So the news is out: I’ve decided to end The Informed Life podcast at the end of the year. To make the announcement, I asked my friend Peter Morville to return to the show.
As you may recall, in our previous conversation, I asked Peter about his decision to retire from IA consulting. I framed this as an “exit interview” – so I thought it fitting for Peter to give me one as well. We’ve released this second interview as episode 155.
Peter started by asking me about the show’s origin story. I explained that I started the podcast to do research (and perhaps seed interest) for what became my book Duly Noted. The show’s original focus was interviewing people about how they organize their personal information environments, but that quickly changed.
And here we are after five years and 155 episodes. As I explained to Peter, I’ve learned a lot about producing a show. I also greatly enjoy having these conversations with folks. So I’m torn about pulling the plug. But I’d rather have the show go out while I still feel good about it than let it decline as I become increasingly frustrated.
And why would that be? There are many reasons.
For one, the show has served its purpose. (Duly Noted has been out for almost a year.) For another, over time, interviews veered more towards general UX topics. While I’m proud of those conversations, the show has moved away from its original intent.
Also – and this is no small matter – growth has stalled for a while. I suspect I’ve reached as big an audience as I can with this topic. But what topic is it? Is it personal knowledge management, information architecture, or UX? I suspect that’s part of the problem: the broad focus has made growing the audience difficult.
This is fixable, but I’d like to move on to other things. There are lots of exciting things happening with AI. I’m also working on a new show aimed at a different audience. (More about this in the interview itself.) Information architecture remains at the core of it all. I’d love to find new ways to explore its potential. Ending TIL makes space for exciting new things. So stay tuned!
Speaking of staying tuned, this interview isn’t yet the end of the show. I plan to release an epilogue by the end of the year where I’ll summarize what I’ve learned by producing the podcast. I hope you tune in for that as well.
The Informed Life episode 155: Peter Morville on Exit Interview, part 2