Enabling the Brain Drain: Transforming Tacit Knowledge Into Real Content

Being able to collect and then use tacit knowledge – undocumented information in the form of thoughts and actions – can create problems for organizations when experienced workers leave without passing that knowledge along. In this talk, Mike Doane will discuss a project he is leading to develop methods to gather and transform tacit knowledge from the minds of experienced workers into explicit knowledge in the form of standardized content that can be used by all employees regardless of company size. Mike will talk about how he helped a small but highly-technical Seattle-area company to develop a knowledge management strategy and framework, using tools many of us are already using, that can transform how knowledge is captured, discovered, and shared.

Key takeaways include:

• Using Zoom transcripts for knowledge gathering tacit knowledge
• Developing templates for Zoom interviews for creating explicit knowledge
• Implementing complementary taxonomy and search software systems to exploit metadata usage

About Our Speaker
Mike Doane is an Associate Teaching Professor at the University of Washington Information School (iSchool). He teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in Information Architecture, Taxonomy/Ontology, and Knowledge Management. In addition, he has more than 25 years of experience as a consultant in content management and strategy.