
72 • Lean Product Development: Make it Work!
WHAT IS REUSABLE KNOWLEDGE?
Reusable knowledge is explicit knowledge that one person has created
and captured in one situation so that another person may apply the
knowledge in a similar situation. e knowledge must be explicit—
that is, it must be written down—so that the presence of the person
who created the knowledge is not required. Tacit knowledge—expe-
rience-based knowledge—is usually not directly reusable.
Here are some examples of documents that capture reusable
knowledge in product development:
• Technical whitepapers and briengs
• Knowledge Briefs
• Templates
• Checklists
• Pla