Test after every change, or find out from users
· 1 min read
Knowledge changes fail quietly. A short, repeatable test after every change finds the problem before your users do.
In brief
Someone changes a search setting on Friday afternoon. On Monday the service desk is busy, and nobody connects the two. Self-service tends to fail quietly. There is no error message and no outage alert. People just search, find nothing useful, and pick up the phone instead. Saying you will hear about it if it breaks does not work for knowledge. You will not hear about it. You will see it weeks later as a rise in calls nobody can explain. Full testing after every small change feels heavy. Skipping it feels fine, right up until it is not. This article argues that the answer is not a big test plan. It is a short one you actually run: five minutes, and the same handful of checks every time something changes. A quick start test can be as simple as searching for your five most common questions and checking that the right answers come first, opening an article on a phone, trying the search as someone outside IT, and submitting feedback to check it lands with a person. Write the checks down, give them a name, and run them after every change, however small. The goal is simple: you find the problem before your users do.
Someone changes a search setting on Friday afternoon. On Monday the service desk is busy, and nobody connects the two.
Self-service tends to fail quietly. No error message. No outage alert. People just search, find nothing useful, and pick up the phone instead.
That is why "we will hear about it if it breaks" does not work for knowledge. You will not hear about it. You will see it weeks later as a rise in calls nobody can explain.
A short test you actually run
The tension is real. Full testing after every small change feels heavy. Skipping it feels fine, right up until it is not.
The answer is not a big test plan. It is a short one you actually run. Five minutes. The same handful of checks every time something changes.
A quick start test could be as simple as:
- Search for your five most common questions. Do the right answers come first?
- Open an article on a phone.
- Try it as someone outside IT.
- Submit feedback and check it lands with a person.
Write the checks down. Give them a name. Run them after every change, however small. The goal is simple: you find the problem before your users do.
Next step
Do you test knowledge after changes, or wait for the phone to ring? Join the conversation on ESM's Exchange: https://exchange.esm.institute
Tags: knowledge management, service management, self-service, ESM
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