13 Signs Your Crew’s Know-How Is Walking Out the Door
Your best tech has worked the same line for 22 years. He just told you he’s retiring in three months. He always checks one particular bearing first. He has his own way of handling that one valve. None of it is written down anywhere. You’ll find out how much it mattered the next time that valve fails and he’s not around to call. Deloitte has flagged this exact risk: when experienced workers leave, the know-how they built often leaves with them.[1]
The retirement isn’t the problem. The problem is having no way to get what he knows out of his head and into a place the rest of the crew can find it.
13 Warning Signs to Watch For
Every crew has stuff they’ve figured out over the years that never made it into a manual: the tricks, the shortcuts that work, why things are done a certain way, and who to call when something goes sideways. If any of these sound familiar, too much of it is living in people’s heads.
1. Only One Tech Knows How to Fix a Certain Machine
What it looks like: Every time that machine goes down, the same person gets the call. Nobody else has done the repair, and there’s no written procedure.
Why it hurts: When that tech is on vacation, out sick, or gone for good, the rest of the crew is starting from scratch on a breakdown.
What to do: Get the procedure written down. Next time the repair comes up, have someone else do it while the experienced tech watches and checks the work.
2. Somebody Does It “Their Way” and Nobody Knows Why
What it looks like: A tech skips a step or does things in a different order than the procedure says, and it works better. But nobody ever wrote down why.
Why it hurts: The next person either follows the book and gets a worse result, or copies the shortcut without knowing when it’s safe to use.
What to do: When a different approach gets approved, write down the reason, not just the steps. Anything that touches safety or compliance still has to go through your normal approval process.
3. Your Most Experienced Tech Is Retiring and Nobody Has a Plan
What it looks like: Everyone knows the date. Nobody has sat down to figure out what needs to get captured before it arrives.
Why it hurts: A retirement you saw coming months ago ends up hitting as hard as someone quitting without notice.
What to do: Start the day you find out. Focus on the critical repairs, the problems that keep coming back, the machine-specific tricks, and anything you can’t figure out from the manual.
4. New Hires Learn by Following Someone Around and Nothing Else
What it looks like: Training means shadowing a senior tech for a few weeks. There’s nothing written down to look back at afterward.
Why it hurts: New hires only learn what happened to come up during those weeks. Whatever didn’t come up, they never learn.
What to do: Keep the shadowing, but back it up with written procedures and the repair history on each machine, so new techs have something to check when they’re on their own.
5. Work Orders Say What Was Done, Never Why
What it looks like: The closed work order says “replaced bearing.” It doesn’t say what was wrong, what caused it, or what to watch for next time.
Why it hurts: The next tech can see what you did but has to figure out the why all over again.
What to do: On anything that isn’t routine, add a line or two to the work order about what you found and why you fixed it the way you did.
6. Everybody Asks the Same Person the Same Question
What it looks like: Whenever a certain problem comes up, everyone goes straight to one person because they always know the answer.
Why it hurts: It works fine until that person isn’t there. Then you find out the answer was never written down anywhere.
What to do: If the same question keeps coming up, write the answer down somewhere the whole crew can find it.
7. Nobody Knows Why a PM Is Set the Way It Is
What it looks like: A preventive maintenance task has run on the same schedule for years. Nobody on the crew knows if it came from the manufacturer, a past failure, a regulation, or someone’s best guess.
Why it hurts: Nobody wants to touch the schedule because nobody knows what it’s based on, so it never gets adjusted even when it should.
What to do: Whenever you set or change a PM interval, note the reason. Stay within manufacturer, safety, and regulatory requirements.
8. A Machine Has a Quirk Only One Person Remembers
What it looks like: One machine needs a setting changed for a certain product run, or has some other quirk, and only one tech knows about it.
Why it hurts: Everyone else finds out the hard way, by trial and error.
What to do: Write approved quirks and workarounds into that machine’s record. If the “workaround” is really bypassing a safety device, fix the real problem instead.
