Knowledge Management for Research Institutions - Webinar

On Wednesday April 17th, there will be a 60 minute webinar detailing the use of Knowledge Management (KM) at and for research departments and/or institutions. The following is a brief description of the webinar:

Research Institutions are critical to innovation and new product creation. The speeds to market for new products are essential to stay ahead of your competitors. Knowledge Management (KM) plays a central role not only from the perspective of innovation by knowing what has been done and/or what is being done in other areas of research that can be utilized, but also from the collaboration and knowledge sharing among researchers contributing to the speed of new products to market.

At its core the nature of research is to nurture open access to extensive amounts of tacit knowledge (knowledge within the minds of people) and explicit knowledge (knowledge that is written down) by applying a model that reflects the natural of flow of knowledge. The model of Connect – Collect ---Reuse and Learn depicts a knowledge flow model that supports KM within research institutions and R&D functions within organizations. For KM to work within a research environment (as with other environments) a culture and structure that supports, rewards and proves the value KM can bring will encourage the continued use and adoption of the KM practice.

In addition the choice of IT tools (which is of secondary importance) should be brought in to the organization to automate the knowledge flow and its associated process. The KM tool(s) must support KM goals/strategies, provide a means to connect, collect, catalog, access, and reuse tacit and explicit knowledge. In addition the KM tool(s) must capture new learning to share across the organization, and provide search and retrieval mechanisms to bring pertinent knowledge to the user.

This webinar will cover the KM strategy, techniques, best practices and application of KM necessary for research institutions to innovate more effectively and shorten the time to bring new products to market.

In a previous blog post I covered KM at Research Institutions and this topic will be presented in depth in my next book Knowledge Management in Practice. For more information click on KM for Research Institutions link. I look forward to your questions and comments.

2012 KM Blog In Review

In 2012 I wrote about many topics. These topics started with a series of posts looking at Knowledge Management (KM) in Specific Industries (first looking at KM in Customer Service Centers); followed by KM in Research Institutions, Talent Management, the Legal Profession, the Military, and KM applied to Disaster Response (First Responders). All of these industries and more will be explored and analyzed in detail in my next book Knowledge Management in Practice. I also explored Aligning KM and ITIL pointing out the connections between the two and identifying the gaps ITIL has when it comes to KM. Other blog posts included examining The Case for Developing an Enterprise Information Architecture (a catalyst for focused enterprise search and findability of content and knowledge), Creating a Winning' NSF SBIR Phase I & Phase II Proposal (a synopsis of my webinar I conducted through Principle Investigators), Power Directed ("If Knowledge is Power then Knowledge Management is Power Directed"), Anatomy of a KM Project (by Guest Blogger Bruce Fransen). I concluded the 2012 Knowledge Management Depot postings with Are you Maintaining Your Taxonomy, KM Program vs KM Project, and Components of a KM Strategic Plan (The Strategic Plan is what all organizations should start with before executing a KM initiative).
So, there you have it! I believe I presented some pertinent topics and some solutions within the Knowledge Management discipline, If you missed any of my blog posts in 2012 feel free to go back, review and make comments. I look forward to more guest bloggers in 2013 and more relevant and current topics that give insight on where KM will be heading in 2013!

Anatomy of a KM Project - By Bruce Fransen (Guest Blogger)

Doin’ Time* somewhere south of Normal…

Time = KM Time

 

Similarities between Knowledge Management (KM) and “other kind of time”

      Confined to small space with other detainees…..

 

         Most others don’t know what you do (or why)…

 

         Time is not an enemy but a constant challenge…

 

         Unable to leave until requirements are fulfilled…

 

         Having done time, KMer will never be the same…

Are you doin’ time? We would like to hear from you….

Bruce Fransen

Knowledge Management Consultant

b_fransen@comcast.net

 

KM applied to Disaster Response

As the US begins to recover from the aftermath of hurricane Issac, I am reminded of how Knowledge Management (KM) can be used to respond to disasters such as these. The lack of response or the inadequate nature of the response has lead to a need to increase the effectiveness and efficiencies of first responders. Due to the nature of their work Disaster Response Teams (DRT), are usually first to arrive in a crisis situation.  KM applied to DRT's, in particular first responders will enable the DRT's to arrive at the scene in a more timely manner, be equipped with the right knowledge of the situation and have the right tools and technology to execute their job, putting them in a position to save lives.
When a disaster occurs first responders often do not arrive in a timely manner, are not fully aware of the situation and are not fully equipped to handle the situation. Applying KM to DRT first responders will not only save the lives of the people in the community, but in many cases the response teams themselves. When fully knowledgeable of the situation they are responding to, the team will increase the confidence of the community by delivering a faster more efficient response, assuring the community that they will receive the help they need. Applying KM must begin with a comprehensive KM strategy that promotes a proactive stance and preparation before disaster strikes! 
Knowledge management is not a "silver bullet", however I believe it will make a difference. As always I'm interested in receiving and responding to all comments on this post...  be safe!

