Knowledge transfer process from the Engineer perspective

I learned that Knowledge Transfer is vital when I joined a project in a totally new domain. I started working with a colleague knowledge-holder who had no documentation, and all the information was stored in his head. My colleague was uninterested in the knowledge transfer, so I had a new challenge. The first few sessions were missing structure and were quite chaotic. Additionally, it was not clear what kind of knowledge and how much I had to receive. However, I remained committed to learning and eventually created a structured approach to the knowledge transfer sessions. My colleague eventually warmed up to the idea, and it was a valuable learning experience for both of us. This experience highlighted the importance of documentation and structured knowledge transfer processes, and I started using these principles in my work for all the following projects.

At that moment, I needed a plan and decided to search for information with a similar topic to organize my sessions.
Now, I want to share my knowledge and practical experience in transferring knowledge from one engineer to another.

What is Knowledge Transfer, and why is it important?

Knowledge transfer is a systematic process for capturing critical knowledge from senior members to share or distribute their knowledge and skills to other employees. There are many reasons to capture knowledge, like onboarding new hires, transferring the finished project to support, expanding knowledge within a team or company, etc. All of these reasons require a particular volume of knowledge. How much knowledge is needed and what kind of knowledge is needed depends on the goals of the desired outcome.

Transferred knowledge ultimately enhances the company’s competitiveness and avoids bottlenecks when the only person with critical knowledge on projects becomes unavailable, and the whole process hangs.

Knowledge Transfer plan and learning styles

Knowledge transfer should not be done on an ad hoc basis, it must be planned properly. This includes deciding what to keep and how to store and share information.

The different learning styles are fundamental so it is important to consider them when developing a knowledge transfer plan. Visual learners prefer pictures and diagrams. So videos, webinars, and infographics will become useful data transfer tools. Auditory learners prefer to listen to information, so audio lectures are an obvious means of communication. Other employees will be reading and writing learners who naturally prefer quizzes, checklists, and wikis. Finally, kinesthetic learners prefer to acquire knowledge through simulations, role plays, and mentoring.

The knowledge transfer plan should take into account these different learning styles and offer different ways to transfer the information.
I understand that this part is easier to say than do, and people perceive and transmit information differently, so I want to consider several ways in which knowledge can be organized:

Documentation. Project documentation is the most efficient way to communicate knowledge between team members. The biggest problem with documentation is that it becomes outdated super-fast. Team members not only need to create it but also keep it updated.

Mentoring. A mentor assigned to an intern is usually a senior team member who has not only deep experience in the tools and the specifics of the project but also has a solid mental ability to teach, explain, and motivate. Mentors assign practical tasks and give detailed feedback and recommendations after each stage.

Paired work (pair testing or programming). Both can work on the same machine or share the screen, but the important part is giving feedback, asking questions, taking notes, and making observations. This approach is a great way to achieve knowledge sharing.

Team code reviews. Team members check the code written by colleagues for any logical errors and mistakes and its compliance with the requirements. This method helps less experienced team members learn the code base, new techniques, and technologies. The code review stimulates communication around the structure of code, style, and architecture as a natural part of the working day, this also increases the quality of the project as more people are familiar with the code base. Code reviews are a pretty effective way to distribute project-specific knowledge within the team.

Q&A sessions. Questions are the interactive element of your knowledge transfer process. Such sessions allow filling gaps and drawing new ideas for topics yet to be covered in the plan. Suppose the team members are distributed in various locations, making face-to-face interaction impossible. In that case, online screen-sharing, live chat, email, and on-call support are handy ways to answer any questions that may come up during the knowledge transfer period. Such sessions could be recorded and re-played later if needed.

Simulation. Technology has allowed simulation to become a primary and effective way of knowledge transfer. Depending on the project specifics, videos and training courses can show specific functions and tasks. This is a great way to provide a “hands-on” experience in a controlled environment.

The right questions when creating a plan

What kind of knowledge should be accumulated?
Why are you interested in collecting this knowledge (your goal)?
Who is involved in knowledge sharing?
How and in which form will the knowledge be delivered to the end user?
When will the knowledge transfer meetings take place, and how will they be coordinated with the general schedule?
How will you know you have achieved your goals?
How will you measure efforts?

The steps in the Knowledge Transfer implementation

Who are the customers, and what are their goals? Before creating your plan, you must know what your customers want and why. It is very important to learn about the client, their needs, business goals, and why they decided to develop a specific application.

This type of information can be easily found on the company’s website or the Internet, on the company’s internal resources (if available), by communicating with the company’s representative or product owner, etc.

Become familiar with the product. Getting to know the product is an essential part of knowledge transfer. It can take place in different ways, depending on whether it is already in development or just planned.

If the product is in the planning stage, it is best to begin with the on-site kick-off meeting with the customer and gather all the necessary information in direct work mode.

When the product is already under development or the first version is in the market, more options are available, such as ad-hoc exploration, demos, presentations, training sessions, pair work, etc.

