You don’t know what you don’t know. Why open first is worth the risk.

Sometimes the most valuable ideas don’t come from what you need. They come from what you didn’t even know was out there.

The need-to-know trap

Over the years, I’ve worked on dozens of projects building intranets, dashboards and knowledge hubs. The pattern is familiar:

“This content should be locked down. We’ll open it up to people who need it.”

“We don’t want to confuse people with information that’s not relevant.”

“Let’s wait until it’s final before sharing it.”

In theory, it sounds reasonable. But here’s the problem: How do you know for definite who needs to know?

Yes, some cases are clear cut. Compliance data. Private performance info. But most of the time, the risk isn’t overexposure. It’s missed connection.

I’ve seen it in law enforcement where briefings were tightly "need to know". That made sense for confidentiality, but it also meant the frontline missed important context. It could have been useful in training data, helping others avoid similar situations.

I’ve seen it in corporate environments where teams duplicated effort or missed chances to collaborate because they didn’t know each other’s workstreams existed.

We spend time and budget building platforms to surface the right information, then hide it behind permissions until someone files a request form.

What “open first” looks like

Open first doesn’t mean information anarchy. I'm an information management nerd, I'd never allow that! It means designing for discovery. Making it possible for someone not already in the loop to stumble across something useful.

It might look like:

Departmental data - Instead of burying insights in PDFs or locking them to leadership, use lightweight dashboards visible to all. Even if they don’t show everything, they show enough to be useful.

Project updates - Share progress in open channels. Use tags like “FYI” or “input wanted” to reduce noise. Show early thinking, not just final reports. Let people see the sausage as it’s being made.

Strategy and direction - Share your working, not just your headlines. Invite challenge. Let others offer context you didn’t have.

Tech and tools - Document choices openly. Show what’s being tested or rolled out. Leave room for “Have you seen this other thing?” moments.

Managing the fear

Of course there are trade-offs. People worry about:

• Information overload
• Being judged for half-baked work
• Sensitive data leaks
• Wasting time reading things that aren’t relevant

These risks can be managed. Tagging, cultural norms and some light governance go a long way. You don’t need perfect visibility. You just need better chance.

The real risk?

Missing the insight, the connection, the “Hang on, I’ve seen something like this before” moment.

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Innovation rarely comes from the people already looped in.

It comes from the ones you didn’t think to ask. The ones you didn’t know were listening. The ones with context you don’t have.

Next time you think, “Who needs to know this?” Maybe flip it.

Who might see something you can’t?

That’s the question that makes discovery possible.

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