Team Workload
Knowledge reuse
Choose what knowledge to keep, make it findable and current, and help colleagues reuse it safely in everyday work.
Knowledge reuse means making a useful answer, method or earlier piece of work available to the next person who needs it. Start with work the team repeatedly reconstructs. Give each reusable item a clear purpose, a findable place and an owner who can confirm whether it is current.
Choose what is worth keeping
Look at recurring questions, repeated tasks and requests to recreate earlier work. Ask what someone needed when they got stuck: a short answer, a sequence of checks, an example to adapt or the source behind an earlier instruction?
| Need | Useful form | What the reader needs to know |
|---|---|---|
| The same question keeps coming back | A concise answer | When it applies and who can confirm an exception |
| A task has easy-to-miss steps | A checklist | The inputs, important checks and finish point |
| A new document resembles earlier work | An example or template | What may be adapted and what needs checking again |
A one-off answer may belong only in its work record. Before sharing information about a customer, employee or restricted project more widely, check who is authorised to use it.
Types of reusable knowledge and their best formats
- Recurring question
- Concise answer with context and authority
- Task with missed steps
- Checklist with inputs, checks and finish point
- New document resembling earlier work
- Template or example with adaptation guidance
Make the current item recognisable
Use a title a colleague would search for and state the question or task near the top. Include its audience, the conditions under which it applies and the person who can resolve doubt.
Keep it in the team's agreed location. If an approved source governs the answer, identify that source so a summary is not mistaken for the authority.
When guidance changes, update the recognised item and mark earlier copies as superseded. Preserve any history the organisation needs to keep; clearing search results is not a reason to discard required records.
Describe items so they can be discovered
For research data, Deakin University's guidance uses the FAIR principles: Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable. Discovery is not just storing an item somewhere; people need enough description to recognise it and understand how it can be accessed and reused.
A catalogue record may describe a dataset without containing the data itself. Access arrangements vary: a repository may offer open access or provide metadata with access conditions or contact details. Check the record to understand what is available.
Key principles for discoverable and reusable knowledge
- Findable
- Metadata must be descriptive and searchable
- Accessible
- Access conditions clearly stated; may include open access or controlled access
- Interoperable
- Compatible with other systems and formats
- Reusable
- Licence and citation requirements clearly defined
Build reuse into the work
Capture an answer after the responsible person has checked it. Then ask a colleague unfamiliar with the case to find the entry and explain when they would use it. If they cannot, improve its title, context or placement.
Before starting similar work, search the agreed locations and inspect likely matches. An old proposal may offer a useful layout while its figures, approvals and customer commitments are unsuitable for a new job. Check the date, scope and underlying inputs before adapting it.
Use repositories as discovery points
Research Data Australia (RDA), managed by the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), is a national data discovery service. It indexes datasets from Australian universities and research organisations, but its records are metadata rather than the datasets themselves; they link to where the data is hosted.
Other Australian examples serve different purposes. data.gov.au provides Australian Government public data, the Australian Data Archive collects and preserves digital research data, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Data Archive holds Australian Indigenous research data. These distinctions can help a team choose a relevant starting point rather than treating every catalogue as interchangeable.
Some repositories focus on particular subject areas or types of material. The Australian Ocean Data Network covers ocean and marine data, the CSIRO Data Access Portal provides multidisciplinary research data and software, and PARADISEC covers endangered languages and cultural data from Pacific and regional areas. Deakin's guidance notes that many of these platforms also accept data deposits.
Check the conditions attached to reuse
Finding an item does not establish that every form of reuse is permitted. Check any stated access conditions, check the licence and comply with its conditions; acknowledge the source through proper citation.
Give maintenance an owner
Name who can change each item and what should trigger a review: a changed process, conflicting instructions, repeated questions or a failed attempt to use it. The review should decide whether to keep, correct, replace or retire the item. Give instructions with serious consequences more careful review.
When people cannot use an entry, ask where they looked and what they still had to verify. That shows whether the problem is missing content, a poor description, limited access or uncertain currency.
Pros and cons of reusing existing knowledge
- ProsSaves time, reduces errors, supports consistency and improves compliance with standards like the Information Management Standard (Australian Government)
- ConsRisk of using outdated, incorrect or restricted information if not properly maintained, reviewed or licensed
In this guide
- Recording an answer the team repeatedly needsTurn a repeated team question into a short, checked answer with clear scope, a useful location and an owner.
- Turning a repeated task into a practical checklistDefine the task, select the checks that matter, write clear actions and review the checklist against real work.
- Finding existing work before creating a new documentSearch by purpose, inspect likely matches and decide whether to reuse, update, adapt or start a document from scratch.
- Keeping reusable templates currentAssign a template owner, track change triggers, identify the current version and review the template against real work.
