The problem that wasn't my job to solve

How an unsolicited idea became an enterprise knowledge system used by thousands.

The problem everyone had learned to live with

I was working in Analyst Relations, creating briefing decks that were in high demand from our sales and account teams.

There was just one problem: people had to ask me for them.

Meanwhile, the source materials coming from our business units were often inconsistent in branding and messaging. Each team had its own SharePoint repository, and finding something another team had created usually meant another email, another request, another interruption.

Everyone was accustomed to working this way.

But I've always had an unfortunate habit of asking why.

Nobody asked me to fix it.

I thought we needed an enterprise-wide digital asset management (DAM) system where employees could find current, approved content for themselves.

Unfortunately, nobody was particularly interested in adopting another platform. And convincing leadership to invest in one wasn't exactly part of my Analyst Relations job description.

But I kept pushing.

I made the case for change, identified a suitable platform, and started designing the solution.

By July 2022, I was creating wireframes. Working with colleagues across technology, design, and other functions, I helped build and launch the system that November.

I hadn't even known the Head of Content position was in my future when I started.

The technology needed to work for people. Not the other way around.

Our new platform offered sophisticated metadata and Boolean search capabilities.

Wonderful—if you happen to think like a database.

Most employees just wanted to find a presentation.

So I designed an intuitive browsing experience that translated familiar categories into structured searches behind the scenes. I also helped establish the content architecture and governance needed to keep the library useful.

The goal wasn't to teach everyone how to operate a DAM.

It was to make finding information easier.

What changed?

3,800+ annual active users
43% year-over-year growth in annual active users
30,000+ searches in the latest measured year

The platform became an enterprise knowledge resource, with governed content and metadata eventually supporting AI-powered discovery as well.

But the result I care about most is simpler: employees gained a way to find what they needed without depending on someone else to find it for them.

The takeaway

It would have been considerably easier to keep emailing the decks.

But sometimes the problem worth solving isn't the one you've been assigned. It's the one everyone has learned to work around.

And I've never been particularly good at leaving preventable nonsense alone.