Capturing good (knowledge) things.
Welcome! Duly Knowtes™ is about good reasons and good ways to capture knowledge. Knowledge, information, and insights that smart people carry in their heads that continues to hold value and might otherwise be lost as people leave their companies and careers. It’s not about capturing all of anyone’s knowledge —not possible, of course—or manageable. It’s more about finding and recording small nuggets, premium chunks, process insights, connecting pieces, favorites, and best advice that still makes a difference in hard-to-quantify but real ways.
I’ve set up Duly Knowtes as a companion blog to Duly Knowted,™ a service offering I’ve developed. My plan—part of my ongoing instructional design work—is to develop and apply practical capture tools with businesses and organizations as their owners and managers anticipate key employees retiring or leaving. I plan to share what I’m thinking about and learning here.
Duly Knowtes is also a discussion space to look at what it takes to review, select, assemble and pass forward the best stuff. It’s about knowledge legacy, leveraging good information and acknowledging the asset holder.
You’re invited to share your whys, whats, and hows—from direct, observed or anticipated transition experiences—your own or others’ experiences. I can summarize responses and share back.
Here’s a starter question—actually, two: If you were to retire tomorrow (“That’s it! I ‘m done!”), what one type or topic of knowledge would you most want to pass along—assuming the future and well being of the group means something to you? (If you’ve already retired, was there something in hindsight you would have liked to pass along?) And, what form might that information take—a letter, a file of samples, a picture, a diagram, a list, a video, a podcast?
Comment back to the blog, subscribe and/or write me at audrey@dulyknowted.com. I’ll be in touch!
Not being interested in “preaching” to those coming next, it would be valuable to know what they would find interesting and engaging to hear about…can you provide guidance, or specific questions to address?
Hi Mike.. A key to my Duly Knowted work is talking with “stakeholders,” those people who by choice (or not) will carry on some the departing expert’s projects, programs, etc. In my discussions with them, I’m not so much after what those remaining think will be interesting or engaging. Their interest and engagement should be there if they see that their future success might depend on the information. I go after “relevant” and priorities. I try to connect what they know they will be doing with what the expert knows; especially, information they know hasn’t been documented elsewhere. Thanks! You are cool.
Hmmm. What two things would I want to leave? Well, off the top of my head, I can think of a time when I was leaving a hospital job I had for a very different industry. When I left, I found in addition to the tactical things (I was the only one doing my specific function in the hospital), I found myself wanting to communicate the political map for the system. These were my experiences, biases, impressions, and thoughts on what would help the next person be successful. They can read the documents and manuals to determine the “what” and the “how”, and I want to be able to tell them more about the “who” and “who matters”. The informal rules that apply and the potential land mines. — I guess Mark Twain said it best when he said that sacred cows make the best hamburger
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And I would not really communicate any of these relationships (key and not so key) other than one on one. No sense in burning bridges.
My two cents for today. Thanks for asking!
Marty
I recently left a team I’d been working with for over 7 years. We’d done a lot together and I’d been a major contributor. But not all of what I had brought was actually used or taken up to solve ongoing problems – which is part of why i eventually left. So now I trust that they have what they need and what they don’t have, they couldn’t have used anyway. They will continue to learn and maybe the problems will be solved eventually, or maybe they don’t need to be solved and the team/project is fine without solutions. I guess I’m trusting the process. So, to answer the question directly: the ability to see what the team needs, and the willingness to deal with certain kinds of problems and get things solved and working more optimally. At the end of it, it just seemed as though they didn’t actually want to solve things that obviously (to me and other actually too) didn’t work. So now i’m not doing that (looking and noting problems and designing and developing solutions) anymore and i guess if they need it, they will grow someone else to do this. It’s hard to see how i could have “left” this capacity behind – without someone valuing and being interested in being trained in that vantage, way of looking and approaching the work. maybe i just got tired of doing it alone. good question.
I f I were in a teaching capacity, I’d teach the students directly. If not, then probably on a video.
So many things that are important to distinguish have become merged and blended.Part of our “crossover ” culture. For example, the difference between fine art and commercial art. It’s important to know what your intentions are and why when you step up to the canvas.
This has been a good exercise. Sitting and thinking about the answer , I’ve got a whole list of things I’d like to pass on–50 years of learning and experience. Maybe I’ll make that video just for the heck of it. Thanks
Over the last decade I have spent a large amount of time trying to understand the next generation of worker. There are many things to tell that generation, but if I were to transfer some knowledge to them it would be “slow down” it doesn’t all come at you like water from a fire hose. Experiential learning is the key… You don’t learn to drill the best hole by reading a book on hole drilling. Find the best hole driller and learn from them. Respect those that have come before you and build on what they have accomplished.
