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Technique 2.2: Flag it or Fix it
Within the culture of KCS, people take responsibility for what they see in the knowledge base. Apply the campsite rule: leave knowledge as good or better than you found it. Trained responders can clean up minor problems in the moment, or add information that enriches and evolves the KCS article.
Flag It or Fix It Workflow
We are responsible for the quality and accuracy of the articles we interact with. If we see something we think is wrong or doesn't make sense, we need to take one of two actions: flag it or fix it. The flag it or fix it technique applies to both content standard violations and technical accuracy or completeness.
- Flag It: If we are not confident or we aren't trained to make the update, we flag it.
- KCS articles that are flagged need to trigger a workflow that will get the attention of a subject matter expert. These modifications, based on real usage (demand), lead to continuous knowledge base improvement.
- Fix It: If we are confident and we are trained to make the update, we fix it.
Issue or symptom statements in the article belong to the requestor. When we improve existing articles, we want to add to the issue statements - not rewrite, edit or delete what is already part of the article. We have to assume that, no matter how unusual it appears, the statements represent how the requestor perceived or experienced the issue. This is what makes the articles findable by others who are likely to have a similar perception of the issue.
Fix It versus New Article
When is a new KCS article justified? KCS article creation should occur when a unique resolution is required to address an issue within a specific environment and such an article does not exist in the knowledge base or in another searchable, maintained repository (see Track Reuse). While the Content Standard should provide some guiding criteria, as with many things in the KCS methodology, this decision requires judgment.
Generally, there should be one KCS article per resolution and cause. Multiple resolutions for different environments and the same issue or symptom should not be in the same article. However, this is not an absolute rule, and the criteria should be developed based on experience in the environment. KCS articles will evolve through use and sometimes merge or split as additional experience is gained.
Decisions should be based on what is best or clearest for the intended audience of the article: what will make the most sense to them?