D1
Sensing
The firm knows what knowledge is critical, what it lacks, what threatens what it has, and watches for change.
The question it asks
What are we quietly depending on? And what's coming that we're not ready for?
A framework for architecture, engineering, and construction firms
The AEC Knowledge Resilience Framework
A seven-dimension framework for assessing how well a firm retains and renews the knowledge it depends on.
Version 1.0 · September 2026
Built Knowledge is Todd Henderson and Stefnee Trzpuc. We work with architecture, engineering, and construction firms on the knowledge their work depends on. This framework is the basis of that work.
01 — Why knowledge resilience
Firms lose knowledge every time someone leaves.
Resilience is the ability to keep performing when conditions change, expected or not. Knowledge resilience is that ability applied to what a firm knows: retaining and renewing the judgment it needs to do good work.
It matters because knowledge fails quietly. It walks out in a resignation, goes stale while nobody's looking, or turns out to be missing when a client asks for something new. The cost shows up as rework, delay, and gaps in quality.
This framework defines knowledge resilience in terms relevant to architecture, engineering, and construction, so a firm can see where it's strong, where it's exposed, and what to do about it. It works at the level of a whole firm and at the level of a studio, office, or department.
Start here. If three respected experts left your firm next month, what would become slower, riskier, less consistent, or simply not get done? Most firms can't answer that. That's the problem.
02 — The three themes
Seven dimensions, grouped under three themes.
Theme 1 · 3 dimensions
Retain
Know what's critical, protect it, and get it to the people who need it.
Sensing · Continuity · Flow
Theme 2 · 2 dimensions
Renew
Learn from experience and change your practice because of it.
Sensemaking · Adaptation
Theme 3 · 2 dimensions
Sustain
Put names and money behind retaining and renewing, so they survive turnover and the busy season.
Stewardship · Commitment
03 — The seven dimensions
What the framework measures.
Retain
Renew
Sustain
04 — How the assessment works
Score each dimension from 0 to 5.
Rate each of the seven dimensions from 0 to 5, based on observed practice rather than gut sense. Plot the seven scores on a spider chart.
5
Embedded
Done deliberately, consistently, and systematically
4
in-between
3
Practiced
Done deliberately, but maybe only once. May be stale.
2
in-between
1
Ad Hoc
Random acts of knowledge management
0
Absent
Not visibly happening (though it may be hidden)
Example profile.
Moving up follows the same sequence in every dimension: find the skunkworks — surface what someone is already doing unpaid; run the pilot — do it deliberately once and write down what happened; then make it systematic — give it an owner and a trigger. A firm should be able to move up a level in a year.
The downloadable framework includes level descriptions for all seven dimensions, a blank assessment chart, and specific actions for moving up.
05 — Download
Get the full framework.
PDF · Free · No sign-up
The AEC Knowledge Resilience Framework
The complete framework — definitions, level descriptions, assessment chart, and actions for each dimension — as a PDF. Free, and no email required.
06 — Foundations
None of this is ours alone. In particular, the structure comes from Erik Hollnagel's resilience engineering used to study safety, where resilience is what a system can do (respond, monitor, learn, anticipate) and is not about something it merely has. Three of our dimensions descend from those four. Whereas safety work can assume capability is still around, in the AEC world, knowledge sometimes walks out the door. Our added dimensions reflect that both doing and having are relevant in project-based work.
Durst, S. & Zieba, M. (2019). Mapping knowledge risks: towards a better understanding of knowledge management. Knowledge Management Research & Practice, 17(1), 1–13.
Garvin, D., Edmondson, A. & Gino, F. (2008). Is yours a learning organization? Harvard Business Review, March 2008.
Hollnagel, E. (2010). How resilient is your organisation? An introduction to the Resilience Analysis Grid. Sustainable Transformation: Building a Resilient Organization, Toronto.
Hollnagel, E. (2017). Safety-II in Practice: Developing the Resilience Potentials. Routledge.
Lambe, P. (2013). Four types of knowledge risk. Straits Knowledge.
Leonard, D., Swap, W. & Barton, G. (2015). Critical Knowledge Transfer. Harvard Business Review Press.
Parsons, C. (2026). The Modern Learning Organization Maturity Model for AEC Firms. Knowledge Architecture.
07 — Use and attribution
© 2026 Todd Henderson and Stefnee Trzpuc. The AEC Knowledge Resilience Framework v1.0 is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0. Share and adapt it freely with attribution. Commercial use by arrangement.
Cite as
Cite as: Henderson, T. & Trzpuc, S. (2026). The AEC Knowledge Resilience Framework, v1.0. builtknowledge.com
Version 1.0 is a first draft. We are testing it with firms now and will revise it. If you use it, we'd like to hear how it went.
08 — the authors
Todd Henderson
Stefnee Trzpuc
© 2026 Built Knowledge.