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Subject:Re: Knowledge Bases -- What are they, really? From:Shari Punyon <sharipunyon -at- gmail -dot- com> To:Emoto <emoto1 -at- gmail -dot- com> Date:Thu, 29 Oct 2020 21:09:09 -0400
I don't think it is cynical to say that management is generally looking for
the next shiny thing that means that information is going to magically
generate itself, keep itself up to date and be infinitely findable. The key
is to figure out what they actually *need* and the best way to deliver it.
Oh, and to convince them that calling it a KB isn't going to mean that
their engineers are going to suddenly be able to write excellent
documentation with no template or guidance.
Sorry, I guess I mean that my cynicism puts yours to shame.
On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 4:31 PM Emoto <emoto1 -at- gmail -dot- com> wrote:
> On Thu, Oct 29, 2020 at 8:36 AM Chris Despopoulos
> <despopoulos_chriss -at- yahoo -dot- com> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all... I've not worried about knowledge bases for some time now. I
> found myself in a conversation where a person said effectively, "We don't
> want documentation, we want a knowledge base." That got me thinking...
> Given today's world of topic-oriented writing, reuse, single sourcing,
> etc... What's the difference? Without getting into months of research,
> I'm afraid I won't be able to answer that! Anybody care to chime in?
>
> Warning: The opinion expressed below may contain cynicism.
>
> It has been my experience that those wanting a knowledge base are
> doing so because "oooh! look! shiny!" It turns out that they don't
> know what it is that they are asking for, but are pretty darn sure
> they have to have one. That is, until presented with what it might
> cost to convert existing documentation into something that someone
> might call a knowledge base. There is no free lunch.
>
> Bob
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