{"id":548,"date":"2019-08-13T23:17:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-13T21:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/?p=548"},"modified":"2026-04-28T10:38:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T08:38:15","slug":"knowledgegaps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/knowledgegaps\/","title":{"rendered":"Knowledge Gaps"},"content":{"rendered":"

A knowledge gap in product development is the difference between current knowledge and the information required to successfully create, design, or launch a product<\/mark>. It represents “known unknowns” that, if left unfilled, lead to failed requirements, delays, and poor quality. Closing these gaps requires rapid learning cycles<\/span> and experiments.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Today, product developments very rarely start \u201con the green field\u201d. <\/span>Depending on the competence of the organization, certain things are already known and can be reused. <\/span>The P4 framework describes all unknown things as “Knowledge Gaps”. <\/span>The idea behind this is that product development can be considered complete once all knowledge gaps have been turned into <\/span><\/span>Usable Knowledge and documented Decisions<\/span><\/span><\/a> .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

(Note for process experts: Knowledge Gaps represent a new concept. They combine the idea of \u200b\u200b”hypotheses” from the Lean Startup<\/a> with the “knowledge-based” development of LPPD, the risk management of classic processes and the risk-based approach of the Unified Process<\/a>.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The Gap Map<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Against the background of a suitable representation of the “system under development” and its context, the <\/span><\/span>Knowledge Gap<\/span><\/span><\/strong> shows red sticky notes as open Knowledge Gaps for the associated elements and interfaces. <\/span>Green stickies visualize elements and interfaces that have not been changed or that have already been <\/span><\/span>decided<\/span><\/span> in the course of the product development based on <\/span>what has been learned<\/span><\/a> .<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

The following things can be read on the gap map:<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Areas with an accumulation of knowledge gaps require more attention<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  2. The sum of all weighted knowledge gaps results in the (remaining) effort of the product development! <\/span>The weighting or effort estimate is carried out by the implementing, interdisciplinary team, for example using <\/span><\/span>Planning Poker<\/span><\/span><\/a> .<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Knowledge gaps are backlog elements at a high altitude and are broken down into smaller, executable elements by refinement. <\/span>Knowledge gaps thus represent the content of the plan of product development.<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Knowledge gaps enable a simple risk management approach because they represent the product-related uncertainties. <\/span>(Attention: Organizational risk management is also necessary)<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n
  5. When all red post-its have been changed to green post-its, product development is finished<\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Due to the simplicity and clarity, a gap map is an excellent means of communication between the team and the management.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

    Gap Backlog und Gap Burndown<\/h2>\n

    The estimated effort values of the Knowledge gaps can be displayed as a burndown chart for proactive risk management and progress monitoring:<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/p>\n

    Knowledge Gap Tree aka Decision Tree<\/h2>\n

    [WPinclude]risk-impact[\/WPinclude]<\/p>\n

    .<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n

    Further suitable links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
    Events<\/td>\nRoles<\/td>\nGroups<\/td>\nArtifacts<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
    Cluster Planning<\/a><\/p>\n

    Cluster Sync<\/a><\/p>\n

    Cluster Backlog Refinement<\/a><\/p>\n

    Cluster Review<\/a><\/td>\n

    		.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Cluster Product Owner<\/a><\/p>\n

    Cluster System Engineer<\/a><\/p>\n

    .<\/span><\/p>\n

    Portfolio Owner<\/a><\/p>\n

    Portfolio Architect<\/a><\/td>\n

    		Team Product Owner Group<\/a><\/p>\n

    Team System Engineer Group<\/a><\/p>\n

    .<\/span><\/p>\n

    Cluster Product Owner Group<\/a><\/p>\n

    Cluster System Engineer Group<\/a><\/td>\n

    		Inspectable Results<\/a><\/p>\n

    Team DoD<\/a><\/p>\n

    .<\/span><\/p>\n

    Usable Knowledge<\/a> & System Increment<\/a><\/p>\n

    Cluster DoD<\/a><\/p>\n

    .<\/span><\/p>\n

    Systems & Applications<\/a><\/p>\n

    System Platforms & Variants<\/a><\/p>\n

    Organisation DoD<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

    \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A knowledge gap in product development is the difference between current knowledge and the information required to successfully create, design, or launch a product. It represents “known unknowns” that, if left unfilled, lead to failed requirements, delays, and poor quality. Closing these gaps requires rapid learning cycles and experiments. Today, product developments very rarely start…","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,22],"tags":[439,523,557],"translation":{"provider":"WPGlobus","version":"2.10.10","language":"en","enabled_languages":["de","en"],"languages":{"de":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false},"en":{"title":true,"content":true,"excerpt":false}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":590,"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548\/revisions\/590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/p4dev.hardscrum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}