The Knowledge Domain Owner Role

A key role in a knowledge managing organisation is that of the Knowledge Domain Owner (KDO). In simple terms, this is about saying there are critical knowledge domains or areas in the organisation that need to be actively owned and maintained as such. It’s all built on the underlying foundation that what we know is a valued organisational asset.

The KDO in many cases already exists; often the individual will be a Head of Department, so it’s a case of specifying knowledge-specific aspects more clearly. The KDO may delegate aspects of the role and the domain itself may be subdivided into sub-elements managed in the same way – but what is the KDO role about?

The two overall purposes are:

1/. Assign ownership to all areas of key knowledge within so that it is clear who is responsible for which area of critical competency on behalf of the organisation

2/. Ensure update and maintenance of standards, guidelines and processes within each area of the organisation’s critical competency, according to current best practices and learning from experience, from both within and outside the organisation


In practical terms, this means delivery of things like the following (non-exhaustive list):

a/. Monitoring the development of knowledge within their specific area of expertise;

Strategic Knowledge

Competitive Knowledge

Core Knowledge

Non-Core Knowledge

b/. Developing and publicising process guidance documents relating to their specific process area;

c/. Ensuring that guidance documentation is made available to all users through a wiki index and content;

d/. Accessing, validating and reviewing new lessons within the domain area that have been identified and documented

e/. Promoting peer assists and personal connections between projects and other activities to share tacit domain knowledge;

f/. Leading the Community of Practice for the knowledge domain (incl Blogging if required);

g/. Monitoring organizational performance in the application of the domain knowledge

h/. Maintaining an archive for the domain

This gives a flavour of what the KDO role is about, any comments most welcome thank you.