# Find critical knowledge that lives only in people's heads

Audits where your team depends on one person's undocumented know-how, ranks the business risk, and plans how to capture it.

- Topic: Projects & Operations
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Advanced
- Tags: Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/find-critical-knowledge-that-lives-only-in-people-s-heads

## Prompt

```text
Help me find knowledge in my team that isn't written down and the risk it creates.

**Team and its main processes or services:** [LIST]
**People and what they are known for:** [e.g. "Priya - the only one who can run the month-end reconciliation macro"]
**What's documented today:** [LIST or "very little"]
**Known pain points:** [e.g. "work stops when Sam is on leave", "new hires take 6 months to ramp up"]
**Upcoming changes:** [retirements, departures, reorgs, system changes]

Steps:
1. For each process, ask: who is the go-to person, what would break if they left tomorrow, and what is documented?
2. Look for warning signs: one person handles all exceptions, steps done "from memory", workarounds, undocumented vendor or client relationships, judgment calls with no written rules, passwords or access held by one person.

Return:
1. **Knowledge risk register:** | Knowledge area | Who holds it | Documented? (yes / partly / no) | Impact if lost | Likelihood of loss | Risk rating | Capture method |
2. **Top 5 risks** with a plain explanation of the business impact.
3. **Capture plan** - for each top risk: method (shadowing, recorded walkthrough, interview, written runbook, decision log), owner, and deadline.
4. **Interview questions** to draw out the hidden knowledge from each expert.
5. **Prevention** - habits that stop this from building up again (rotation, backups, documentation as part of done).

Treat this as a business continuity exercise, not a judgment of the people involved. Never write down passwords; record where access is managed instead.
```

## What to fill in

- LIST
- LIST or "very little"
- retirements, departures, reorgs, system changes

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.