Information Architecture - Basic Layer - July 2026

Concept Map

The concept structure for Sift, derived from jobs, not from a competitor menu: screens grouped by the person's intent, the navigation that moves between them, and the matrix that proves every screen closes a job and every job reaches a screen.

Schema by intent

This is the concept: screens grouped by intent, with the job each one closes. States (empty / error / loading) live in the flows; page contents live in the detail layer. Neither belongs here.

graph TD
    subgraph clA["A - Bring the signal in"]
      A2["Connect / import (A2) - J2"]
      A1["Sources (A1) - J2"]
    end
    subgraph clB["B - See what customers are saying"]
      B1["Synthesis view (B1) - Main, J2, J3, E1"]
      B2["Theme detail (B2) - Main, J1, J3, E1, E2"]
    end
    subgraph clC["C - Trace the evidence"]
      C1["Evidence source (C1) - Main, J1, J3, E1, E2"]
    end
    subgraph clD["D - Decide and defend"]
      D1["Build brief (D1) - Main, S1, J4"]
      D2["Shared brief, public (D2) - S1, J1, J4, E2"]
    end
    subgraph clP["Platform - no user job (ORPHAN)"]
      P1["Auth (P1)"]
      P2["Settings / Workspace (P2)"]
    end
    A2 --> A1
    A1 --> B1
    B1 --> B2
    B2 --> C1
    B1 --> D1
    D1 --> D2

    classDef screen fill:#17171c,stroke:#3a3a45,color:#e8e8ec;
    classDef orphan fill:#1a1a1f,stroke:#3a3a45,color:#66667a;
    class A1,A2,B1,B2,C1,D1,D2 screen;
    class P1,P2 orphan;
    style clA fill:#0f0f13,stroke:#2a2a35,color:#7c6af7;
    style clB fill:#0f0f13,stroke:#2a2a35,color:#7c6af7;
    style clC fill:#0f0f13,stroke:#2a2a35,color:#7c6af7;
    style clD fill:#0f0f13,stroke:#2a2a35,color:#7c6af7;
    style clP fill:#0f0f13,stroke:#2a2a35,color:#66667a;

Four intent clusters carry every user job; the Platform cluster (Auth, Settings) closes no jtbd job and is kept only as a platform and compliance necessity. The lines show the primary path between clusters, not the flow: the full routes, with states and dead-ends, are on the Flows page.

Navigation model

Global navigation is the primary persona's shortest path to the main job, not a menu copied from anyone. Three entries, one per top-level cluster, plus a low-prominence account corner.

SynthesisMain, J2, J3

The default landing and home (to B1). Why the PM opens Sift: the ranked picture of what customers need most. Synthesis-first, per behavioral pattern B1.

SourcesJ2

Manage and add signal inputs (to A1). Setup-heavy during activation, occasional afterward.

BriefsS1, J1, J4

The shareable artifacts (to the brief list and D1). Package the call, defend it, align the team.

Account / SettingsPlatform

In a corner, not a primary tab. Plan and limits, the PII-scrub default, sign out. No user job (ORPHAN), kept for the platform.

Depth to the main job

Main-job view: tap 0 (home) Trace to raw evidence: 2 taps Capture the call: 1 tap

The first screen after auth is the Synthesis view, which is itself the main-job surface, so the ranked, trustable picture is at tap 0. The deepest necessary path (B1 to B2 to C1, the raw source) is 2 taps, within the 3-tap budget. No restructure needed.

Global, contextual, deep

Global

The three entries (Synthesis, Sources, Briefs) and the account corner. Always visible.

Contextual

Theme detail, Evidence source (the drill-down chain), Connect / import, and Build brief. Appear inside a flow.

Deep

Settings / Workspace, Auth, source disconnect, brief manage. Rare. The public Shared brief sits outside the app nav (no login).

Trace matrix

Rows are every job from jtbd.md (the two hypothesis jobs are excluded). Columns are every screen. A check means the screen really participates in closing that job. Empty rows and columns are highlighted, so a defect is visible rather than hidden.

Job	A1	A2	B1	B2	C1	D1	D2
Main - defensible synthesis			X	X	X	X
J1 - stakeholder defense				X	X		X
J2 - make sense of the pile	X	X	X
J3 - know how much to trust			X	X	X
J4 - get the team to the same why						X	X
J5 - close the signal loop (deferred, D1)
E1 - feel I actually understood it			X	X	X
E2 - feel certain when questioned				X	X		X
S1 - stakeholders can engage with it						X	X
S2 - shared evidence standard (deferred, fast-follow)

Highlightedorphan rows (J5, S2) and columns (P1, P2). The two empty columns are the platform screens (no user job, kept for platform and compliance). The two empty rows are deferred jobs (Segment C by D1; Persona B team standard is fast-follow). Restricted to the MVP surface (A1 to D2, jobs Main and J1 to J4, E1, E2, S1), no row or column is empty.