Tacit knowledge is what people know and use without putting it into words. It lives in practiced movements, in a feel for a machine, and in decisions someone makes because they have seen similar cases many times before. Philosopher Michael Polanyi summed it up in 1966: we know more than we can tell.
Tacit vs. explicit knowledge
Explicit knowledge is written down or easy to write down, such as an inspection instruction or a process description. Tacit knowledge is missing from those documents because it feels obvious to the person who has it. Part of it can be put into words by asking the right questions; another part can only be passed on by showing and practicing.
Two examples
- Manufacturing: A welder hears from the sound that a seam will not hold, before any test shows it.
- Customer service: An account manager knows which customers need a complaint resolved by phone right away, because a ticket would escalate.
Capturing tacit knowledge
The right method depends on where the knowledge sits: in the hands, in decisions, or across several people. A decision path is laid out in How to capture tacit knowledge. The part that sits in decisions and exceptions is often called experiential knowledge; see also knowledge preservation.