Organizational Memory LO4761

rachel@ontos.com
Wed, 10 Jan 1996 10:59:41 -0500 (EST)

Late last evening I was hearing about production quality control problems
in a small engineering firm. While there has been ongoing effort to
document production processes, not all have been completed. There remain
certain processes that have been passed down from "generation" to
"generation" of new hires without the benefit of process documentation.
Not surprisingly, the process has changed somewhat as it was passed down,
and not to the good!

Scott Lefton (slefton@world.std.com) expressed this situation succinctly
as

"We've got to kill oral tradition before oral tradition kills us."

I thought that some of you who may be struggling with organizational
memory, knowledge bases, and the like, would appreciate the sentiment!

--
Rachel Silber
rachel@ontos.com