Published October 12, 2026
Published October 12, 2026
Look for change, not age alone
An old procedure may still be correct, while a document updated last week may already conflict with a changed policy. A decay review should prioritize change signals: new software, reorganized ownership, pricing changes, revised compliance rules, recurring exceptions, broken links, and repeated user questions.
Age remains useful as a prompt, not proof. Record last substantive verification separately from cosmetic edits so a spelling correction does not reset the trust clock.
Assign a content owner
Every critical instruction needs someone authorized to confirm the process. The assistant can coordinate reviews, test links, and record evidence, but should not approve policy they do not own.
For orphaned pages, identify an interim owner or label the guidance as unverified. Leaving a confident document without accountable ownership is riskier than showing its uncertainty.
Review from the user’s starting point
Test whether a new assignee can find the right page, understand when it applies, access required tools, and recognize exceptions. Correct steps buried behind an outdated index are not operationally usable.
Follow the process in a safe environment where possible. Screenshots and button labels can become stale even when the underlying rule is unchanged.
Check decision boundaries
Instructions should say what the assistant may decide, what evidence is required, and when to stop. These boundaries often decay when responsibilities change. A procedure that accurately describes clicks but assigns obsolete authority can cause more harm than a broken link.
Compare the page with current approval matrices, security policies, and service commitments. Resolve contradictions rather than choosing the newest-looking document.
Capture real exceptions
Review support questions, correction notes, and escalation logs. If users repeatedly ask the same question, the instruction may lack an example or decision rule. Add the smallest useful clarification.
Do not paste every unusual event into the main path. Keep the ordinary process readable and place rare cases in an exception section or linked decision guide.
Retire and redirect deliberately
When guidance is replaced, mark the successor, preserve necessary history, and remove the old page from navigation. A prominent obsolete page competes with the correct one even if it carries an archive label.
Update inbound links and templates. Deleting or moving a page without repairing references creates new uncertainty.
Maintain a review queue
Record risk, owner, trigger, due date, and result. High-impact, frequently used instructions deserve earlier review than low-risk reference material. Group related pages when one system change affects them all.
Publish a short change note: what was verified, what changed, and when users must adopt it. A disciplined decay review keeps the knowledge base trustworthy without forcing teams through a ceremonial rewrite of every page.
This guide was published on October 12, 2026. For adjacent workflows, explore the Delegation Assistant blog or review the deeper evidence in Research.