What's the most frustrating 'tribal knowledge' gap you've encountered where the only person who knew how to fix a machine retired without documentation?

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Oh man, I&#39;ve heard some real horror stories about this! One of the most frustrating examples I came across was at a manufacturing plant where they had this specialized packaging machine that would mysteriously jam every few weeks. The only person who could fix it was this veteran operator named Frank who&#39;d been there 35 years.When Frank retired, he took all his &#39;tribal knowledge&#39; with him - those little tricks and undocumented procedures he&#39;d developed over decades. The machine broke down a month later, and the new team spent three days trying to figure it out. They had the manuals, followed all the official procedures, but the machine just wouldn&#39;t work right.Turns out Frank had this specific sequence of tapping certain parts with a rubber mallet, adjusting a hidden tension screw that wasn&#39;t in any manual, and using a particular lubricant he&#39;d mixed himself. The plant ended up losing thousands in production time before they finally tracked Frank down at his fishing cabin and begged him to come back as a consultant for a day.It&#39;s crazy how much critical knowledge walks out the door when experienced workers retire without proper documentation. That&#39;s why so many companies are now scrambling to capture that &#39;tribal knowledge&#39; before it&#39;s too late!

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What's the most frustrating 'tribal knowledge' gap you've encountered where the only person who knew how to fix a machine retired without documentation?

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