9. Important Procedures Live in Someone’s Notebook or Phone
What it looks like: Key steps are written down, but only in one tech’s notebook, phone, or personal files.
Why it hurts: It’s written down, but nobody else can get to it. If that person is out or leaves, it’s gone.
What to do: Move critical procedures into a shared system the whole crew can get to and keep up to date.
10. Only One Person Knows Which Vendors to Call
What it looks like: One person knows which supplier actually has the part, which contractor does good work, and who to call when a service call goes wrong.
Why it hurts: When that person is out, you lose more than phone numbers. You lose years of knowing who to trust.
What to do: Keep vendor contacts, service history, and notes on who’s reliable in a shared system, not in one person’s phone.
11. There’s No Backup Plan If a Key Person Is Suddenly Gone
What it looks like: Nobody has asked what would happen if your most experienced tech didn’t show up tomorrow.
Why it hurts: You find the gaps after the person is already gone, when it’s too late to ask them.
What to do: Figure out which jobs only one person can do. For the most critical ones, cross-train someone, write it down, or line up backup coverage now.
12. Only One Person Remembers How a Recurring Problem Got Fixed
What it looks like: The same problem keeps coming back, and one person remembers what fixed it last time and why.
Why it hurts: Without that person, the crew burns time solving a problem that’s already been solved.
What to do: Record the history, the diagnosis, and the fix in the asset or work order record, so the next tech can look it up.
13. You Only Write Things Down When Someone Is Leaving
What it looks like: Capturing knowledge only happens as a last-minute scramble after someone gives notice.
Why it hurts: Every departure turns into a fire drill, and there’s never enough time to get the important stuff.
What to do: Make writing things down part of the everyday job: on work orders, during training, and when people come and go. Your CMMS software is a good home for maintenance knowledge. Safety, compliance, and engineering records stay in the systems that already govern them.
What to Capture First When You’re Short on Time
You can’t write down everything someone knows, especially with a deadline. Start with what would be hardest or most expensive to figure out again:
- Anything only one person can do or knows about
- “Their way” of doing a job, and why it works
- Machine quirks and approved workarounds that aren’t in the manual
- Why PM schedules and settings are set the way they are
- Which vendors and contractors to trust, and which to avoid
- Problems that keep coming back, and what fixed them
You don’t have to do it all at once. Just start before the next retirement or resignation turns it into an emergency.
Where a CMMS Fits In
A CMMS won’t capture everything a veteran tech knows. What it does is give the crew one place to keep maintenance knowledge, attached to the machines and jobs it belongs to, instead of scattered across notebooks, phones, and people’s memories.
With eWorkOrders, work orders, asset records, documents, and vendor information all live in one place the whole crew can get to:
- Work orders with the why: Techs can note what they found and why they fixed it that way, not just what they did.
- Asset records and documents: Procedures, manuals, and repair history stay with the machine they belong to.
- PM history: Schedules and the notes behind them stay on record, so the next person knows why they’re set the way they are.
- Vendor information: Supplier and contractor details live in a shared record, not one person’s phone.
- Reports: Maintenance history is there for whoever is on shift, not just whoever remembers it.
The point isn’t to cram everything into a CMMS. It’s to make the important stuff easy to write down, easy to find, and easy to pass on to the next tech.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much notice do you need to capture what someone knows?
More than you’ll get. That’s why you start the day you find out, not in the last two weeks. Even a few focused sit-downs can save knowledge you’d otherwise lose.
Isn’t it all in the manuals anyway?
No. The manual tells you how the machine is supposed to work. Your crew knows how it actually works: the quirks, the tricks, and who to call. The goal is to get the most important parts out of people’s heads and into a place everyone can reach.
Is losing some knowledge unavoidable?
Yes. You can’t bottle 20 years of experience. But you can figure out which knowledge would hurt the most to lose and make sure that part gets written down.
