In 30 seconds

The person named in the org chart is not always the person who knows how the work really happens. Find the people who handle the exceptions and the ones others quietly ask for help.

Talk to them early. Their knowledge often decides whether the project is even possible.

Why this comes up

Official process knowledge tends to sit with managers and documents. Real, working knowledge tends to sit with the people who do the task every day, especially the difficult cases.

If you design a workflow using only the official version, you will miss the judgment that keeps it running.

How to find them

Follow the exceptions

Ask, "Who do people go to when something unusual happens?" The answer is often a single person who has become the informal owner of every hard case.

Ask who trained whom

The person who trains new joiners usually holds the clearest working model of the process.

Notice the interruptions

The colleague who gets messaged constantly is a bottleneck, and also a concentration of knowledge.

Look for the quiet expert

Long-tenured people sometimes "just know" things nobody has written down. A supplier's odd naming, a customer's special terms, a rule that has three exceptions. This is tacit knowledge, and it is often the most valuable input you have.

Talk to more than one person

One person's view is a starting point, not the whole picture. Different shifts, regions and roles can handle the same workflow differently. Compare a few perspectives when those differences would change the design.

Respect what you find

The person who "just knows" is not an obstacle to automate around. Their experience is expertise to translate into a system, with their help. Treating it as raw material to extract damages both the project and the relationship.

What this does not solve

Finding the right people does not guarantee they have time or feel safe sharing what they know. Explain why their knowledge matters and that the goal is better work, not replacing them.

Good enough to move on when

  • You have identified who handles the difficult cases.
  • You have spoken to someone who performs the work, not only manages it.
  • You know where important knowledge is undocumented.