Heirarchy of Knowledge

Procedural knowledge can be organized in a hierarchical structure to provide clarity and organization in terms of project management.

There are essentially five different levels.

1. Description of the end result desired - A broad description of the work to be performed.
2. Milestones - Breakdown of the end result into broad completion points.
3. Tasks - Breakdown of each milestone into general tasks defining intermediate deliverables.
4. Checklists - Define what needs to be included with the completion of each general task.
5. Documentation - Describe the requirements to complete each checklist item.

The relevant point relating to complex project management is this: Any type of project that is repeated within your organization should be formatted with this model in mind. The outline should be generic enough that you can apply it to any similar project, with the ability to fill in the outline with more detail pertaining to the project at hand. The benefits of this approach are two fold.

The most obvious benefit is to provide a framework for project completion. Your team won't be starting from scratch each time and will always have direction on what the organization standard is for finishing the project.

Perhaps less obvious is the benefit of innovation. By establishing this structure as a standard you have a framework that allows you to leave a note behind for yourself for the next time you come across a similar project. If the milestones, tasks, checklists, and documentation are all linked together and can be re-used there are distinct places to add information as you work through a particular project and discover something you may have missed in the initial process of outlining the procedure.