Definition
Tacit knowledge is experience-based understanding a person holds but has not (and often cannot easily) written down: the feel for a machine's normal sound, the judgment behind why one diagnostic path is tried before another. It is the specific category of unwritten knowledge that knowledge-transfer efforts specifically target, since it does not move automatically through documentation alone.
Key facts
- Unwritten by definition: experience-based judgment and intuition rather than a documented procedure.
- Often invisible even to the person holding it, since it feels like "just knowing" rather than a discrete fact.
- The specific type of knowledge that documentation alone cannot capture, which is why mentoring and shadowing matter for knowledge transfer.
- A significant organizational risk when concentrated in a small number of experienced individuals nearing retirement.
What information does Tacit knowledge preserve?
Tacit knowledge is the experience-based understanding a skilled technician develops over years (recognizing when a normal-sounding machine is actually slightly off, sensing which of several plausible causes is most likely before formal testing confirms it) that is difficult to fully express in a written procedure.
How do maintenance teams use Tacit knowledge?
Because tacit knowledge cannot be fully captured by writing a document, knowledge transfer efforts specifically targeting it rely on different methods (mentoring, shadowing, working alongside an experienced person) rather than relying on documentation alone to move it from one person to another.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Which experience-based knowledge is tied to a person and not explicitly documented?
Tacit knowledge: understanding a person has developed through experience but has not written down, which knowledge-transfer efforts specifically target through mentoring and shadowing rather than documentation alone.
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