Managing Knowledge
Turning Complexity into Value
“Knowledge management” might sound like something only big companies need. At Salesforce, for instance, I saw a robust program that made scaling look easy. But at a small or medium-sized company, isn’t it too heavy of a process?
No. If your team holds retrospectives, writes READMEs, creates operational playbooks, or uses Loom to share workflows, you’re already generating and managing knowledge. Even automating away the need for knowledge counts as knowledge management. It’s foundational for scaling efficiently and staying lean.
I’ve often seen leaders underinvest and under-think in this space. Why? Because the business value of knowledge management isn’t always clear, and poorly defined business drivers lead to low-impact initiatives. I’ve experienced this firsthand, like when a well-intentioned push for Backstage delivered less than we’d hoped, largely because we hadn’t put the business story first.
To address this challenge, I’ve found it helpful to break knowledge into three types—explicit, implicit, and tacit—and align management strategies with the business goals for each.
Three Types of Knowledge
1. Explicit Knowledge
Straightforward, factual information.
Examples: Glossary definitions, system architecture guides, deployment pipeline instructions, or customer journey maps.
Strategy: Write it down in shared, searchable locations like Notion, code repos, or Salesforce. Retrieval-augmented generation tools like Notion AI excel at leveraging this type of content efficiently.
2. Implicit Knowledge
Processes, frameworks, and practices learned by observing and doing.
Examples: Diagnosing issues in an operational dashboard, using a design system effectively, or knowing how to use a detailed tool.
Strategy: Use Loom videos or detailed guides to capture and share this knowledge. For high-value areas, consider workshops or interactive classes.
3. Tacit Knowledge
Intuitive understanding and wisdom gained through experience.
Examples: Fostering a healthy innovation culture, facilitating complex discussions, or knowing when and how to take product and technical shortcuts for future flexibility.
Strategy: Invest in people through mentorship, coaching, and peer communities. These are costly but invaluable for high-impact areas.
A Practical Flow for Knowledge Management
To prioritize knowledge management investments, I use this flow.
1. Start with Business Value
Identify Urgency: Is the knowledge critical but rarely used, like runbooks or acquisition details? Invest accordingly.
Define Outcomes: What’s the desired result? Can success be measured with fast feedback loops?
Consider Change: Will the information change quickly? Weigh the value of documentation against its upkeep costs.
Simplify or Automate: Can this knowledge be eliminated by simplifying a process or automating a task? Prioritize that when possible.
2. Leverage Slack for Rarely Used Knowledge
On-demand Help: Create a central channel where pertinent experts provide just-in-time answers.
Automated Expertise: Use tools like Notion AI to surface and organize these transient interactions.
3. Proactively Push Frequently Used Knowledge
Explicit Knowledge: Write it down in an authoritative, searchable, discoverable location.
Implicit Knowledge: Pair Loom videos with supporting documents to create accessible resources. For greater investment, build or buy interactive training or tooling, and give time for fluency.
Tacit Knowledge: Invest in safe sandboxes to practice real-world skills, like game days, simulations, or low-stakes, supervised exemplar projects. Schedule time for them.
Reinforce Self-Service: Promote a culture where team members look for documentation before asking questions. Make it easy for them to succeed.
4. Invest in People for Tacit Knowledge
Coaching and Mentorship: Pair learners with internal or external experts to build wisdom and deep skills.
Peer Communities: Establish groups that foster shared learning and collaboration (e.g. “guilds”) while maintaining explicit and implicit knowledge.
5. Keep Documentation Current
Automate Updates: Deriving documentation from the source that defines the behavior—OpenAPI, dbt, and so on—is a great place to start.
Assign Ownership: Each document should have a clear owner and an “expires on” or “last updated” date.
Encourage Escalation: Make it everyone’s responsibility to flag outdated or incorrect information.
Audit for Value: Periodically reassess documentation to determine whether it should be updated or deleted.
Closing Thoughts
Thoughtful knowledge management enables your team to act faster, smarter, and more effectively. It’s foundational to scaling efficiently and building a culture of learning.
I’m especially drawn to tacit knowledge. It’s expensive to develop but offers long-lasting differentiation. It thrives on diversity: different perspectives enrich wisdom and build stronger, more adaptable teams. And it’s the domain of our deepest experts—including us, as people leaders.
The most meaningful training in my own career has been experiential, growing tacit knowledge. Programs like Problem Solving Leadership, facilitation courses from Ten Directions, the Search Inside Yourself program, and coaching from my friend Francis Lacoste have deeply influenced my growth. Sharing challenges with peers and learning from different perspectives has built my richest sources of wisdom.
In fact, the flow I’ve shared here is inspired by my teams’ experiences and feedback, as well as lessons from Nancy Dixon’s book Common Knowledge, introduced to me by Wes Beary. This process has helped me refine how I think about and prioritize knowledge management across a wide range of contexts.
What’s your approach to managing knowledge in your organization? And what training has most shaped your tacit knowledge—or that of your team? I’d love to hear your insights.
