Knowledge Management In Projects

Knowledge Management in Projects E r i c D . B r o w n M a r c h 2 5 2 0 1 0

Overview Describe Literature Review & Areas of future research in Knowledge Management for Projects Provide an overview of types of knowledge in projects Provide quick review of methods for sharing knowledge in projects

What is a project? A project is: Temporary Deﬁnite Start / End Dates Speciﬁc Purpose (i.e., accomplish something)

“Official” Definition The Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) by the Project Management Institute (PMI) deﬁnes a project as: a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product, service or result. The temporary nature of projects indicates a deﬁnite beginning and end.

It’s a project world All organizations today are project-based with some companies being 100% project-based How do we share knowledge between projects and project teams? What type of knowledge is generated during projects?

KM in Projects Very little focus on Knowledge Management in projects Focus for project managers is time, budget and scope. Disterer (2002) argues that traditional project management is overly concerned with efﬁciency and effectiveness

KM in Projects (cont) Leseure & Brookes (2004): “Knowledge is generated within one project and then lost. Failure to transfer this knowledge…leads to wasted activity and impaired project performance” Kasvi, Vartiainen, & Hailikari (2003): “knowledge management practices were weak and unsystematic”

Types of Knowledge Two general types of knowledge Explicit - the ‘know-what’ Tacit - the ‘know-how’

Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge is the ‘know- what’ of an organization Explicit knowledge is ‘visible’ knowledge Explicit knowledge has been deﬁned by Polanyi (1967) as: knowledge that can be communicated using formalized language

Tacit Knowledge Tacit Knowledge is the ‘know-how’ of an organization. Tacit Knowledge is the ‘invisible’ knowledge According to Takeuchi (1998) tacit knowledge is: deeply rooted in an individuals actions and experiences as well as in the ideals, values or emotions that the person embraces

KM in Projects Reich (2007) deﬁnes KM in projects as: “Knowledge management in the context of a project is the application of principles and processes designed to make relevant knowledge available to the project team.” Reich outlines 4 types of knowledge in projects

Project Knowledge Behavioral Technical Knowledge Knowledge Cultural Domain Knowledge Knowledge Institutional Process Knowledge Knowledge

Types of Knowledge in Projects Cultural Knowledge knowledge about the organizational culture as well as cultural backgrounds of the project team members Mostly hidden from view - difﬁcult to capture/share?

Types of Knowledge in Projects Domain Knowledge knowledge about the industry, technology, processes, current situation, business and products Example: the software development cycle

Types of Knowledge in Projects Institutional Knowledge knowledge that a project team or member has about the organization structure, reporting, etc

Types of Knowledge in Projects Process Knowledge knowledge about the the project (tasks, methodologies, timelines, structure, etc) and process Example: project plans, etc

Transferring knowledge in projects

Sharing knowledge Reich’s four types of knowledge can be split into 2 categories: Behavioral Technical Knowledge Knowledge Behavioral - why / Cultural Domain Knowledge Knowledge who Technical - how / Institutional Knowledge Process Knowledge when / what

Methods for Sharing Sole & Wilson (2002) have researched this area showing that some methods are better for different types of knowledge A few samples of methods for sharing knowledge: Mentoring Stories Simulation Modeling Codiﬁed Resources Symbolic Objects

Sole, D., & Wilson, D. G. (2002). Storytelling in Organizations: The power and traps of using stories to share knowledge in organizations. Harvard Graduate School of Education.

Sharing Behavioral Knowledge Behavioral Knowledge Storytelling Modeling Simulation Behavioral Knowledge is more tacit

Sharing Technical Knowledge Technical Knowledge - Codiﬁed Resources - documents, plans, etc Symbolic Objects Technical Knowledge is more explicit

Future Research How can project knowledge best be captured and transferred? What changes can be made to project management methodologies to ensure KM is captured & shared? Can systems & processes be built to allow both categories of knowledge (Behavioral & Technical) to be captured & shared?

Future Research / Roadmap Future roadmap: Currently completing literature review of Project Knowledge Management & methods of capturing/sharing Research different capturing methods Research different sharing methods

Thank you If you have any questions, contact me: http://ericbrown.com eric@ericbrown.com 972-890-4058 twitter: @ericdbrown

In addition to the slides, you can ﬁnd a pre- recorded version of this presentation on my website at: http://ericbrown.com/PKMR-1

Knowledge Management In Projects

by Eric Brown on Mar 25, 2010

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