Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Knowledge Management, But Were Afraid to Ask

1. Everything You’ve Always Wanted to Know About Knowledge Management, But Were Afraid to Ask Knowledge Management Presentation IRMAC - 17 October 2001 Developed by: Dorothy Russel Business Systems Modelling (416) 461-6606 dorothy@interlog.com

2. Presentation Outline • I have Knowledge, do you have Knowledge? • Do you know the way to San Jose? • Where does Knowledge come from? • Information grows up • Catching Knowledge so it doesn’t get away • Remembering where you put it - finding it again • Knowledge gets around - have your cake and eat it too • Would you buy used Knowledge from this man? • Old Knowledge doesn’t die, it just lies there • What does Knowledge Management really mean? • Not much new under the sun

3. 1. I have Knowledge, do you have Knowledge? How to find a phone number for someone in the OPS things to see in Barcelona Who to consult about bicycles price paid for first car ($5353.53) my ex-husband’s phone number Good place to take my car for servicing 8 8 1 4 5 4 7 What’s involved in writing a business case π to seven decimal places (3.1415926) Mary had a little lamb, its fleece was white . . . My sister’s phone number what Knowledge Management is about Procedure for reserving meeting rooms How to make a soufflé 362-3328 Best to call at 8:50, just after the kids have gone to school • the mnemonics to remember the postal codes of: • my childhood home (Mum to Night to See six); • the first house I owned (Moo for Cows, I Saw nine); and • a girl in my university residence (Now five Rexs, I Very six-y) my late father’s phone number how to develop a Project Charter Qualities that make a good business analyst (but I couldn’t possibly explain it to you) the difference between data, information and knowledge

4. Knowledge is . . . • Knowledge is what we know: • Facts & figures • Experience • Ideas • Concepts • Theories • Principles & practices - How things work around here • How to’s • Who know’s • Where to go’s • What happens if . . . • Some of what we know is problematic • untruths, misconceptions, prejudices • lies, damn lies & statistics • obsolete knowledge

5. Exercise 1: what do YOU know? • Make a list of some of your knowledge - include some work related knowledge; perhaps add a column for knowledge contained in your organization

6. 2. Do you know the way to San Jose? Vancouver, BC Seattle, WA Portland, OR Toronto, ON Eugene, OR San Jose?

7. KM Objective: Use more of what we know • Knowledge Management is about USING what we know to: • Perform a task • Solve a problem • Make a decision • Create something new - innovate / invent / design • Plan a course of action • Knowledge Management activity: USE • The application of knowledge to work activities, decisions and opportunities

8. Exercise 2: What do you know for? • What kind of knowledge do you USE in your job? What do you use it for?

9. 3. Where does Knowledge come from?

10. Sources of New Knowledge • Mistakes - - practice • Professional Sources / Experts • Stuff that’s written down / recorded - books, magazines, journals, manuals, web-sites, videos, audio recordings, etc. • Presentations, lectures • Direct conversation • People you know • Opinions • Experience • Their trial & error • Knowledge Management activity: CREATE • The activities that result in new knowledge

11. Exercise 3: where do you know from? • What are the main sources of new knowledge for you at work?

12. 4. Information grows up 81,100 33,950 7993 5270 2002 59 39 19 10 -2 -7 sq, mi $ cd $ cd $ us ddmm ¢ ¢ days º C ¢ º C area of Lake Superior price of a C coupe Mercedes Benz price of a tandem bicycle price of a tandem bicycle my birthday price of a pound of bananas at local green grocer price of a pound of bananas at local grocery store avg number of days with rain in Seattle in December avg July temperature in Reno, Nevada change in price of gasoline this month avg daily high temperature in Thule, Greenland Bike prices: Banana prices: $ 7993 cdn - MBS Tandems, Mississauga, Ont. $ 5270 us - Peak Cycle, Corvalis Oregon 59 ¢ - green grocer 39 ¢ - grocery store -- closer