Pay attention to the first impression of the product. It is a good practice to start learning about the product informally, without preparing documentation and expecting results, to understand whether the product is user-friendly, has intuitive navigation and UI, etc. Then, create a list of the shortcomings, questions, and improvements for further discussion with the team.

If this is an IoT project or uses any devices for interaction, remember to ask for a list of these devices and their manuals.

At this stage, it makes sense to request access to project and testing documentation, such as:

• Solution architecture
• System requirements
• Functional requirements
• User guides
• Test plan
• Test cases
• Use cases
• Checklists
• Test data (users and accounts, data for registration, additional specific data)
• Etc.

It will allow you to be more familiar with the application, identify the gaps, and align them with the product owner or project manager.

The product environments and accounts. The easiest way to familiarize yourself with a product or application is to find it in the market and start using or installing it. What if the application is at the development stage or only in the plans?

Ask if there are any configured environments. Usually, environments look like DEV, QA, Staging, and Production. Of course, people use different configurations for different kinds of projects. Are they publicly available or just internally? Do you need a VPN to connect?

Also, it would be best if you thought about all kinds of accounts and access:

• Access to project repository if you are going to deploy apps locally
• Environment user accounts
• Creating automated scripts for environment deployment or creating system images
• Links for CI/CD

Information systems. Every project has a set of systems and tools, for example:

• Task and bug tracking system
• Knowledge base system (wiki)/information portal
• The monitoring system (logs, analytics)

Who are the team? In large companies, a new project is often equal to a new team, and meeting with the team is also part of the knowledge transfer ritual. If there is a corporate portal with employee profiles, check out your team members’ professional skills and achievements and any other information you can get.

What can be useful:

• List of team members
• Hierarchy and responsibilities, reporting
• Remote team members (pay attention to time zone)

Processes within the project. The processes can be very different depending on the project size and the amount of work for each team. There is no single and universal solution for all cases, so it is crucial to understand which kinds of processes already exist:

• Application development life cycle (e.g. agile, waterfall or any other model)
• Project management process (e.g. project planning, tracking, control, reporting, etc.)
• Test process (e.g. testing activities, test automation, etc.)
• Delivery process (CI/CD workflows)
• Release flow

Process evaluation. Measuring knowledge transfer success can be challenging. It can work as a one-time process with a single team, but for a continuous approach, a designated person (e.g., a specialty manager) must organize the team, manage the process, and document it properly.

The approach to evaluating knowledge transfer results may vary depending on the volume, complexity, and importance of the knowledge and skills transferred and the number of participants involved.

The primary goal is to assess the knowledge transfer’s effectiveness and whether it met its objectives. It’s also crucial to evaluate the process quality, identifying gaps or changes in data presentation. Review the task timelines to ensure they align with the plan and verify that the recipient can independently apply the acquired knowledge and skills in practice.

At various stages, different methods can be used to assess progress and improvement, such as evaluating after each session, upon reaching specific milestones, or after completing a process.

Feedback is a valuable tool that can be used continuously throughout the knowledge acquisition process. It can be given after each session or after a specific set of information to enhance the quality of the presentation.

Questionnaires and quizzes are quick to set up and easy to manage, allowing participants to interactively answer questions at any time. This helps maintain their knowledge levels, even over extended periods.

Exercises. Solving real problems is an excellent way to try out the knowledge gained in practice and for the one who evaluates knowledge, results will tell which nuances need to be worked out.

Useful Tools

As we have already discovered, knowledge transfer is not limited to documentation or oral transmission. Thus, different applications can be used to transfer information depending on the content type and method.
Knowledge base system (wiki)/information portal: Confluence, JIRA, Google docs, etc.
Presentation: Google Slides, Prezi, Microsoft PowerPoint, etc.
Screenshoter/screen recorder: Monosnap, Greenshot, Jing, etc.
Мind maps and diagrams: XMind, Lucidchart, Coggle, Draw.io, etc.
Mockups and UI Prototyping Tool: Moqups, InVision, etc.
Screen Sharer: TeamViewer, Skype, Slack, Vysor, etc.
Cloud Storage: Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.
Task tracker: JIRA, Asana, ADO, Pivotal, Trello, etc.

Conclusion

Knowledge transfer is not the easiest task that can be completed as soon as possible. It requires careful preparation, setting goals, and selecting executors.

I’ve outlined some key points to help gather thoughts and create an action plan, but each situation requires determining the most effective method for knowledge transfer within your organization or project. The key to success lies in finding the right format for your team. While studying documentation, watching online courses, and receiving instructions via email are useful, the most effective approach is face-to-face interaction, supported by well-established communication and continuous feedback.

A well-designed knowledge transfer system can streamline routine operations, eliminate chaos in the documentation and thought processes, and promote proper habits in organizing documents, test data, and more. Without a clear strategy, the team may spend excessive time becoming productive and delivering results.

All team members need a place where they can easily find and share information, rather than keeping everything in their heads. This approach also helps standardize processes within the organization, making everything consistent.