 

Aligning KM and ITIL Process

Knowledge Management (KM) is taken hold in many organizations. The implementation of KM will depend on how the organization views and leverages its knowledge assets (people, process and technology). Processes such as the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) are recognizing the value of KM and incorporating its concepts within the ITIL framework. The alignment of ITIL and KM occurs specifically through its Problem Management and Service Management processes.  This alignment emerges through ITIL’s latest version, ITIL v3.

Knowledge Management in ITIL v3 was added as a new central process. This one central process is responsible for providing knowledge to all other IT Service Management processes. In ITIL v3, KM becomes a requirement within the processes of Service Strategy, Service Design, Service Transition, Service Operations and Continual Service Improvement.  As indicated in ITIL Wiki, “ITIL Knowledge Management aims to gather, analyze, store and share knowledge and information within an organization. The primary purpose of Knowledge Management in ITIL is to improve efficiency by reducing the need to rediscover knowledge” (ITIL Wiki, 2012).

The Service Knowledge Management System (SKMS) serves as the mechanism to facilitate KM within ITIL. The SKMS as stated by ITIL “is the central repository of the data, information, and knowledge that the IT organization needs to manage the lifecycle of its services” (ITIL Wiki, 2012). However there are shortcomings of how KM has been integrated within the ITIL. These shortcomings have contributed to knowledge being defined inconsistently, which includes a lack of defined and measurable metrics. This identifies the fact that ITIL lacks a sufficient Knowledge Management Strategy. For Knowledge Management to work with ITIL v3 it must be integrated with industry recognized Knowledge Management Best Practices.

To mitigate these shortcomings the primary activity will be to provide a Knowledge Management Strategy. The focus of this strategy must be to identify and support the service management needs of the business and associated IT environments currently and one to three years out. Next step will be to create a historical repository of incidents to support the service desk and incident and problem management processes. This knowledge repository will be difficult to develop unless the organization has kept historical records of incidents. However if no historical information is available, it’s no time like the present to start this process and be sure to include incident/problem resolutions and associated fixes. In addition integrating KM into Incident, Event, Request, and Access Management as well as Problem, and Release and Deployment Management processes will be essential to establishing a consistent and structured problem solving framework, as well as environment of accountability and responsibility.

In addition to mitigating the shortcomings of ITIL as mention earlier, the following activities will contribute greatly to successfully integrate Knowledge Management into your ITIL process:

-          Establish a culture of sharing and collaboration within your organization

-          Establish a vision of what Knowledge Management means to your organization

-          Establish how your organization will view and leverages its knowledge assets (people, process and technology)

-          Develop and execute a change management process to support your organization through this alignment and to ensure adoption occurs across the enterprise.

For those who are utilizing ITIL and KM I would like to hear from you! Feel free to provide your comments.

Knowledge Management (KM) in Research Institutions

In a previous post I wrote about KM for Collaboration and Innovation, and in this post I pointed out that research areas are critical to new product creation and the speed to market for new products are essential to stay ahead of your competitors. KM plays a central role not only from the perspective of innovation by knowing what has been done and/or what is being done in other areas of research that can be utilized, but also from the collaboration and knowledge sharing among researchers contributing to the speed of new products to market.

At its core the nature of research is to nurture open access to extensive amounts of tacit knowledge (knowledge within the minds of people) and explicit knowledge (knowledge that is written down) by applying a model that reflects the natural of flow of knowledge. The model of Connect – Collect ---Reuse and Learn depicts a knowledge flow model that supports KM within research institutions and R&D functions within organizations. For KM to work within a research environment (as with other environments) a culture and structure that supports, rewards and proves the value KM can bring will encourage the continued use and adoption of the KM practice.

