Summary
One of the hardest parts of building a knowledge management system is getting leadership buy-in and getting your team to use it properly. Join Kevin and Sarah to learn about their journey from passion-fueled side project to research-only management to fully funded knowledge/project/insights management initiatives (including an on-staff research librarian!). In this talk you will hear real-world examples of how they struggled to show how this was one of the most important things to be doing. They will share examples of how one team is leveraging the work to scale their research capabilities and provide rapid evaluation for the entire company. You will also hear about the accelerated growth and value that has come from connecting their system with the greater design org and even product management. Through all of this they will share actionable takeaways on how to show value early, what not to do, and how to use a system to amplify your teams’ work across the organization and help your Ops team scale.
Key Insights
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Transitioning from inefficient tracking methods to structured tools like Airtable increased productivity.
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Centralized processes allow for a clearer visibility of project priorities across teams.
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Participant recruitment has evolved into a more systematic process, improving efficiency by leveraging internal data.
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Incentive management was standardized through a dedicated platform, resolving inconsistencies and enhancing participant experience.
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The importance of a centralized knowledge management strategy for more impactful research outcomes.
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Automation has significantly reduced manual entry errors and improved workflow efficiency.
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Building out foundational components like rosters and prioritized lists fosters long-term scalability.
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Strategic partnerships within teams can drive improvements and facilitate operational efficiency.
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The necessity of flexibility in processes as organizations grow to accommodate multiple functions and needs.
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Consistent taxonomy in knowledge management helps prevent duplicated work and ensures effective referencing of insights.
Notable Quotes
"As they go on, the absurdity of it all hits you but they don't see it because they've been living like this for years."
"Broken processes aren't scalable, so I set out to solve or at least improve some of these challenges."
"We needed something custom built."
"Ultimately, that laid the foundation for the evolution of our organization's processes."
"Once the only way to get a project number was through Airtable, I was able to evolve the process further."
"We learned that this can't be a side project; it's too big of a task."
"If you want to get to the moon, you have to build a spaceship."
"What it took our team to scale was a combination of strategic partnerships and a lot of custom tooling."
"The human error can severely wreck what we had built."
"Ultimately, this person is a consistent voice that can have a consistent taxonomy."
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