Optimise for speed in KM, not production quality

KM should focus primarily on getting knowledge out quickly, and worry about production quality later

Here is an interesting article from the customer-service wing of KM, entitled “5 ways to use team knowledge to do better work”. The one that struck me as the most interesting of the 5 was the principle to “Optimize for speed, not fidelity”

Here the writers are making the argument that in a fast changing world, it is imperative to get new knowledge out to the users as fast as possible, and not worry about fidelity in terms of high production values. They say 

“Fidelity refers to highly-produced content such as broadcast-quality videos or interactive walkthroughs. This content is expensive to make and difficult to maintain. Optimizing for speed allows for rapid updates—with easily editable text, pictures, screenshots, and more. Since most customer service teams work with constantly changing information, they need to move quickly to be effective”. 

For example, if you have knowledge you want to share in video form for internal use, then don’t wait until you have access to a TV-quality production suite – instead capture the video on your phone and get it out there for others to see. The important thing, especially in the fast moving world of customer service, is to share the knowledge quickly so others can use it. If it is useful and helpful then they will not worry about things like lighting and framing.

Production values and quality of presentation take time and effort, and this time and effort may also be a barrier to any sharing at all. You do not want to send the message that “all shared knowledge needs to be produced to a high quality” because this may deter people from sharing. Instead the message needs to be “if you have knowledge to share, then get it out there as soon as you can. Make it helpful and usable; production values can some later”

In some cases production values can be worth considering as well as speed. As the authors of the article advise – 

“If you’re creating content that stays pretty static, such as compliance information, fidelity may make more sense. Information regarding your products and services (however) should be designed for speed so you can reflect changes in real-time”

However when sharing knowledge, don’t let production values get in the way of speed.