Definition
Information architecture is how you organize, label, and connect the content and features in your product so users can find what they need and understand where they are. It covers navigation structures, taxonomy, labeling systems, and the relationships between objects.
Richard Saul Wurman coined the term in 1976. Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld formalized it for the web in their book Information Architecture for the World Wide Web (the "polar bear book"), identifying four key systems: organization (how items are grouped), labeling (what things are called), navigation (how users move between items), and search (how users find items directly).
Why It Matters for Product Managers
Bad IA is one of the hardest problems to fix retroactively. When GitHub redesigned its repository navigation in 2020, the change affected millions of users' muscle memory. When Jira reorganized its sidebar in Jira Cloud, it generated thousands of community complaints. IA changes are high-cost and high-risk because they disrupt existing workflows.
The PM role in IA is making structural decisions early and validating them with data. Where does a new feature live in the navigation? What do you call it? How does it relate to existing features? These decisions compound. Notion's flexible IA (everything is a page, pages nest infinitely) enables its versatility but also creates a blank-canvas problem that intimidates new users. Linear's rigid IA (teams > projects > issues) constrains flexibility but makes the product instantly navigable.
When users say "I couldn't find that feature," they're giving you IA feedback. Support tickets about feature discoverability are IA problems, not marketing problems.
How It Works in Practice
Content audit -- Inventory everything your product contains: features, settings, content types, user-generated objects. Map how they currently connect. Spotify did this when redesigning their Library tab, cataloging every content type users could save.
Card sorting -- Run an open card sort with 15-20 users. Give them cards representing your features/content and ask them to group the cards into categories and name the categories. This reveals users' mental models, which often differ from your team's internal taxonomy.
Propose a structure -- Based on card sort results and business requirements, design 2-3 candidate structures. Define the hierarchy depth (how many levels), breadth (how many items per level), and labeling conventions.
Tree test -- Validate your proposed structure with tree testing. Give users tasks ("Find the billing settings") and measure whether they can navigate the text-only hierarchy successfully. An 80%+ findability rate indicates solid IA.
Prototype and iterate -- Build the winning structure into a navigation prototype. Test it with real tasks in context. Adjust based on error rates and time-to-find metrics.
Common Pitfalls
Organizing by internal team structure instead of user mental models. Users don't care that "Reports" is owned by the analytics team and "Dashboards" is owned by the platform team. If those features are related from a user perspective, they belong together.
Going too deep. Every level of hierarchy adds cognitive cost. If users need 4+ clicks to reach a common feature, the IA is too nested. Amazon's famously flat category structure (broad top-level, then filters) outperforms deep hierarchies for e-commerce.
Inconsistent labeling. If your product uses "Workspace," "Organization," and "Account" to mean the same thing in different places, users will be confused. Pick one term and use it everywhere.
Skipping validation. IA decisions based on internal brainstorming sessions tend to mirror org charts. Card sorting and tree testing take days, not weeks, and prevent costly restructuring later.
Related Concepts
Card Sorting is the primary research method for discovering how users expect information to be organized. Tree Testing validates whether a proposed IA structure actually works by measuring findability without visual design cues. A Design System implements IA decisions through consistent navigation components, breadcrumbs, and page layouts.
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