13. A few definitions: • Data: a collection of raw, uninterpreted measurements / facts • Information: a collection of data within a context that provides meaning • Knowledge: the experience of using information to make judgements, and the ability to link them to decisions or actions

14. Exercise 4: Distinguishing Knowledge, data & information • Go back to your list from exercise 1 - distinguish the data from information from Knowledge

15. 5. Catching Knowledge so it doesn’t get away

16. Knowledge Capture • Explicit Knowledge - • written down / recorded • Easily transferable, reusable • Requires effort to keep up-to-date • Tacit Knowledge • In people’s heads • Imbedded in large amounts of personal context • Hard to make succinct / concise • Rich, interconnected • Knowledge Management activity: CAPTURE • The activities that enable recording and representation of tacit knowledge in explicit form

17. Exercise 5: Explicit & Tacit Knowledge • Go back to your list of knowledge from exercise 2, and identify which knowledge is explicit and which is tacit. • Which of the tacit knowledge would be particularly beneficial to your organization or colleagues?

18. 6. Remembering where you put it - finding it again library bookstore customer accounts department doctor’s office grocery store record store video store pictures / images newspapers Chronological Alphabetical Numerical Category - type Coding system Sub-category

19. Techniques for Organising Knowledge • Glossary / vocabulary - list of terms & their meaning; synonyms, homonyms • Keywords - relationship between concepts and chunks of information or knowledge • Taxonomy - classifications or sub-groups of content; user-oriented organizing scheme • Knowledge maps - navigational aid to find relevant Knowledge sources (information or people); describes linkages between related bits of knowledge • Indexes - cross-references to sources & locations • Catalogues - collection of indexes • Knowledge Management activity: ORGANISE • The activities that classify and categorise knowledge for navigation, storage and retrieval purposes

20. Exercise 6: Organising Knowledge • Return to your list from exercise 2 - how are the different kinds of knowledge and information filed or organised?

21. 7. Knowledge gets around - Have your cake and eat it too

22. Access and Sharing • Knowledge Management activity: ACCESS • knowledge is disseminated or requested by users • Sharing Mechanisms: • Common access to explicit, recorded knowledge • Directory of experts • Mentor / coach / apprentice • Joint projects - resource lending • Meetings - in person, virtual

23. Exercise 7: Sharing Tacit Knowledge • Go back to your list of knowledge from exercise 2 which you added to in exercise 5, and for the Tacit knowledge you identified, suggest mechanisms to increase sharing.

24. 8. Would you buy used Knowledge from this man?

25. Knowledge Provenance • When created • Who provided - source • Who interpreted / recorded • Context / relevance • Category • Expected life span / obsolescence • Retention criteria

26. Exercise 8: Provenance • Give some examples of provenance-type information you’ve encountered. • Give some examples where it’s missing.

27. 9. Old Knowledge doesn’t die, it just lies there Search results for "renaud, chris" within "All". 1.[ Renaud, Chris ] [ CIO, Economics/Business Cluster (Acting) ] [ MANAGEMENT BOARD OF CABINET ] [BUSINESS CLUSTER CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICERS, Toronto ] [ 416-326-1660 ] [chris.renaud@mbs.gov.on.ca] 2.[ Renaud, Chris ] [ Chief Information Officer ] [ CONSUMER AND BUSINESS SERVICES ] [OFFICE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, Toronto ] [ 416-326-1660 ] [chris.renaud@mbs.gov.on.ca] 3.[ Renaud, Chris ] [ Chief Information Officer ] [ LABOUR ] [OFFICE OF THE CHIEF INFORMATION OFFICER, Toronto ] [ 416-326-1660 ] [chris.renaud@cbs.gov.on.ca] 4.[ Renaud, Chris ] [ Chief Information Officer ] [ ENERGY, SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ] [ECONOMIC AND BUSINESS CLUSTER - INFORMATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, Toronto ] [ 416-326-1660 ] [chris.renaud@mbs.gov.on.ca] 5.[ Renaud, Chris ] [ Chief Information Officer ] [ ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TRADE ] [ECONOMICS AND BUSINESS CLUSTER - INFORMATION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, Toronto ] [ 416-326-1660 ] [chris.renaud@mbs.gov.on.ca] 6.[ Renaud, Chris ] [ Office of the Corporate Chief Strategist - Management Board ] [ COUNCILS AND COORDINATORS ] [ONTARIO SYSTEMS COUNCIL, Toronto ] [ 416-327-3061 ] [renaudc@mbs.gov.on.ca] as of 7 Sept 2001

