Shawn Callahan at Anecdote has posted a thought-provoking quick quiz to help you determine how collaborative your organization really is. Once you tally your results, you'll find out whether you work in "collaboration nirvana" or "collaboration hell."For those who would like to move out of collaboration hell and closer to collaboration nirvana, take a cold,... Continue Reading →
Death by E-Mail
Returning from a few days out of the office, I was reminded again of how oppressive a jammed Outlook Inbox can be. Even though I diligently checked and responded to e-mail messages during my absence, I still faced a daunting pile of messages and related items that required follow-up. The resulting sensation was a little... Continue Reading →
Knowledge is Addictive
This photo by blmurch sums up the knowledge manager's dilemma: "Knowledge is addictive. The more you have, the more you want." And the more you have, the more you have to manage.While this may lead to full employment for knowledge managers, it also points to the futility of the task we've set ourselves. We're trying... Continue Reading →
What’s Your O-Ring?
The destruction of the space shuttle Challenger in 1986 was one of those events that seared the nation. After the inquiry into the accident was complete, we learned that a small defective O-ring seal had led to the disaster. Similarly, when the space shuttle Columbia exploded in mid-air in 2003, we learned that a piece... Continue Reading →
Dare to Share: Knowledge Management Toolkit
KM4Dev recently featured Dare to Share's Knowledge Management Toolkit. Beginning in April 2007 and running until December 2008, Dare to Share will highlight one proven KM and/or learning technique per month. Thus far, they have focused on:- After Action Review- Collegial Coaching- Yellow Pages- SWOT- Good Practice- Knowledge Fair- Exit Interview- Storytelling- Experience Capitalization- Mentoring-... Continue Reading →
Knowledge Audits 101
Stan Garfield's Weekly Knowledge Management blog highlights an interesting publication from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the hows and whys of knowledge audits called Auditing the Lessons Architecture. When the ADB embarked on a strategy for building up its knowledge assets and developing a knowledge-sharing culture, it decided to use knowledge audits to(i) identify... Continue Reading →
Pragmatic Knowledge Management
In their MIT Sloan Management Review article, "Putting Ideas to Work," Thomas H. Davenport, Laurence Prusak and Bruce Strong discuss the three critical elements of a knowledge management program: creating knowledge, delivering knowledge and using knowledge. They suggest that only by adopting a management strategy that encompasses all three elements will an organization be able... Continue Reading →
Leadership Lessons
Don't kid yourselves. If you haven't realized that knowledge management is about leadership, you're in the wrong business. It takes leadership to analyze and implement system reforms. It takes leadership to achieve behavioral and cultural change. It takes leadership to get all of this done when your colleagues aren't entirely sure they know what it... Continue Reading →
Bad Habits
Kudos to Jordan Furlong at Law21 for his summary of the document management presentation by Steve Best and Debbie Foster at the ABA Techshow and his thoughtful observations on the depressing state into which lawyers and their document management systems have sunk:The speakers emphasized that the only truly effective DM system is one that makes... Continue Reading →
Creating a Culture of Collaboration
Collaboration is all the rage. Proponents of web 2.0 tell us that it's just the way we work naturally. However, for far too many years corporate culture has often emphasized the benefits of individual achievement and competition over collaborative efforts. This suggests that some folks are going to have to be retrained before they can... Continue Reading →
Above and Beyond KM 