Knowledge management strategy: making the wiki the source of truth
Most wikis die the same way — too many half-written pages, no owners, search that returns garbage. Here's the strategy: structure, ownership, freshness, and…
- Three layers: source of truth (policy), how-we-work (process), reference (FAQ + onboarding).
- Every page has a named owner + review date. Unowned = decoration.
- Stale pages get auto-flagged at 6 months; archived at 12 if not refreshed.
- Measure search success rate, not page count.
Knowledge management isn't a tool problem — it's a discipline problem. The best wiki, unmaintained, is worse than no wiki at all because people stop trusting search results.
Three layers
| Layer | Examples | Update cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Source of truth | Policy, comp bands, benefits, leveling rubric | Quarterly review |
| How we work | Onboarding paths, process docs, runbooks | Twice a year |
| Reference | FAQs, glossary, links, decisions archive | On change |
Ownership + freshness
- Every page has a named owner (person, not team).
- Every page has a 'last reviewed' date.
- Auto-flag pages unedited > 6 months.
- Auto-archive flagged pages after 12 months if not refreshed.
- Quarterly 'wiki gardening' day — 2 hours per team.
Search that works
- Page titles are search queries — 'How to request PTO', not 'PTO Policy v3.2'.
- First paragraph answers the question. Detail goes below.
- Consistent tagging (a small taxonomy beats a large free-for-all).
- Promote 'top hits' on the home page based on actual search volume.
What good looks like
- Search success rate >70% (user found something they clicked).
- Edit-to-stale ratio: more edits than newly-flagged-stale pages each month.
- <5% duplicate-content rate for top 50 topics.
- New-hire feedback: 'I found what I needed' >80%.
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