Lately I've been thinking about whether law firms value knowledge management and how to measure knowledge management ROI. The underlying concern is that law firms don't know how to measure and value knowledge management activities. (If you ask most law firm knowledge managers if their firms are doing a good job valuing KM, I suspect... Continue Reading →
Measuring Knowledge Management ROI
We've achieved unprecedented levels of unverifiable productivity! That's the punch line from a fabulous Dilbert cartoon I saw last year. And, it sums up so much of what passes for measuring the Return on Investment (ROI) of knowledge management. All too often knowledge managers report on their level of activity because that is concrete, but... Continue Reading →
Does Your Firm Really Value Knowledge?
How much does your firm value knowledge? It's not a complicated question, but the answer can be illuminating. The extent to which your firm values knowledge should be reflected in a proportionate investment in knowledge creation, capture and reuse. The extent to which the firm understands the economic benefits of knowledge should be reflected in... Continue Reading →
Personality and Law Firm Knowledge Management
In the hype about web 2.0 and social networking, you'd be forgiven for thinking that all you needed to do was purchase the perfect silver bullet (i.e., whatever technology the vendor of the day is hawking) and your organization would be transformed into a hip, reflexively-collaborative, effortless knowledge sharing, 21st century knowledge management heaven.But what... Continue Reading →
Storytelling and Law Firm KM
As I was writing my earlier posts recounting Dave Snowden's concept of "fragmented knowledge" and Fred Nikols' strong recommendation that we focus knowledge management on human interactions and development rather than structured content, I must admit that I experienced mild anxiety about the implications of this for law firm knowledge management.For years we've been chasing... Continue Reading →
The Challenges of Fragmented Knowledge
In Dave Snowden's view, "everything is fragmented." And, he thinks this is a good thing. But it has some challenging implications for knowledge management generally and law firm knowledge management specifically.Dave sets out his concept of fragmented knowledge in the May 2008 KM World Magazine in which he points to "the shift during the life... Continue Reading →
(Not Quite) Best Practices
When are "Best Practices" Not Best Practices? That's the question addressed in a recent Harvard Business blog post by Scott Anthony. In this post he makes the valid point that there are very few best practices that work 100% of the time. In his view, the efficacy of best practices is situational: For just about... Continue Reading →
Active vs. Passive Knowledge Sharing
Let me begin by thanking Doug Cornelius of KM Space, whose comments on my previous knowledge sharing post got me thinking further about the current state of knowledge sharing among lawyers. Doug thought I was underestimating the level of sharing that currently exists in law firms, and pointed to the document management system (DMS) as... Continue Reading →
Culture Matters
A persistent theme of this blog is that when it comes to doing knowledge management right, culture matters. In fact, there are days when I'd argue that having the right organizational culture in place is as important (if not more important) than having the best technology. You can buy great tech tools, but if you... 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 →
Above and Beyond KM 