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

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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




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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

1. I have Knowledge, do you have Knowledge?

362
-
3328

my late father’s
phone number

things to see
in Barcelona

price paid for first
car ($5353.53)

How to
make a
soufflé

what
Knowledge
Management
is about

π to seven
decimal places
(3.1415926)

my ex
-
husband’s
phone number

How to find a phone
number for
someone in the
OPS

•
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)

how to
develop a
Project
Charter

the difference between
data, information and
knowledge

8 8 1 4 5 4 7

My sister’s
phone
number

Best to call at 8:50,
just after the kids
have gone to
school

Qualities that make a good
business analyst

(but I couldn’t possibly
explain it to you)

Procedure for
reserving
meeting rooms

Good place to take
my car for servicing

Who to consult
about bicycles

What’s involved in
writing a business
case

Mary had a little lamb,
its fleece was white . . .

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

2. Do you know the way to San Jose?

Vancouver, BC

Portland, OR

Eugene, OR

Toronto, ON

Seattle, WA

San Jose?

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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


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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Exercise 2: What do you know for?

•
What kind of knowledge do you USE in your job? What do you use it
for?

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

3. Where does Knowledge come from?

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Exercise 3: where do you know from?

•
What are the main sources of new knowledge for you at work?

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

$ 7993 cdn
-

MBS Tandems, Mississauga, Ont.

$ 5270 us
-

Peak Cycle, Corvalis Oregon



59
¢
-

green grocer

39 ¢
-

grocery store
--

closer

Bike prices:




Banana prices:

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Exercise 4: Distinguishing Knowledge, data & information

•
Go back to your list from exercise 1
-

distinguish the data from
information from Knowledge

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

5. Catching Knowledge so it doesn’t get away

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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?

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18


© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Exercise 6: Organising Knowledge

•
Return to your list from exercise 2
-

how are the different kinds of
knowledge and information filed or organised?

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

7. Knowledge gets around
-

Have your cake and eat it too

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22


© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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


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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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.



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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

8. Would you buy used Knowledge from this man?

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25


© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Knowledge Provenance

•
When created

•
Who provided
-

source

•
Who interpreted / recorded

•
Context / relevance

•
Category

•
Expected life span / obsolescence

•
Retention criteria

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Exercise 8: Provenance

•
Give some examples of provenance
-
type information you’ve
encountered.


•
Give some examples where it’s missing.

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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?

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

10. What does Knowledge Management really mean ?

deliberate

systematic

discipline

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Knowledge Management Framework

Dispose

Plan

Create

Capture

Organize

Access

Use

Evaluate

Managerial
Feedback

Managerial
Feedback

Knowledge Life Cycle

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

Not much new under the sun

•
Determine the enterprise’s knowledge requirements


•
Determine the availability of required knowledge



•
Identify the gaps



•
Determine the source of the required knowledge



•
Develop an action plan to fill the gaps




–
(sounds like a conceptual data model to me)




–
(a mapping of conceptual entities to current systems / sources files?)




–
(gap analysis anyone?)




–
(a business function model and data to function mapping)




–
(um, a series of projects maybe?)



Isn’t this just like business systems architecture?

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

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

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© Dorothy Russel, Oct. 2001

QUESTIONS?