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Knowledge: Loss vs Waste

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Knowledge loss is a failure to retain organizational knowledge. Knowledge waste is a failure to use organizational knowledge when it would be useful.

Knowledge Loss

The primary cause of knowledge loss is employee turnover. Some types of knowledge are difficult to transfer or document. When an employee leaves, they may make an effort to write down or transfer everything that they know but this typically has a limited impact. Knowledge can also be lost simply because it isn't captured. For example, a project manager may fail to capture the rationale for the decisions made within the context of a project. Any knowledge that is potentially valuable that isn't retained can be considered lost. The third reason for knowledge loss is deletion or isolation. This can happen in the transition from a legacy system due to a failure to migrate data and documents.

Knowledge Waste

Knowledge waste is the tendency for organizational knowledge to go unused when it would be useful. Knowledge may be stored in silos that are difficult for people to search or access. This can be intentional or technical, as teams may be needlessly secretive or store knowledge in obscure repositories that are unknown to the organization as a whole. In many cases, there are well developed processes for capturing knowledge but few processes for actually using it. For example, projects may capture lessons learned to prevent future projects from repeating the mistakes of the past. However, use of such documentation is often rare.
Knowledge Loss vs Knowledge Waste
Knowledge Loss
Knowledge Waste
Definition
A failure to retain organizational knowledge.
A failure to use organizational knowledge when it would be useful.
Causes
Employee turnover
Failure to document
Deletion
Lack of communication
Secrecy
Security barriers
Data isolation
Process gaps
Not invented here

Knowledge Management

This is the complete list of articles we have written about knowledge management.
A Posteriori
A Priori
Anti Information
Artifact
Artificial Knowledge
Body Of Knowledge
Classification
Corporate Memory
Data
Disinformation
Dispersed Knowledge
Document Control
Document Quality
Domain Knowledge
Information Asymmetry
Information Management
Information Pollution
Knowledge Analysis
Knowledge Audit
Knowledge Discovery
Knowledge Loss
Knowledge Measurement
Knowledge Processes
Knowledge Quality
Knowledge Risk
Knowledge Transfer
Knowledge Value
Knowledge Velocity
Knowledge Waste
Knowledge Work
Known Unknowns
Master Copy
Meta Knowledge
Outside Context Problem
Permalink
Propositional Knowledge
Situated Knowledge
Storytelling
Tacit Knowledge
Unknown Unknown
More ...
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Types Of Knowledge

The differences between types of knowledge.

Curse Of Knowledge

Why experts have trouble communicating.

Tacit Knowledge

Knowledge that escapes documentation.

Disinformation vs Anti-Information

Two types of broken knowledge.

Knowledge Work

A definition of knowledge work with examples.

Information vs Knowledge

The difference between information and knowledge.

Expert Generalist

A definition of expert generalist with an example.

Qualitative Data

A definition of qualitative data with examples.

Objective vs Subjective

The difference between objective and subjective.

Knowledge Value

A definition of knowledge value with examples.

Types of Technology

A reasonably comprehensive list of information technologies.

Gamification

A list of gamification techniques.

Information Technology Problems

A list of common IT problems.

Types Of Cloud

The basic types of cloud computing.

Machine Data

The common types of machine data.

Types Of Software

The common types of software.

Proprietary Technology

A definition of proprietary technology with examples.

Systems Design

The common elements of a systems design.

Systems vs Applications

The difference between systems and applications explained.
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