Nobody plans to end up with years and years of accumulated data that is probably inaccurate. No one ever plans for that, but it happens sometimes because maybe there’s been a rotating influx of managers, of people handling things, and you don’t really know who is supposed to do what, where, and why. So it just looks like a lot of work. And when the work piles up, you don’t know where to start. But you need to start chipping at that block or stone. You need to do it in phases and look at where your problems are.
You need to go deep, deep, deep inside. Start from the very first day that the tool was created, or the workspace was created. Look at how it was used back then and how it’s currently being used now. Look at the problems. It could be user behavior, lack of usage, or people just doing things willy-nilly. Find out what the problem is and see if the problem is still in existence today. It probably is. Now, when you have looked at your problem, you know, “Oh, this is what’s happening.” You have to solve it.
You know your team, you know your people, and you know where they encounter friction because they have probably complained to you about it. You know why this happened, and you can start cleaning things up in a way that’s easy, effective, and will help both you and your team members. So, if you’re not sure where to start, or you’re someone who has joined the business after the tool was implemented and there’s no one there to guide you, you just have to check it out yourself. See where the problems are. See how you can look for simple solutions to those problems. I cannot point out all the things that you might see. But when you have worked with people before, you are going to notice bad behaviors and things that should be done but are not.