Your text analytics taxonomy is the strategy

Most programmes fail not on model accuracy but on categories nobody can act on. A taxonomy is not a filing system; it is a set of decisions you have agreed to make when a theme moves.

Start from the decision, not the data

Before a single verbatim is coded, write down the three decisions the taxonomy must support. Every branch that supports none of them is overhead.

Keep it stable over time

Comparability beats granularity. A category you redefine every quarter cannot carry a trend, and a trend is the only thing an operating committee will act on.