Knowledge Management

Knowledge management is the deliberate effort to create, capture, organise, share and reuse what people in an organisation know. On programmes and projects it makes sure hard-won expertise survives team changes, supplier changes and the move from project to business as usual.

Why It Matters

Programmes run for years, and people come and go. Without knowledge management:

  • Decisions are made again because nobody remembers why they were made the first time
  • The same mistakes are repeated from project to project
  • A single person becomes the only one who understands a critical system
  • Handover to operations relies on goodwill and memory
  • New starters take months to become effective

Good knowledge management turns individual experience into organisational capability.

Types of Knowledge

Type Description Examples How to Manage It
Explicit Written down and easy to share Procedures, designs, runbooks, contracts Document management, version control, repositories
Tacit Held in people’s heads, learned by doing Judgement, workarounds, who to call, why things are the way they are Shadowing, mentoring, storytelling, communities of practice
Embedded Built into processes, tools and culture Workflows, system configuration, team habits Process mapping, configuration management

Most of the value, and most of the risk, sits in tacit knowledge. It cannot be handed over in a document alone, which is why Knowledge Transfer uses a mix of methods.

The Knowledge Management Cycle

flowchart LR A[Identify] --> B[Capture] B --> C[Organise] C --> D[Share] D --> E[Apply] E --> F[Review] F --> A classDef blue fill:#108BB9,stroke:none,color:#fff class A,B,C,D,E,F blue
Stage Activities Outputs
Identify Work out what knowledge is critical and who holds it Knowledge map, single points of failure
Capture Write it down, record it, or pair people to pass it on Documents, recordings, lessons, KT sessions
Organise Store it where people can find it, with an owner Structured repository, index, metadata
Share Push it to the people who need it Briefings, communities of practice, training
Apply Use it in planning and decision making Better estimates, fewer repeated mistakes
Review Check it is still current, retire what is not Updated or archived content

Knowledge Management, Information Management and Knowledge Transfer

Discipline Focus Typical Question
Information Management Records, documents and data: storage, access, retention “Where is the latest version of the design?”
Knowledge Management The organisation’s know-how and how it grows over time “What have we learned about delivering this kind of change?”
Knowledge Transfer Moving specific knowledge from one person or team to another “Can the support team run this service without the project team?”

See Information Management and Knowledge Transfer for more detail.

Knowledge Management Practices

Practice What It Is When to Use It
Lessons learned Structured capture of what went well and badly End of each stage and project, after major events
After action reviews Short, informal reviews straight after an event After go-lives, incidents, workshops
Knowledge transfer Planned handover of knowledge between people or teams Leavers, project to BAU handover, supplier change
Communities of practice Groups that share expertise on a topic Recurring disciplines (e.g. testing, PMO, architecture)
Knowledge repositories Well-organised, searchable stores of documents Throughout the programme
Mentoring and coaching Experienced people developing others Building long-term capability
Expert directories A list of who knows what Large or distributed programmes
Storytelling and case studies Narrative accounts of what happened and why Passing on context and judgement

Building a Knowledge Management Approach

A programme’s knowledge management approach can sit within the information management strategy or stand on its own. It should cover:

  1. Critical knowledge - which knowledge the programme cannot afford to lose
  2. Knowledge holders - who holds it, including suppliers and contractors
  3. Single points of failure - people or teams who are the only source of key knowledge
  4. Capture methods - how knowledge will be captured and by when
  5. Storage and access - where it lives and who can see or update it
  6. Transfer triggers - events that start a knowledge transfer (leavers, contract end, go-live)
  7. Roles - who owns knowledge management and who is accountable for each area
  8. Measures - how you will know it is working

Roles and Responsibilities

Role Responsibilities
Programme / Project Manager Makes sure knowledge risks are identified and knowledge transfer is planned and resourced
Business Change Manager Makes sure operational teams receive the knowledge they need to realise benefits
PMO Maintains repositories, runs lessons learned, tracks KT progress
Knowledge holders Share what they know, keep documentation current
Line managers Release time for knowledge sharing, plan succession

Measuring Success

  • Number of single points of failure identified and removed
  • Percentage of critical topics with an up-to-date owner and documentation
  • KT plans completed before people or suppliers leave
  • Lessons applied (not just recorded) on later projects
  • Time for new starters to become effective
  • Repeat incidents caused by missing knowledge

Common Pitfalls

Pitfall Consequence How to Avoid It
Leaving it to the end Knowledge walks out of the door with leavers Identify knowledge risks at the start and plan transfer early
Documents only Tacit knowledge is never passed on Combine documents with shadowing and paired work
No owner Content goes out of date and is not trusted Give every critical document an owner and review date
Lessons recorded but not used Same mistakes repeated Review lessons at project start-up and stage planning
No time allowed Holders are too busy to share Put KT activities in the plan with real effort estimates

Templates

Knowledge Transfer Plan (Word) Knowledge Transfer Agenda Tracker (Excel)

Last updated: 13 October 2026