Every scientific organization builds up a lot of valuable knowledge over time. Experimental results, protocols, failed approaches that could save the next person six months of dead ends. The problem is that as teams grow, that knowledge tends to scatter. It ends up in an ELN one team uses, a shared drive another team prefers, and the notebook of a researcher who left in March.

Nobody decided to silo it. It just happened.

This short guide walks through five warning signs that your organization's knowledge is harder to find than it should be. If you recognize two or more, your team is probably spending more time hunting for information than doing research.