I would communicate this directly face to face. But I would probably get through to them by putting it in the form of a computer game.
Audrey… I look forward to reading more from this site.
For me, it’s all about the tasks, challenges, and opportunities that we face. Focus there.
Then I guess I would do think-alouds that capture my approaches to each priority. How do I reflect on each? Why that way? What first? What next? Other resources? Risks?
I have often observed that, when someone leaves an organization, he or she takes a lot of information with them. I think it would be extremely beneficial, both to the employer and the employee, for there to be a process in place to capture vital information and ideas. The value is obvious to the employer: it gains insights into valuable ideas, perspectives, and methods. The company is better for it. The employee benefits by going through the process of leaving their best wisdom with its previous employer, thus helping the employee to feel vital, feeding into the individual’s sense of esteem and self-worth. “Duly Knowtes” is a great idea, Audrey, an idea whose time….
Hi Scott…In the rush to capture things (to the extent there is a rush..) we have to consider the capturee, along with the capturers. I think this is huge. In short case interviews, I’ve noted that the effects of poor capture or the complete lack of acknowledgement of the person who is leaving can be deep and long lasting. Thanks!
Does one just get out of Dodge before the posse, abandoning a formal Legacy,
leaving only an Institutional Memory?
Institutional Memory rarely has a long shelf life.
But does a Legacy?
Does the “Next in” destroy a formal Legacy to elevate themselves to improve the System?
Once a successful System is established and is able to desire continuity, it is usually the result of effective Legacies.
Yet a successful system is the result of multiple legacies and those that stand on the shoulders of others often wear out the Legacy.
I know I hope to leave a Legacy..I want to be remembered as a contributer, and not as a Consumer.
Somewhere along the road of life will I Compromise, Capitulate or Champion?
Time will tell if the information taken or left is of value.
As the value is in the hands of the “Next in.
But I know that the “Self Made Man” is delusional and any Legacy rarely lasts beyond the “Next in”.
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For the years I spent at one organization, the most important information to leave behind to my successor would have been – how the organization operates, and the limitations of the various department heads that must be addressed. No matter a persons technical expertise, each manager, or person of authority, must be given their *due respect* in order to accomplish any complex project.
I have a harder time getting into the possibility of achieving the capture of knowledge. Perhaps I’ve just not been in a position (management) where that becomes so valuable that I would want to pursue it. From my past perspective my most important contribution to my organization was not knowledge but personal skills working with people…harder to “capture” as it’s a function of personal growth, personality, etc. Now I’m thinking it’s probably universally true that personal skills are the greatest value. In service work that is. It other places it might be intellect.
I’ve learned that it’s not just what you leave for others, but where and how. Enabling people to filter out all the noise and find the knowledge they really need is just as important as enabling people to share what’s in their heads. For example, some brilliant colleagues at my firm recently implemented a sales support site that collects the key documents used for the projects we win and the projects we just propose. All the knowledge was there before, but now it’s in one *usable* place that’s well organized.
Hi Judy…Yes! Organization and easy access (as in closets or sites) is powerful in making knowledge and information useful. Thanks for writing….A
To answer your questions: Start early, and then, even earlier than that when you know you are leaving!
If you have been in an organization a long time and acquired loads of knowledge, it will take a lot of time and effort to do a brain drain in a way that is useful and organized. That is what Duly Knowted can do. It allows you to put your thoughts in a format with the end user in mind.
And, what form might that information take? You need an organized system that captures critical history; challenges; personalities of key contacts and stakeholders; and what is left to be done (project by project).
I was in my position for 15 years. That is a lot of years to capture in a way that makes sense to those who come after you. But be forewarned. Once it is done, you have to disengage from the forms/material. No one might ever read it or even care, but you have done your job.
For the years I spent at one organization, the most important information to leave behind to my successor would have been – how the organization operates, and the limitations of the various department heads that must be addressed. No matter a persons technical expertise, each manager, or person of authority, must be given their *due respect* in order to accomplish any complex project.
I have a harder time getting into the possibility of achieving the capture of knowledge. Perhaps I’ve just not been in a position (management) where that becomes so valuable that I would want to pursue it. From my past perspective my most important contribution to my organization was not knowledge but personal skills working with people…harder to “capture” as it’s a function of personal growth, personality, etc. Now I’m thinking it’s probably universally true that personal skills are the greatest value. In service work that is. It other places it might be intellect.
No question about the value of personal skills, and the difficulty in capturing or packaging them. Still, I think there are ways to capture experiences and examples of how and why an expert or other valued employee applied those skills in specific situations and the impact they might have made. Thanks for writing.