C3 Associates ECM Blog » Knowledge Management

Adding Process Knowledge to the KM Mix

Greg Clark — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 04:09:10 +0000

I’ve been thinking a lot about the (possibly) outdated concept of knowledge management as I do a bit of work with a client to help define a KM strategy. The twitterverse has given me some excellent resources on the debate about whether KM is dead, none better than a video unearthed by Helen Nicol. In it, KM gurus Larry Prusak and David Snowden debate whether KM is simply another management fad or, despite the trend towards social computing, it has a future. Rather than paraphrase the summary provided by Twitter pal Chris Jones or the video itself, I suggest you check it out on here.

My opinion: the core concepts of KM apply now as much as they ever did regardless of how they are applied in the enterprise. The term KM may be going out of style but the concepts are valid.

To that end I’ve been thinking about how knowledge embedded in business processes is perhaps the best way to realize the seemingly limitless promise of KM. To me, a successful “process knowledge” scenario might look something like this:

Organization X has a resonably well defined set of engineering standards but not everyone knows about them (and therefore not everyone follows them) nor is the process for providing feedback on the standards well understood. This has led to variations in engineering design processes which have impacted how quickly the organization is able to complete engineering projects. In this economy this is obviously a situation they would like to correct.

The organization agrees to undertake a project to surface these standards through their intranet linked back to their source location in their enterprise document management repository. The goal is to ensure that everyone in the company knows where to find the standards by either browsing or searching. Once in the intranet workspace, users find clear instructions about how to provide feedback on current standards, request updates or ask questions. The business owner of the standards (or her team) may either respond to questions on a threaded discussion and/or she might blog about ongoing updates and revisions to the standards.

Anyone new to the company can find the workspace on the intranet just by poking around but if they can’t (or choose not to) their colleagues will point them there because “that’s the way we do things around here”. The owner of the standards and her team will also hold regular face to face meetings with key stakeholders to discuss change requests and to communicate best practices. Meeting schedules, agendas and outcomes would be posted to the site for all to see, comment on and possibly even update (perhaps in a wiki). This community would be related to other communities that deal with other aspects of the engineering and operations function within the organization.

To this point, none of what I’ve talked about is particularly new or radical. It is the definition of a classic Community of Practice that many, if not most, KM initiatives will implement. The extension of the CoP is that the business process for creating, maintaining and distributing standards no longer relies on the knowledge with one person (or group) to succeed. When the owner of the engineering standard moves on the process not only survives, it thrives. When new people join the company they are brought up to speed quicker. When new ideas occur or when new requirements are identified the organization is able to respond quickly. And all of this capacity is embedded in the business process, not the person.

It is important to understand that implementing such a process will be an evolutionary change and that these projects will have successes and failures along the way. The tools choosen to enable the development and propagation of process knowledge are largely irrelevant but will guide what the organization is able to do and their areas of focus. If the application isn’t “ATM simple” people simply won’t use it.

Recent Presentations

Greg Clark — Thu, 24 Jan 2008 05:53:59 +0000

Continuing on with the catch-up work, here are a couple of links to presentations I gave late last year.

The first was to the first ever (and hopefully first annual) AIIM Calgary Chapter Conference, which was a huge success. Over 150 people attended the event and there were nearly a dozen vendors represented in the vendor showcase. A big thank you goes out to the committee which was ably led by Kit Bright and Shelly DiGiovanni. Great work you two!

The impact that SharePoint will have (and has already had) on the ECM landscape continues to be a hot topic and this was the subject of my presentation. SharePoint and the Future of ECM led to a lively discussion about whether Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS) 2007 can really be considered an ECM tool. In a nutshell, my take on this question is:

1) SharePoint is a big deal;

2) SharePoint really is an ECM application;

3) There is room for everyone: Traditional ECM applications will survive and thrive.

Check out the presentation and please let me know your take on this issue.

