How to Transform an Insights Repository into a Successful Repository

We previously discussed ensuring the quality of an insights repository by adhering to several key principles: insights should be agreed upon, add value (sensitivity metrics can be included), and be practical. But how do we ensure that the repository will be a living one, updated at the end of every experience and consolidating all the new knowledge created?

1. First, build the initial content core in the repository. Several processes can support the accumulation and collection of insights:

   1. Investigation and lessons learned extraction - conducting investigations either following an event or as part of routine activity, and documenting the lessons in the insights repository.

   2. Documentation templates - in which a systematic collection of facts takes place as a prepared foundation for extracting lessons. It is recommended to dedicate a special area in the template for formulating the lessons accumulated from the specific activity documented in the template.

   3. Conducting team discussions in which employees and their direct managers participate after every important activity. Within the discussion, brainstorming will be conducted, guided by the following questions: How can we avoid the mistakes we made in the past? What are the successes we want to replicate and how?

   4. Extracting insights collected during work unrelated to any specific activity - reflections, ideas, patents, and things discovered along the way, and accumulated among employees during their routine activities.

2. Now, a process must be performed to determine the characteristics that will be attached to the insights. The characteristics help us generalize the insights to similar situations and enable convenient and focused retrieval of information. Therefore, the process of defining characteristics must be qualitative and accurate. We must define together with end users what questions they will ask themselves when coming to "consult" the repository and how they will search for the information they need. This joint definition of the information search process will help us identify the characteristics and associate them with the relevant insights. In this context, it's important to remember! A successful insight can be generalized to as many situations as possible, and therefore, a few characteristics attached to an insight are not a bad sign - on the contrary! Several characteristics indicate the strength of the insight and the potential for generalizing it broadly to other situations.

3. After having an initial content core, secondary processing of existing insights in the repository can be performed. The purpose of secondary processing is to characterize critical topics addressed in the insights, ensuring adequate representation of insights in every topic characterized as critical. Several techniques can support this process:

   1. The insights should be examined to identify critical content topics.

   2. Care should be taken that in the next investigations that will take place, there will be reference to each of the characterized topics.

   3. Documentation templates can be updated, and references to each topic can be incorporated into them in the form of questions. The purpose of the questions is to stimulate thinking toward extracting lessons. For example, suppose we found that the critical topics in the repository relate to the planning stage and the operational stage. In that case, we can weave questions into the template that stimulate thinking about them, such as: Was the technique chosen for the activity appropriate? Or was the coordination between the parties successful?

   4. A topical division can be made in the template in the lessons area. If we continue with the example mentioned above, we can divide the lessons area in the template into insights related to planning and insights related to operations. This way, we will ensure that we have a constant source of knowledge to fill the repository, which contains representations for all critical knowledge topics.

   5. Finally, consideration can be given to whether to add the critical characteristics we defined as part of the secondary processing to the characteristics we initially defined - it's possible that end users would be happy to retrieve information using these characteristics as well.

Important! A living repository is not a static repository but an evolving one. It's essential to maintain frequent updates, monitor the type of knowledge accumulated, and adapt it as much as possible to the knowledge needs of end-users.

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Want to know more about lesson learned?

Here are some articles you might find interesting:

• Some Insights About Insights

• Integrated Methodology for Lessons Learned

• Cross-Organizational Learning Circles - The Cherry on Top