In addition the choice of IT tools (which is of secondary importance) should be brought in to the organization to automate the knowledge flow and its associated process. The KM tool(s) must support KM goals/strategies, provide a means to connect, collect, catalog, access, and reuse tacit and explicit knowledge. In addition the KM tool(s) must capture new learning to share across the organization, and provide search and retrieval mechanisms to bring pertinent knowledge to the user.

For those who are working in or interacting with research institutions and/or R&D departments I want to hear from you. I look forward to hearing your perspective on what KM is bringing to your world of research!

The Challenge of Capturing Tacit Knowledge

Within Knowledge Management (KM) the ability to harvest/capture the knowledge of workers has been a challenge for many years (see blog post: Capturing Tacit Knowledge). The capturing, cataloging and reuse of explicit knowledge of workers has been accomplished effectively through the use of content management systems. However, capturing, cataloging and reuse of tacit knowledge remains an elusive often controversial subject within KM. To address the issue of capturing, cataloging and reuse of tacit knowledge I have developed a methodology which I believe effectively addresses this issue. This methodology is the Knowledge Acquisition Unified Framework (KAUF). The original bases for this framework is detailed in my publication from CRC Press UML for Developing Knowledge Management Systems. This framework has been utilized for the military at the Surface Deployment Distribution Command (SDDC) and also leveraged at a major retail company with some measurable success.

The framework's flexibility allows for many project management and software tools to drive and implement applications based on the guidance of the framework. The framework consist of seven (7) major steps:

1. Define Domain Knowledge, 2. Decompose The Domain Knowledge, 3. Determine Interdependency, 4. Recognize Knowledge Patterns, 5. Determine Judgments in Knowledge, 6. Perform Conflict Resolution and
7. Capture/Catalogue the Knowledge
These steps provide a repeatable process for identifying, understanding and cataloguing the tacit knowledge of the organization during the knowledge elicitation process.

In the post to follow over the next couple of weeks I will detail more about the KAUF and welcome your questions and comments. In the meantime I can be reached via twitter at Tony Rhem.

Knowledge Management at Your Organization

Have you ever wondered what all the fuss is about concerning knowledge management (KM)? What is knowledge management anyway? At its core KM is about sharing and collaborating about what you know, capturing what you know, and reusing that knowledge as to not reinvent the wheel and/or to combine with other ideas to foster innovation. Recently I had the privilege to attend a KM meeting conducted by the APQC (APQC's January 2011 KM Community Call), which had representatives from Conoco Phillips, Fluor, IBM, GE and Schlumberger. What I came away from this meeting with is the need to have KM become part of an organization's culture. I believe that this is important because we do not want KM to be "another task to complete on the checklist", but the way we conduct business. This includes the business between the various individuals and entities within our corporations as well as with our customers. Talking, listening, capturing and applying what we learn from each other is a constant never ending and always evolving process.
I challenge all of us to take this attitude into our workplace and remember that when you share what you know you don't loose that knowledge, but rather you enhance that knowledge with the other individuals you share it with. Take a minute to review the slides from the APQC Jan 2011 KM Community Call as well as this video from YouTube Discover What You Know. Feel free to comment and share your knowledge!

The Need for Diversity

The power that Knowledge Management (KM) brings to an organization is it's ability to leverage the power of diversity. I am not speaking of just diversity of race, gender and/or religion, but diversity of thought. Through collaboration, knowledge sharing and knowledge reuse it is important to leverage different points of view, different experiences and different cultural backgrounds to stimulate diversity of thought. This diversity of thought leads to innovation. This innovation will enable organizations to deliver unique and or improved products and services to its customers as well as improve the way the organization does business.

Diversity of thought is encouraged and utilized today in the push by corporations to support Board Diversity in expanding the makeup of their corporate boards, through Affirmative Action programs to promote a diverse workforce and through a myriad of organizations that understand that diversity of thought will improve everything from our educational system, healthcare system, create new jobs, and improve how our politicians work together!

Communities of Practice (CoP) is a tool utilized within KM which provide environments where people can collaborate, catalog, and reuse knowledge centered around a certain topic, practice area, or profession, to name a few. This community will bring "like minded" people together regardless of their race, gender and/or religion to stimulate thought, exchange ideas and learn for each other. All focused on innovation, and improving performance. The need for diversity of thought will continue to be a catalyst for our culture to improve the way we live, work and play. I welcome everyone to share their stories where this diversity is happening, where it should be happening and where it has been successful or not!