Taming Expert Knowledge is Essential

There is a tendency of experts to build closed knowledge sets over their respective areas of responsibility. This means to build complicated calculations with high input demands. They simply cannot make less quality job, they have to deliver perfect result. Nobody understands deeply what they do. All their work is a mystery and highly complicated.

Perfect result does not necessary mean to know a lot from overall picture. Perfect result means usually perfect localization of information, explaining in details and in cent what is going on in their area.

Local Expert Guru means he is extremely detailed in his calculations and what he has to deliver. He also knows a lot about related processes. 

This generated local knowledge is similar to  - raise of “knowledge mountain” in company. It exist in the organization, demands lot of input data, requires standardized related processes and similar.

How is it related with information systems? This knowledge mountains are gigantic information consumers. As consumers they are a true challenge when production systems are being changed. They can be a real problem especially because of they demand. This mountains is becoming the problem. Especially if the local guru is hostile to information changes. Do not touch my organization niche where I live like a king.

Managers and IT experts have two basic choices: to take their input requirements as is and to choke information systems with customization or to reevaluate their knowledge piece by piece. Reevaluation means to go in details but also having on mind what is the value add to final business result of all this calculations. Is the involved energy really worthy?

You would be surprised how many times it comes out that those knowledge mountains are made with playing cards or are built with wrong usage of company energy. But not all the time. Sometimes they are really local gurus with real needs and they need to be as they are.