Knowledge Systems at Scale

Building a Governed, Scalable Product & Design Knowledge Ecosystem

Context

As the Product organization grew, knowledge lived everywhere—SharePoint, Loop, documents, inboxes, and tribal memory. Teams spent unnecessary time searching for information, recreating artifacts, or relying on individuals to know where things lived.

There was no shared information architecture, no consistent templates, and no clear ownership model for keeping knowledge up to date..

Problem

  • Knowledge was fragmented and difficult to discover

  • Documentation quality and structure varied widely

  • Ownership and update responsibility were unclear

  • Teams relied on people rather than systems to find information

Without a scalable approach, knowledge quickly became outdated or unused.

My Role

Design Program Manager / Design Operations Lead (Knowledge Systems)

I owned the strategy and execution for building a centralized, governed knowledge system that could scale across Product, Design, and Research. This included defining information architecture, templates, governance, and contribution models—while ensuring teams could actually adopt and maintain the system.

What I Built

Information Architecture & Navigation Model

I designed a clear, role-aware information architecture that organized content into intuitive hubs and sub-sites. Navigation was structured to reflect how teams actually work, not how tools are organized.

A clear information architecture reduced cognitive load and improved findability.

Reusable Page Templates

To create consistency and reduce friction, I developed standardized page templates for common content types such as:

  • Home and overview pages

  • Team and discipline pages

  • Knowledge and resource hubs

  • Project and initiative pages

These templates helped teams focus on content quality rather than structure.

Governance & Ownership Model

To ensure sustainability, I defined a governance model that clarified:

  • Page ownership and accountability

  • Metadata and tagging standards

  • Update cadence and content freshness expectations

  • Contribution and review workflows

This shifted documentation from “set and forget” to a maintained system.

Impact

Reduced time spent searching for product and design information

  • Improved consistency and clarity across documentation

  • Enabled scalable contributions without central bottlenecks

  • Created a foundation for AI-powered knowledge discovery and automation

Most importantly, knowledge became a shared asset, not an individual responsibility.

What I’d Do Next

With more time, I would:

  • Automate content freshness checks and reminders

  • Expand metadata-driven discovery and recommendations

  • Deepen AI integration for contextual knowledge access

Tools & Methods

Information architecture · Knowledge governance · Template systems · SharePoint & Loop · Cross-functional enablement · Documentation strategy