Who should see the knowledge dashboards?
· 1 min read
Show people the knowledge numbers they can act on, without turning authors into a league table.
In brief
Most knowledge dashboards are built for one person: the manager who asked for them. Then the people who actually write and fix the articles never see the numbers. Lock the dashboards down and authors work blind. They do not know which articles get used, which ones get marked not helpful, or which searches return nothing at all. Open everything to everyone and a different problem appears: a league table of authors, names next to low scores, and people who stop writing because writing is how you end up at the bottom. Visibility helps people improve. Exposure makes them defensive. Neither managers only nor everyone sees everything is a design. Both are defaults. This article argues for a better question: what will each person do differently once they see the numbers? Authors need their own articles' usage and feedback. Knowledge owners need gaps and trends. Leaders need a handful of measures, not every chart. It sets out three plain rules: show people the numbers they can act on; show teams and trends before individuals; and never publish a ranking you would not want to be on. A dashboard nobody acts on is decoration. A dashboard that frightens contributors is worse, because it quietly shrinks the knowledge base it was meant to grow.
Most knowledge dashboards are built for one person: the manager who asked for them. Then the people who actually write and fix the articles never see the numbers.
Lock the dashboards down and authors work blind. They do not know which articles get used, which ones get marked "not helpful", or which searches return nothing at all.
Open everything to everyone and a different problem appears. A league table of authors. Names next to low scores. People stop writing because writing is how you end up at the bottom.
Visibility without exposure
The tension is real. Visibility helps people improve. Exposure makes them defensive. Neither "managers only" nor "everyone sees everything" is a design. Both are defaults.
A better question: what will each person do differently once they see it?
Authors need their own articles' usage and feedback. Knowledge owners need gaps and trends. Leaders need a handful of measures, not every chart.
Three plain rules
- Show people the numbers they can act on.
- Show teams and trends before individuals.
- Never publish a ranking you would not want to be on.
A dashboard nobody acts on is decoration. A dashboard that frightens contributors is worse, because it quietly shrinks the knowledge base it was meant to grow.
Next step
Who sees your knowledge dashboards, and has that helped or hurt? Join the conversation on ESM's Exchange: https://exchange.esm.institute
Tags: knowledge management, service management, reporting, ESM
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