What do you do if your information architecture is constantly evolving and uncertain?

Modify the architecture you have previously created to be more general and replace removed parts with a CMS (quite possibly a headless CMS).

1. Continuously reassess and iterate on the architecture to accommodate emerging insights and evolving needs. 2. Embrace modular and scalable design principles to maintain flexibility in response to uncertainty. 3. Foster collaborative efforts among stakeholders to adapt to changing requirements and ensure alignment with organizational goals.

IA should be living in a constant build-measure-learn loop. Make sure to always measure your architectures effectiveness, and also objectively evaluate changes in your environment to see if they imply changes to your IA.

Preparation is key for evolving IA. Create a flexible framework that will be able to pivot with business changes or future phases. This is one of the key reasons for Atomic design systems and should also be adapted and applied to an IA strategy. Once the flexibility is designed for then revisiting in any type of Agile methodology will be much easier and create less rework.

User-Centricity can be the key to success, so make sure to start with the user and end with the user. Ensure you have a clear and precise understanding of who they are, and build around their needs and goals. Use user personas, think/feel/do maps and similar tools to make it tangible. Conduct user interviews in your design stage to ensure you are on the right track. Once you move into production, make sure to always test the users behaviour, and apply changes as the results show.

Keep version control in mind throughout the documentation process, especially if your IA is in flux. Will you or others likely need to refer to previous versions? If yes, determine the best way to maintain a branching tree of versions (think as though you are a software engineer managing releases).

Make sure that everything you build is modular. This starts with organising your architecture in repeatable building blocks, which should then translate into a modular design system that needs to be developed into a flexible module system in your website or app. Create clear guidelines what information requires which contents in what modules. Ensure your system is atomic so changes can be made on their appropriate hierarchy.

Stay in a build-measure-learn loop (see Eric Ries' Lean Startup for reference). Always monitor your product and see if it performs as expected. Always monitor your environment to see if changes appear that need implementation. Define clear measurable goals to test your IA against. Schedule regular check-ins on those topics, where you review measurements and goals.

IA is not a blueprint, it's a foundation which must be flexible and adaptable to ever changing customer needs. Adaptale User Experience (UX) is the key, invest in research tools to track customer behaviour continuously. Keep focus on latest trends like AI for personalized experience.

Consider that adaptation is not always the best evolutionary strategy. Usually, its better to keep some sort of a backbone. Embrace change, but then freeze for a while and let your users settle in with a consistent IA. Just as you shouldn't move your furniture around every week just to please every guest, you shouldn't be changing your IA so much that it becomes a distraction for your users. Sure things change and you need to be agile, but uncertainty in architecture is not good. If you have an uncertain IA, its because its not based on deep enough human traits that really don't change that often. Instead you are most likely chasing trends, and trends come and go, and so shall your users.