Escaping the Knowledge Management Black Hole: New Approaches to Leveraging Organisational Wisdom Using SharePoint

Escaping the Knowledge Management Black HoleNew Approaches to Leveraging Organisational Wisdom Using SharePointPaul CulmseeSeven Sigma Business Solutions (Australia)

PAUL CULMSEE CISSP, MCSE, MCT, MCTSOwner - Seven Sigma Business Solutions (Perth)SharePoint architect, coach, facilitator and agonyauntSense-making practitioner and facilitator for largescale complex projects (non IT)Certified Dialogue Mapper T: @paulculmsee E: paul.culmsee@sevensigma.com.au B: www.cleverworkarounds.comShare The SharePoint Conference for Business Users

But first!• A quick question…Share The SharePoint Conference for Business Users

“If we want to go to the moon again, we’ll be startingfrom scratch because all of that knowledge hasdisappeared.” Lost Knowledge by David DeLong

“As wizards like Dr. Richter retire, they are taking withthem invaluable expertise about just what makesbombs work. And raising a new crop of experts to taketheir place will be difficult, sparking questions about thereliability of the countrys 6,000-plus warheads” http://www.lasg.org/LifeAtTheLabs/knowhow.htm

“There are only about 50 people in the U.S. who, like Dr.Richter, possess both the know-how to make a nuclear weaponand the "fudge factor"-- the memory of last-minute tweakingand intuitive shortcuts that made some of the nations 1,000or so nuclear-weapons tests work” http://www.lasg.org/LifeAtTheLabs/knowhow.htm

The legacy of knowledge loss… • Reinvented wheels • Unlearned lessons • Patterns of repeated mistakes • Productivity shortfalls • Lack of continuous performance improvement

The Knowledge Management Wars Team Polyani: “Tacit knowledge cannot be transferred: We know more than we can tell” Team Nonaka: “Tacit knowledge is unarticulated knowledge awaiting transfer”Slide 10

Team Nonaka Strategy… Codification Strategy: Aim to detach knowledge from its possessor by articulation and electronic storage. The knowledge becomes explicit. Document libraries, Lists, Wikis, Blogs, Podcasts, etcSlide 11

Team Polyani Strategy… Personalisation Strategy: Technology has to provide information of “Who knows what?” and stimulate personal contacts via collaborative means. MySites, communities of practice, people searchSlide 12

The only form of tacit knowledge sharing… Resistance is futileShare The SharePoint Conference for Business Users

Debunking tacit knowledge Brian May • Guitarist for Queen • 7th greatest guitarist of all time (Planet Rock poll) • Wrote “We will rock you” • Built his own guitar • PHD in astrophysics • Co-author of book “Bang! The complete history of the universe”Share The SharePoint 14 Slide Conference for Business Users

So how do we “manage”this knowledge?

“Brian, wehave a newguy, canyou doquickhandover?”

“Brian, can you write up a ‘how- to’ document?”Slide 18

“Brian, can you write up a detailed manual on what you do?”Slide 19

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When cause & effect is clear… …knowledge is easier to codify in written form

… but using itstill depends onyour tacitknowledge

Codified(explicit)knowledge inthe writtenform can bevery, veryvaluable…

But whencause &effect is notclear,codifying inwriting isHARD

Would you like fries with that? “Explicit knowledge aims for foolproofness but – at the same time – ensures proliferation of fools” Georg Hans Neuweg & Stefan Fothe

Dangers of inappropriatecodification…• Deskilling the workforce – Over time, application of rules may be mistaken for original expertise – Fundamental paradox that the codification and simplification of knowledge also increases the likelihood of lazy imitation – May affect collaboration and the development and preservation of trust – Knowledge becomes more static and stale

Dangers of inappropriatecodification…• Handicaps experts personal growth and quality of decision making – Organisations with a high degree of articulation force experts to perform in a novice-like fashion – Excessive attempts to codify will take a long time and may affect practitioners focus on their own practice – Sometimes its better to learn by observation in conjunction with explanation

It’s about the spider senses...“it’s not [explicit knowledge] that people worry about. Rather it’s the ability of someone withthirty years of experience to sense some failure, an unarticulated (and unarticulatable) wrongness which means they check into something in more detail, often preventing catastrophic failure. It’s the ability when things are not working to know where to look first.” Dave Snowden

• “What makes Dave such a great project manager?”• What insights can we gain from the team who last worked in this area?• What was the rationale behind this decision?• What advice would you pass onto others performing this role?

