7) Sufficient to Solve

Simple and Appropriate for the Audience

Our goal is to capture what we learn in a way that is good enough to be findable and usable by the intended audience:

• In a way that is efficient for both the responder and requestor.
• In a simple structure or template.
• Issue described in a bullet list format that are still complete thoughts or ideas.

Complete sentences and paragraphs are not required because a bullet list is easier to author to create and easier for others to read.

Capture the experience with minimal effort and then let demand for that knowledge drive its improvement or expansion. This avoids spending time editing an article that may never be reused. The articles that are reused get additional attention because in KCS reuse is review.

Applied to Solve versus Evolve Loop

The concept of sufficient to solve applies in different ways to the Solve and Evolve Loops. In both scenarios, we are addressing the question of quality; how good is good enough?

• Solve Loop: applies to the knowledge article structure and writing style.
• Evolve Loop: applies to the content standard and process design; organizations frequently over-engineer their content standard and workflow model. 

There is a tendency to make things everything they could be instead of just what they need to be. Content standards and workflows should be as simple as possible and sufficient to get started.

The double loop process enables us to continuously improve the content standard and the workflow based on actual experience. Over time, the content standard and workflow will become exactly what they nee to be.

"Keep it simple" should be a regular test as the KCS Council defines the foundation elements for the KCS adoption, and remain as a test as the organization progresses on the KCS journey. Doing so will increase the organization’s ability to adopt and sustain KCS.