Where is the best place to store knowledge?

Where should knowledge be stored? There are many answers to this question! 

A common answer is to say that knowledge should be stored in people's heads, and some would argue that knowledge exists ONLY in human heads. That's not an argument I want to get into, and for the sake of this blog post I am going to assume that knowledge can be transferred through documents and videos, as well as (though less effectively than) face to face dialogue, and that documented knowledge needs to be stored somewhere.

The problem with storing knowledge only in heads is that heads are an ineffective long-term storage. Heads leave the organisation, are poorly searchable, and can lose or overwrite knowledge  (see my blog post on 7 ways the brain loses or distorts knowledge). Even if we do store it in heads, then instead of individual heads we should store it in the collective memory of communities. Individuals are prone to bias, opinion, and other fallacies, and knowledge is tested and confirmed through comparison and discussion with other practitioners, for example in a community of practice. However there are certainly cases where storing knowledge in the heads of the community is the best approach, namely when this knowledge is contextually rich, rapidly evolving, continually practiced and continually discussed. These factors make documentation of the knowledge difficult and unnecessary. 

When it comes to the storage of documented knowledge, there are two main considerations when it comes to storage;

1. Findability
2. Updateability.

The community of practice must be able to find relevant knowledge in order to internalise it, and must be able to update it as it changes. Knowledge evolves, and the documented knowledge must keep pace with this evolution. 

In our global surveys of KM, we asked a number of questions about approaches to Best Practice. One was to ask how successful the Best Practice approach was, and the other was where these best practices are typically stored.  Obviously the choice of storage is not the only factor that influences the effectiveness of best practices, but it is ONE factor. The average effectiveness of different options is shown below. 

Storage option for best practices		Average satisfaction rating
On a wiki		3.67
As paper documents		3.50
Dedicated Knowledge Base software		3.27
A portal or Intranet (including SharePoint)		3.00
Within an expert system		3.00
Within file folders		2.14
Other (please specify)		1.57

Wikis are associated with the greatest level of satisfaction, and it is interesting to see there are cases where paper documents are good enough. Storing best practices in file folders seems to be a poor option. Wikis allow both findability and updateability, while in some contexts paper documents are more usable at the point of need than online documents.

We also asked a number of questions about approaches to Lessons Learned. One was to ask how successful the Lesson Learned approach was, and the other was where these lessons are typically stored.  Obviously the choice of storage is not the only factor that influences the effectiveness of lesson learning, but it is ONE factor. The average effectiveness of different options is shown below. 

Storage option for lessons	Average effectiveness score
In a custom lessons management system, supplied externally	3.33
In a custom lessons management system, built in-house	3.33
In a wiki	3.07
Within social media technology	3.00
As entries in a database system such as Microsoft Access or similar	2.97
As individual lessons documents within a folder structure	2.24
As fields in a spreadsheet	2.00
As sections within reports	1.94
We do not store lessons	1.67
I don't know	1.17

Custom lesson management systems are associated with the greatest level of satisfaction. Storing lessons within project reports is a poor option. 

So consider where knowledge needs to be stored. Some of it you can leave in heads, some of it (particularly knowledge which is needed for the long term), needs to be documented and stored somewhere where it can be updated, and where it can be found.