Every article needs an expiry date
· 1 min read
Out-of-date knowledge harms more than missing knowledge. Give every article a review date and an owner.
In brief
Milk has a use-by date. Most knowledge articles do not. So they sit in the knowledge base looking accurate while the world has moved on: the VPN guide for a client replaced years ago, the expenses process from before the new finance system, still near the top of search results. Nobody wrote them badly. They were right once. The trouble is that knowledge goes off quietly, and an out-of-date article does more harm than a missing one because people trust it.
This article argues for giving every article a review date so the question changes from is anything wrong to is this still right, with a named owner and a deadline. It suggests deciding how long an article can live before someone must look again, who gets the reminder by name, and what happens when nobody answers: retire it or flag it as unchecked. Old knowledge is not the problem. Unchecked knowledge is. More on keeping knowledge healthy is in the Knowledge library on ESM's Exchange.
Knowledge goes off quietly
Milk has a use-by date. Most knowledge articles do not.
So they sit there. The VPN guide for the client you replaced in 2023. The expenses process from before the new finance system. Still accurate-looking. Still top of the search results.
Nobody wrote them badly. They were right once. The trouble is that knowledge goes off quietly, and an out-of-date article does more harm than a missing one, because people trust it.
Change the question
A review date changes the question from is anything wrong to is this still right. That second question has an owner and a deadline.
Decisions worth making
A few things worth deciding:
- How long can an article live before someone must look at it again? Six months for anything that changes often, longer for the stable stuff.
- Who gets the reminder, by name?
- What happens when nobody answers it? Retire it, or flag it as unchecked.
The real problem
Old knowledge is not the problem. Unchecked knowledge is.
Next step
More on keeping knowledge healthy in the Knowledge library on ESM's Exchange: https://exchange.esm.institute
Tags: knowledge management, service management, self-service, ESM
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