The second presentation was to a group of senior managers from small to mid-sized companies. This group gathers regularly as part of the Renaissance Executive Forums program. We discussed the issues surrounding the management of knowledge in smaller organizations and had a great discussion about both traditional ECM tools and the use of emerging ‘Enterprise 2.0′ apps like Facebook.

You can find the presentation here. I hope you find it interesting and again I’d appreciate your feedback.

When a Crisis is Not a Crisis â€“ Aging Population More Opportunity than Threat

Greg Clark — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:45:39 +0000

I find it interesting when software vendors and services companies market themselves using FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt) rather than by promoting the positive benefits of their applications or services. One good example is the looming baby boomer retirement “crisis”. The argument goes something like this: There are a huge number of workers aged 55+ in your organization and they’re all going to quit at once, taking all of that valuable intellectual capital with them. To save your business (and possibly human kind as we know it), you need to buy our software or several thousand consulting hours to identify and capture all of the knowledge in the heads of these people.

Along these lines, Forrester released a recent paper with the very reassuring title “The baby boomer crisis is a looming corporate threat.” Quick! Everyone grab a 60 year-old and shake all of that knowledge out of his head before he bolts for south Florida! Unfortunately, it’s not quite that easy nor is it that big a deal, and I’ll tell you why. Baby boomers have redefined the norm for each age group they passed through (Google “flower children” if you don’t know what I’m talking about) and they’ll do it again for retirement. There was a recent poll in the Globe and Mail that asked people how long they thought they would work. While it was a non-scientific survey, I think the results are still valid given the 51000+ responses. A whopping 66% said “I foresee always working, but hope to move to part-time at some stage”. Add that to the 8% who said “I will work until they carry me out the door” and you’ve got an overwhelming majority of people who expect to work past traditional retirement age.

Maybe Canadians just work harder than everyone else (we do) but I think these results can be applied to most organizations grappling with the aging baby boomer “problem” regardless of geography. What it means is that organizations are going to have the opportunity to have experienced personnel mentor up and coming staff on a part-time basis. It’s a win-win; baby boomers get some flexibility but are still engaged in the workforce and organizations get the benefit of their knowledge paired with the fresh ideas of the next generation. The end result of this process is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for organizations to re-invent themselves and innovate like never before. Combining the wisdom of grey-haired veterans with the enthusiasm and innovative spirit of 30-somethings is a powerful formula.

Of course not every organization is going to embrace this new way of working. Many will still enforce mandatory retirement or will not be willing to adapt their work schedules or organizational structures. While I suggest our aging population is not a crisis, it will certainly be disruptive. But in disruption lies opportunity; the organizations that can adapt will thrive and those that cannot will be passed by.

To deal with this disruption ask yourself what your organization is doing to build knowledge-transfer into your work practices. Are you taking advantage of collaborative online workspaces to improve business efficiency while capturing valuable content? Are you working to break down traditional organizational silos by opening up content rather than locking it down? These changes themselves can be disruptive and aren’t easy to implement, but this disruption is certainly easier to deal with than the consequences of being overtaken by your competitors. And at the end of the day, isn’t that the point?

CKMN Presentation Posted

Greg Clark — Mon, 09 Jul 2007 19:43:12 +0000

I’ve posted the presentation I gave to the Calgary KM Network. You can find it here.

Presentation to the Calgary KM Network

Greg Clark — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 04:42:06 +0000

I have the privilege of presenting to the Calgary Knowledge Management Network this coming Tuesday about my experiences as a newbie blogger. Please feel free to join us. Details are as follows:

Topic: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Confessions of a First-Time Blogger: The Brave New World of Web 2.0

Host: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Nexen Inc.

Location: Â Â Â Â 29^th Floor, 801-7th Avenue S.W.

Date: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Tuesday, June 5^th, 2007

Time: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 12:00 to 1:00 PM
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I hope you can make it. Just drop me a quick note at greg.clark@c3associates.com if you’d like to attend.

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