Insight is in the eye of the beholder “I’m getting a J…” “OMG it’s like he’s known me all my life”• One person’s profundity is anothers platitude

Seven Sigma’s KM Mantra #1You can’t “transfer” tacit knowledge(we are Team Polyani)…but you still should codify it nonetheless(we are also Team Nonaka)The issue is how you do it

Seven Sigma’s KM Mantra #2when cause = effect, go ahead and write itdown Most if not all of the variables are understood anyway There is huge value in capturing explicit knowledge in this form

Seven Sigma’s KM Mantra #3Where cause <> effect, do not burden those withthe knowledge of codifying it in writing Not all of the variables are known Context is everything “You say more than you can write”

Seven Sigma’s KM Mantra #4Insight is realised through stories, metaphorand experiences Stories provide a richer canvas for people to relate to their own experiences People will find their own insights – that’s how tacit knowledge works

Capture the stories? • Pro: Reduces the codification burden on the person with the knowledge • Con: Requires the right questions to be asked • Con: Have to sit through hours of footage. How much is relevant to a future audience? • Con: It is a failed strategy!

Boring old farts: A failed strategy… “In the Digital Story Telling movement experts interviewed experienced staff, recorded video tapes and edited them to create mini-documentaries. Now all of this is interesting, valuable and capable of generating insight and understanding, but it’s not compressed experience. As one of the younger ones put it: Why would I spend half an hour listening to a story from a boring old fart about technology that we no longer use.” Dave Snowden http://tinyurl.com/7rocsus

Boring old farts? “The interesting thing is if one of those boring old farts turned up to give a lunch time lecture it was over subscribed and younger engineers stayed to talk for hours afterwards.” Dave Snowden http://tinyurl.com/7rocsus

What do we propose?Leverage the language of Dialogue Mapping (IBIS) – Complex group discussion broken into basic artefacts – Questions, ideas, pros, cons – Provides a means to navigate rationale

Our approach• Video/podcast reflections by practitioners – Ask expansive open-ended questions – Do not edit into a “compelling story”• Create IBIS maps of the video rationale – Provides an artefact of the rationale – Time stamp each node to its context in the video and add metadata – Provides navigation, search and tagging of the rationale!

Our approach• Store the videos in SharePoint media libraries• Store maps in our knowledge database and surface into SharePoint• Our forthcoming tool provides the glue – Navigation, search, contextual relevant links of video content

Business Benefits• Much more efficient use of expert time – More talking, less writing• Much better use of the knowledge captured – Reduced burden on those consuming the content, yet maximises the opportunity for insight – Integrated with SharePoint search, user profiles and any other contextual relevance• Many applications across multiple sectors/industries• Leverages SharePoint  – SharePoint is already excellent at managing other forms of explicit knowledge

QuestionsShare The SharePoint Conference for Business Users

More information… Wednesday workshop: • Aligning SharePoint to Business Goals: Don’t Just Say it, Do It! – 1 day class at the conclusion of this conference • CleverWorkarounds Blog (www.cleverworkarounds.com) • Seven Sigma Business Solutions (www.sevensigma.com.au) • Issue and Dialogue Mapping Training • SharePoint Governance and Information Architecture TrainingShare The SharePoint Conference for Business Users

Paul Culmsee Seven Sigma Business Solutions Paul.culmsee@sevensigma.com.au +61 410533585 www.cleverworkarounds.comShare The SharePoint Conference for Business Users Slide 46

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Escaping the Knowledge Management Black Hole: New Approaches to Leveraging Organisational Wisdom Using SharePoint

by Paul Culmsee

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Escaping the Knowledge Management Black Hole: New Approaches to Leveraging Organisational Wisdom Using SharePoint Presentation Transcript