Are you tempted by the idea of Twitter inside the firewall? For true Twitter junkies, it may be nearly irresistible. And, now, we're hearing about some new Twitter-clones that are designed to operate within enterprises. However, before you start pushing this as the next big thing for law firm knowledge management, consider the following: What... Continue Reading →
Law Firm KM Reality Check
It's hard not to feel a little hung over after a weekend binge that included Hurricane Ike, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the sale of Merrill Lynch and the potential restructuring of AIG. As we return to our offices this morning and our safe debates about taxonomy and technology, web 1.0 vs web 2.0, mandatory... Continue Reading →
When KM is Supported by the Top Brass
Most knowledge management treatises and guides will tell you that it is hard to carry out an enterprise wide knowledge management program without the full support of senior management. Unfortunately, within a lot of enterprises the members of senior management are sometimes those least likely to understand or use a KM system. Therefore, their support... Continue Reading →
So You Think You Should “Command and Control”?
For too many years, law firm knowledge management has focused on centralized efforts to capture and disseminate "knowledge." Under this approach, knowledge is a thing, an object that must be found and corralled. And once you've found and organized all those knowledge things, you then tackle the daunting task of wresting tacit knowledge out of... Continue Reading →
Why Worry About Law Firm KM ROI?
From time to time, law firm knowledge management junkies twist themselves into knots trying to determine the best way of calculating the return on investment (ROI) of knowledge management efforts. I'm as guilty as the rest for engaging in this exercise. A few have suggested that thinking about ROI is not helpful to KM since... Continue Reading →
The Problem with Low-Hanging Fruit
When I first started in the knowledge management business, I asked a group of senior New York law firm knowledge management experts what advice they would give me. One extremely pragmatic colleague said: "Collect the Low-Hanging Fruit."Nearly a decade later, I still find I keep an eye out for low-hanging fruit. However, now I have... Continue Reading →
KM 2.0: Working Smarter
Dave Pollard has published a thought-provoking post on what's next in knowledge management entitled Working Smarter. In it he describes the core competencies (requiring Skills, Tools and Processes) that knowledge workers are going to need in the 21st century:1. Personal Content Management (in lieu of large, centralized repositories)2. Simple Virtual Presence and Enabling Conversations (to... Continue Reading →
Knowledge Management Made Easier
Tim Leberecht's post, The Writing Organization: Knowledge Management Made Easy, literally took my breath away this morning. I loved the idea. And then wondered if I or any of my KM colleagues in other law firms would have the audacity to propose it to our respective firms.Here's his suggestion:Make it mandatory for every employee to... Continue Reading →
Having a Fool for a Client?
A 2001 article by John W. Amberg on the Los Angeles County Bar Association website begins with the wordsThe adage that "a lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client" is the product of years of experience by seasoned litigators, the Supreme Court has remarked. See, Kay v. Ehrler, 499 U.S. 432, 438... Continue Reading →
Building a Great Knowledge Management Team
When hiring we sometimes focus too much on the individual, and not enough on how they will fit in with the existing staff. An extreme version of this is to hunt and low for a "star." Each us of may define "star" slightly differently depending on the context. For example, in the law firm context,... Continue Reading →
Above and Beyond KM 