Operations and planning
Keeping knowledge when someone leaves
An experienced colleague is leaving or retiring. With a structured interview and AI, you can capture the key knowledge before it's too late.
5 min read
When an experienced employee leaves, knowledge often disappears that was never written down: how a particular customer likes to be treated, which machine has a quirk, why something was once decided. With a structured approach and AI, you can hold on to much of it.
Start in good time
Don't wait for the last week. As soon as the departure is known, schedule a few one-hour conversations.
A structured interview
Have AI draw up a set of questions based on the role. Good questions include:
- Which tasks do you do that nobody else can?
- What would a new colleague get wrong in the first month?
- Which customers or suppliers need special handling?
- Where are the important documents and password managers, without naming the passwords themselves?
- Which past decisions does someone need to know about?
Record and process
Record the conversations with consent and have AI turn them into:
- An overview of tasks and who takes them over.
- Work instructions for the most important actions.
- A list of contacts and points to watch.
- Open questions for a follow-up conversation.
Have the departing colleague review everything.
A knowledge base for your business
Store the result in a fixed place so it doesn't vanish into an inbox. Your own collection of notes and documents that your AI assistant can also work with makes that knowledge easy to find later.
Watch out for
- No passwords or codes in the conversations or the write-ups.
- Customers' personal data only in a business environment.
Pause and reflect
Your answers stay only in this browser.
Prompt to copy
An experienced [role] is leaving in [x] weeks. Create an interview guide for three one-hour conversations to capture their knowledge: tasks nobody else can do, pitfalls for a new colleague, special customers and suppliers, where important documents are, past decisions. Never ask for passwords or codes.
