2026-06-29
Prevent key-person dependency: use the daily report to reduce 'only they know'
The 'nothing works when they're off' kind of key-person dependency arises when know-how isn't recorded. How to leave daily judgments and ingenuity in the report and turn them into shared team knowledge.
Dependency arises from the absence of records
The state where 'work stops when they take a day off' arises when judgments and ingenuity live only in one person's head. If the method isn't recorded, no one can reproduce it when they're away. Dependency is a problem of missing records more than uneven ability.
Leave daily ingenuity in the report
Leave 'how I judged' and 'why I did so' in the report's C (reflection) and A (improvement) and the tacit knowledge in your head gradually becomes words. The accumulation of small daily records becomes a body of know-how others can read later.
Make it readable by the team
Don't keep the recorded know-how to one person; make it referenceable by the team. Share someone's stumble and its resolution and another person avoids repeating the same mistake or the same question. Records dissolve dependency only when shared.
The contribution of dissolving dependency can be evaluated too
Recording your methods and leaving them in a readable form is a real contribution to the team. Grounded in the facts left in reports, this 'work of creating shared knowledge' can be evaluated fairly alongside flashier results.
A tool for a culture of improvement and fair evaluation that implements these ideas.