28. Knowledge Maintenance • States of Knowledge • current & accurate • old, but still interesting • wrong • irrelevant • Maintenance Triggers • retention period • expiry date • review cycle • Maintenance Activities • review & update • discard / delete / destroy • archive

29. Exercise 9: Knowledge Maintenance • Go back to your first knowledge list, Exercise 1 - is any of that knowledge obsolete? • What are the mechanisms which update knowledge in your organization?

30. 10. What does Knowledge Management really mean ? discipline systematic deliberate

31. Knowledge Management Framework Plan Create Capture Organize Access Use Knowledge Life Cycle Managerial Feedback Managerial Feedback Dispose Evaluate

32. Exercise 10: Your Knowledge Management initiatives • Describe two places in your organization where there would be value in improving KM practices through intentional efforts, perhaps to: • Increase use of some under-used knowledge • Enhance sharing • Enable capture of tacit knowledge that’s not currently shareable • Provide an organising scheme, or • Improve access to some store of explicit knowledge These are your own KM initiatives

33. Not much new under the sun • Determine the enterprise’s knowledge requirements • (sounds like a conceptual data model to me) • (a mapping of conceptual entities to current systems / sources files?) • Determine the availability of required knowledge • (gap analysis anyone?) • Identify the gaps • (a business function model and data to function mapping) • Determine the source of the required knowledge • (um, a series of projects maybe?) • Develop an action plan to fill the gaps Isn’t this just like business systems architecture?

34. References • F. Caldwell, CEO Update: Measuring the Success of Enterprise Knowledge Management, The Gartner Group, Dec. 2000 • Cedar Inc., How Knowledge Management Drives Competitive Advantage, Cedar Inc. • A. Cushman, M. Fleming, K. Harris, R. Hunter, B. Rosser, The Knowledge Management Scenario: Trends and Directions for 1998-2003, The Gartner Group, 1999 • Thomas H. Davenport & Laurence Prusak, Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, 1998. • Nancy Dixon, Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know, Harvard Business School Press, 2000 • Executive Resource Group, Managing the Environment: A Review of Best Practices, http://www.ene.gov.on.ca/envision/ergreport/index.htm, Jan 2001 • K. Harris, T. Austin, J. Fenn, S. Hayward, A. Cushman, The Impact of Knowledge Management on Enterprise Architecture, The Gartner Group, Oct. 1999 • K. Harris, J. Jacobs, Knowledge Management vs. Information Management, The Gartner Group, Sept. 2000 • S. Hayward, Technologies and Products for Knowledge Management, The Gartner Group, Feb. 2000 • S. Hayward, K. Harris, Is Knowledge Management Needed for E-Business?, The Gartner Group, Oct. 1999 • Health Canada, Vision and Strategy for Knowledge Management and IM/IT for Health Canada, http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/iacb-dgiac/km-gs/english/vsmenu_e.htm. 1998 • IBM Canada, Creating Leading Knowledge and Information Management Practices, Dec 2000 (part of Executive Resource Group report) • D. Logan, Content Management Meets Knowledge Management, The Gartner Group, Feb. 2001 • Daniel Rasmus, A Framework for Implementing Knowledge Management, Giga Information Group, Aug. 2000

35. QUESTIONS?