Pattern: CATEGORIZED INFORMATION

Problem: Situations or projects in which we need to categorize information by any criteria, when information does not change its category over time.

Motivation: We will use this pattern for having a quick view of how the information is structured, focusing on the categories in which it is clasified. One of the most frequent uses of this pattern is the storage of static information without any type of order, as for example, indexing it by its topic. In this way, we will use the board as a notebook where an alumn writes notes of each subject, organizing it by course, for example.

Solution and graphic representation: Each list represent a different topic where we will store the information, represented in the cards. Lists and topics must be independent, isolated and without order between them (sequenced steps, for example). Information will be stored in one list, only one, and always the same. This pattern will provide the user a topic-structured template to organize its information.

categorized information board design

Related Patterns:

This pattern is similar to “Categorized Tasks” as they differ from each other in which they represent: information and tasks respectively. Both are a similar way of showing relevant things about a project. With the first one we will emphasize in the information or notes of each phase, while with the second one we will see which tasks do we have to do for completing each step.

The main difference between this pattern and “Ordered Information” is the presence or abscence of order between the lists of the board. Both represent static information, but we will choose one or another depending on whether the resources are prioritized or hierarchical in some way.

Regarding to “Assigned information” pattern, we will choose one or another depending on wheter the information changes with the time or not. “Categorized information” is usually used to store information by a phase of the project or a topic, because this feature will not change its value (card will be stored always in the same list), while in “Assigned information” it is more frequent to represent people as lists, allowing the user to move cards from one person to another.

As commented in “Kanban” description, both patterns are frequently used combined with each other. In the “part” of “Categorized information” we will represent useful information for understanding the process, while in the “Kanban part” of the board we will have the tasks needed to complete the process, improving the utilities of both patterns separately.

Example:

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In this template we have five lists, where the first one contains the explanation of use of the board and the other four lists. In these other four lists we will information divided by topic, using the lists “Product & Report” and “Payment & Delivery” as two FAQs sections. “Diseases” list contains a large number of illness explained, while in “Requests” we will seek an answer for customer requests and add new articles/cards for future.

Trello Templates Examples: