On a typical school night in the 1980s, you might have found a kid slumped over a volume of the Encyclopedia Britannica . The 30-odd leather-clad books inspired countless children’s science reports and history essays. Each volume presented a slice of the world’s collective knowledge, alphabetically labeled from Accounting to Zoroastrianism.
Coincidentally, in 1984, United Artists released the hit movie, Red Dawn , in which Russia and Cuba invade the United States. The film was staggeringly jingoistic, even when seen through the polarized lens of the Cold War. My 13-year-old self fantasized about how I would defend the American way of life from a communist invasion, principally by burying the encyclopedias in the backyard for safekeeping. After all, who would remember how to do important things like build a dam after World War III? I was certain that river waters would stay at bay as long as I had page 440 of Macropaedia, Knowledge in Depth 5 (Conifer—Ear Diseases). Each volume was segmented according to topic, and each topic was divided into endless subtopics. You could spend an entire post-apocalyptic lifetime perusing its pages. In retrospect, why I thought the Russians would want a suburban Ohio kid’s encyclopedias —written in English, no less—is lost on me, but that did not keep me from daydreaming about protecting my Britannicas.
Even at a young age, we learn that information is valuable. We also learn that acquiring it often proves be a challenge. Knowledge takes time and effort. As we grow older and our professional lives become more demanding, we sometimes reach for a quick solution rather than a well-thought-out one. Like sleepy-eyed schoolchildren trying to finish their homework, we sacrifice knowledge in order to save time.
Knowledge Mapping
Speed and knowledge are mortal enemies; yet, this standoff preserves a balance in our professional world. Slow-moving companies risk being overtaken by their faster challengers; unknowledgeable companies risk being overtaken by their smarter competitors. We reach a detente when we quickly map the boundaries of our understanding.
Knowledge mapping is a deceptively simple technique. We tackle large goals by breaking them down into smaller parts.
Let us imagine we work at a library. Our goal is to “assist library visitors.” To create a knowledge map, we start by clarifying the nouns within our goal.
- Member
- Non-member
As you might expect, we can break each topic down further.
- Member
- - Active
- - Expired
- - Provisional
- Non-member
- - Prospective
- - Guests
- Staff member
- - Librarian
- - Customer service
- - Public relations
- - Accounting
- - Network administration
- - Security
Now, we look for any verbs within a goal and ask yourself what each means. The verb “assist” in the context of a library might mean the following:
- Locate a book
- Locate a DVD
- Find a place to eat nearby
- Validate parking
We now have a list of topics to break down into subtopics. Again, describing each verb uncovers additional meaning:
- Locate a book
- - Find by book title
- - Find by author name
- - Find by ISBN
- Locate a DVD
- - Find by DVD title
- - Find by release date
- - Find by genre
- Find a place to eat nearby
- - Display list of restaurants
- - Display cafeteria hours
- - Display vending machine locations
- Validate parking
- - Stamp parking ticket
With another pass, we can further refine each sub-subtopic:
- Locate a book
- - Find by book title
- - Find by author name
- - Find by ISBN
- - - Refer ISBN inquiries to customer service desk
- Locate a DVD
- - Find by DVD title
- - Find by release date
- - Find by genre
- Find a place to eat nearby
- - Display list of restaurants
- - - Display location on map
- - - Display phone numbers of local cab companies
- - Display cafeteria hours
- - - Display walking directions to cafeteria
- - - - Request wheelchair assistance
- - Display vending machine locations
- - - Display walking directions to vending machines
- - - - Request wheelchair assistance
- Validate parking
- - Stamp parking ticket
Although this example may look like a simple outline, it serves to describe knowledge, not content. Knowledge maps discover correlations that were not previously apparent. Consider the following:
- 1.
Find a book by title , author name, and ISBN
- 2.
Find a DVD by title, release date, and genre
- 3.
Display a list of restaurants and their locations
- 4.
Display vending machine locations
- 5.
Display phone numbers of local cab companies
- 6.
Request wheelchair assistance to cafeteria and vending machines
- 7.
Display cafeteria hours
- 8.
Stamp parking ticket
We transform the large goal of “Assist library visitors” into specific user tasks and stories.
Knowledge maps preserve the balance between speed and knowledge by recasting a single large goal into many smaller ones. Small goals form the basis of modern development methodologies, such as Agile and Lean. Goals become more specific, practicable, and achievable. A little knowledge can be a wonderful thing.
Key Takeaways
Knowledge mapping breaks large topic areas into smaller, more manageable goals.
Knowledge maps do not describe content.
Knowledge maps discover correlations between goals.
Questions to Ask Yourself
How can I split the primary goal into increasing smaller sub-goals?
Have I accounted for every known goal within an experience?
What is the smallest meaningful data point to record?