.md |

Core Posture

• Organize docs around user mental models and tasks.
• Use landing pages to route quickly, not to create marketing detours.
• Keep navigation cues useful but economical.
• Treat migration and maintenance as part of IA design.
• Choose tools from reader, authoring, maintenance, and migration requirements rather than feature excitement.