Overcoming IT Complexity

Chapter 4. Managing Knowledge

Knowledge management is the process of coordinating and managing the information required to maintain and operate your applications, including configuration, secrets, and documentation. Effective knowledge management involves making sure this information is in as uniform and consistent a format as possible, available as needed to everyone responsible. Knowledge management is also about reducing the amount of knowledge individuals need to operate and maintain a system. It helps ensure that everyone at the organization—from new employees to seasoned practitioners—is as productive as possible.

Understanding and maintaining complex systems tends to require a significant diversity of knowledge and expertise. The more complex a system is, the more knowledge is required to maintain it. Furthermore, the cost and difficulty of building and maintaining a system are directly proportional to the knowledge required to build and maintain it. Figure 4-1 shows this relationship.

Generally speaking, the more knowledge a system requires, the harder it is to maintain that knowledge and the more complex the system is.

Understanding a system whose operation and maintenance require diverse expertise also involves a high cognitive load. Cognitive load is a measure of the amount of information someone can hold in their working memory at one time. The more unique the knowledge requirements are, the more context you must keep within your mind in order to understand them, and ...