Knowledge Management in Practice

When talking about the new Web 2.0 tools in an enterprise setting, I often refer to the new generation of employees.  They will be used of having social networking, blogging and publishing tools available.  They will not accept an IT department banning these from the workfloor.

Just look at the number of school and university groups in Facebook and the like.  All of these will (very) soon evolve into professional work related groups, following the live path of the group members.

And today, I came across of this gem :

(http://www.slideshare.net/sachac/the-gen-y-guide-to-web-20-at-work)

 

| View | Upload your own

And this one, on how blogging and reading blogs spreads passion :

(http://www.slideshare.net/sachac/web20work-in-pursuit-of-passion)

 

| View | Upload your own

Super.

My weblog features in Stan Garfield's Weekly Knowledge Management blog by Stan Garfield.  Look at 'Why start doing knowledge management'.

Great.

Time for a small celebration ;-)

This post (Wikis not ideal for external customer collaboration « The Diving Board) illustrates my previous blogpost : allways use the correct tool.

A wiki was created to '... to distribute information on their company and/or product ...'   Use wiki's only for the collaborative editing of structured information (documents, web pages, meeting agendas, brain storm or idea lists, ...).  The distribution functionality is not the core functionality of a wiki.

PS for the collaborative editing to work properly also some 'soft prerequisites' need to be in place : engagement of the editing group, mutual trust, common ground/language, ...

When introducing a knowledge management project, it is important to select the correct tool for each issue which needs to be resolved.  This will be highly context specific, related to the specific needs of the company/department.

A few examples :

Use a document management system to manage (edit, approve, distribute) high amounts of documents. 

Use a wiki for the collaborative editing of structured information. 

Use a community of practice to connect a group of practice experts to exchange and create knowledge relevant to their practice.

Use a forum for capturing the question-answer interaction between experts and novices.

A weblog can be used for the social reflection by a group of experts on a specific topic, but also as a powerfull knowledge sharing tool, an easy project status communication tool, a profile/expertise builder.

Social tagging is ideally suited for the exploration and structuring of an unknown expertise area. 

Use after action reviews to formalize the social learning process of a team, when they mainly learn from themselves, during the execution of their project activities

The list can go on ...

The lesson to remember :

To correctly solve an issue, the correct tools should be used.

So, always make sure you :

- analyse the problem or issue at hand

- choose the correct tool

- implement it properly

This is a good post on the characteristics of a wiki champion. 
To complete a succesfull implementation of a wiki in an organization, one needs these characteristics :

1. Be a Clear Communicator: It is important to keep things simple ...

2. Be A Coach: You will need to coach some of the early users ...

3. Be Patient: Be patient with your early adopters ...

4. Be Enthusiastic: People will react to your enthusiasm ...

5. Be Engaging: Be available to discuss or help ...

6. Have Fun!: This is one of the most important characteristics ...

It is a great set of characteristics.  Not only applicable for a wiki implementation, but for any KM project ... or even any change project for that matter.

Read the full post !!

A friend asked me the other day why he should look into knowledge management for his company.

This is the answer I distilled :

All knowledge management initiatives should focus on any or all to these issues :

- reinventing the wheel

A group is trying to solve a problem which has already been solved by another team.
Makes you lose money and time.

In a company this can be the innovation and corporate support groups, solving solved problems.

-> It is like buying a CD you already own … costs money but does not add to your musical experience

- knowledge walking out of the door

Every employee who retires takes his personal knowledge and experience home.
Everything not shared, documented or handed over; actually leaves the company on his last working day.

But not only the retiring work force, also the young people, being more flexible than ever before, not looking for lifelong employment in the same company.

-> Imagine your friends taking home one of your CD's every time they pay you a visit

- the great unknown

This is the “if we only knew what we know” - complaint.

A lot of knowledge is isolated, forgotten, not used; because it is not documented, not shared, not available

Often, a lot of the corporate experts are disconnected from the business, both in time and in subject.  But also personally we forget a lot of things … ever tried to recover an e-mail from more than a year ago ??

-> These are all the CD’s you never listen to, because you actually forgot you once bought them, and now they sit in your collection, ... silently.

On each of these areas, specific actions can be taken to overcome the issues.  What and how is influenced by your priorities, culture, focus, strategy, people.

Earlier this week,I attended a workshop on knowledge management, organised by the Flemish Engineers.  Most people in the audience were new to knowledge management, or looking to start up a project.  But all were interested and wanted to learn more.  In small groups, we were asked to discuss about knowledge management : what knowledge is around in a department, is it available, how can it be shared, ...

Our group came up with this (the intention was to create  a mind map, but we were more creative) :

We identified four areas :

- Information and information systems : libraries, procedures, repositories, taxonomies, ...
     This is the domain of explicit knowledge, with formal structures to organise it.

- Knowledge : experience, insight, ...
    This is the domain of tacit knowledge.

- Culture and processes : knowledge transfer, communities of practice, coaching, meetings, ...
     Processes can become part of an organisation's culture when they happen naturally and unconsciously.

- Governance : knowledge matrix, CV of a company, ...
     This is a holistic view on the knowledge management efforts, including strategy and helicopter view.

We did not go into all the details, but some of the intersections are interesting.  I like to put 'rules of thumb' in the intersection explicit-tacit.  One can codify a rule of thumb in a formula, but it should always be used by an experienced person only.

Networking was not on the radar screen, but it belongs in the 'Culture and Processes' bucket.  It can be a company culture when networking is natural, or it can be stimulated and organised as a process.  A simple 'Who is who' - directory can be a good starting point.  My preference is to use a social networking tool like LinkedIn where all team members can keep an updated profile.  A big advantage of using an external tool is that this network survives company reorganisations and personal career moves.

PS : I made the picture with my new tool (toy).

What will Web2.0 and Enterprise2.0 look like ?

Look at this amazing video, introducing Sun's virtual workplace.

Here you can meet your virtual team members in a virtual environment.  Talk, chat, discuss and work together (collaborate) on a presentation.

It looks a lot like Second Life and similar virtual worlds, but what is wrong with using fun-entertainment tools in one's serious-professional life ?