The best search engine in the world cannot convert garbage into useful content.So, before you spend megabucks on the latest cool search tool, think about what repository you're searching. If your office is anything like most offices, you've got tons of ephemera -- stuff that probably isn't going to matter 30 minutes from now --... Continue Reading →
Capturing Content
In my last post I discussed Hardwiring KM Into Your Client Work as a way of improving your chances of actually capturing knowledge and making it available for reuse. The focus there was on specifically planning to capture knowledge and then organizing your project around that goal. But how do you actually capture that knowledge?... Continue Reading →
Hardwiring KM Into Your Client Work
If you want good knowledge management results, you have to find a way to bridge the divide in your colleagues' minds between getting their job done and doing KM. If they have a choice between racing to meet client needs and stopping to select and contribute content for the KM system, they will choose their... Continue Reading →
What Went Right?
My last post rather morbidly focused on using KM Autopsies as a useful way of figuring out what went wrong with knowledge management projects. Sometimes, however, it's much more effective to ask "What went right?"This apparently contrarian advice is rooted in the field of Appreciative Inquiry, which starts from the perspective that it's ultimately more... Continue Reading →
KM Autopsies
Even the best knowledge manager in the world has at least one project that flamed out spectacularly. But how many knowledge managers have conducted an autopsy to find the cause of death?By autopsy, I don't mean simply keeping a list of user complaints. What I have in mind is actually cutting the project open, digging... Continue Reading →
What are People Searching For?
What are people searching for and where are they looking? That's the question asked and answered in a thought-provoking article in the March 2008 issue of KMWorld. While working with an admittedly small sample, the survey yielded some interesting findings:- 62% of respondents said that they first search the Internet before searching more specialized resources... Continue Reading →
A Match Made in Heaven: KM +Organizational Learning
Knowledge management efforts that focus solely on deploying technology to deliver content efficiently are missing a vital element: they don't provide the means of helping the knowledge worker learn collaboratively from the experiences of colleagues. In other words, they don't create or exploit natural learning processes within an organization that lead to the adoption of... Continue Reading →
Getting Real About Law Firm Knowledge Management
In a recent post I discussed a 2007 study of the impact of knowledge management on the ability of Bolivian farmers to innovate and to support lasting change. The beauty of the cases studied is that the issues involved aren't merely theoretical. If the farmers don't get it right, they won't grow enough to live,... Continue Reading →
Wanted: Excellent Content
Sophisticated search tools are not terribly useful if there isn't a pot of gold (i.e., excellent content) at the end of the search rainbow. How do you get and maintain that stash of gold? In the law firm context, model documents are often too expensive to draft. Relying on recent precedents can be dangerous since... Continue Reading →
Knowledge Management “Bucket List”
Blame it on the Oscars, but I've got movies on my mind. In particular, The Bucket List. For those of you who haven't seen it, the "bucket list" refers to a list of things that two terminally ill men want to do before they "kick the bucket." This got me wondering. If you had a... Continue Reading →
Above and Beyond KM 