Enterprise 2.0
Knowledge Management
A Revolution of Knowledge in Three Parts.

This is Lisa.
Lisa works in
manufactoring.

This is Brad.
Brad works in
product
development.

Both work for a large supplier of the
automotive industry.

Lisa and Brad work
6,000 miles away from each other…

… and are busy with the same
problems.

They don‘t know each other.

But they should.

That‘s actually this
man‘s job:
Klaus is the
knowledge
manager.

Klaus tried everything to bring
Lisa and Brad together…
Groupware
Fileserver
Incentives
Taxonomies
Knowledge Data Base Knowledge Management
Yellow Pages Process

…but it didn‘t help
very much.

Is that Lisa‘s or
Brad‘s fault?

No.

Because both are happy to share
their knowledge...

We all like to share
knowledge…

…if we get the right
audience.

More than 80 % of all web users
who create content say that the they
do it because they like to
communicate and exchange
information with other people.
IBM/ZEM Study „Innovation in den Medien 2008“

Positive feedback from others is
important.

That promotes our status as experts.

However without an audience,
we are not motivated…

…and we don‘t know the
context in which our
knowledge is used.
 We only know what we
know when we need to
know it.
 We always know more
than we can tell and we
always tell more than we
can write.
David Snowden, Complex Acts of Knowing - Paradox and
Descriptive Self Awareness

The old knowledge management
didn‘t care.
1. Write your knowledge into a database.
2. Find an adequate level of detail.
3. Maybe somebody will use your knowledge
some day. And… maybe not.
4. Don‘t spend too much of your time on this!

It‘s no surprise
that Lisa has to
set priorities.
I don‘t know if anybody
will ever need my
knowledge.
I don‘t know how
somebody will use my
knowledge.
I‘d rather take care of really
important things.

The old knowledge management doesn‘t work,
because it...
• …defines knowledge as a transferable good, which
is centrally provided.
• …demands knowledge-sharing without providing
an audience.
• …wants to manage knowledge.

„You can't manage
knowledge.
Knowledge is
between two ears,
and only between
two ears.“
Peter Drucker
Nach: Wilson, T.D. (2002) "The nonsense of 'knowledge management'" Information Research, 8(1), paper no. 144 [Available at
http://InformationR.net/ir/8-1/paper144.html] Bild: http://www.cgu.edu/images/Drucker/Peter_Drucker/images/PeterDrucker016_jpg.jpg

Where do we
go from here?

The web enters the
business…

Klaus loves the Wikipedia!

He is astonished by the
huge number of blogs
on the internet…

... and he jumps at his chance.

„We‘ll use a Wiki for our
glossary!“

Everybody participates and together we
will establish our own Wikipedia!
Chris Harrison - http://www.chrisharrison.net/projects/clusterball/

Social Software…
... makes knowledge
management
successful!

WRONG!

Social Software is
(unfortunately)
just a tool...

Sure it is easier, more intuitive,
and looks better – but it won‘t
guarantee an audience either.

Social Software in your business…
1. Write your knowledge into a database, into
the wiki, a blog, [or other Social Software
tool]….
2. Find an adequate level of detail.
3. Maybe somebody will use your knowledge
some day. And… maybe not.
4. Don‘t spend too much of your time on this!

„But it works on the
web…“

Sure, but just 1 % of all web users create
the majority of content.
1 % of web users
create the majority of
content.
9 % of web users
comment and tag
information.
90 % of web users
The
only consume
information.
90-9-1
Rule
Quelle: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia/
Nielsen, 2006

How many of your employees
are the 1%?

?
How many of your most important
but busy experts will be part of this
one percent?

Sorry, Klaus…

… but that is not
knowledge
management!

“Knowledge Management and Social
Media look very similar on the surface, but
are actually radically different at multiple
levels, both cultural and technical, and are
locked in an undeclared cultural war
for the soul of Enterprise 2.0.“
Social Media vs. Knowledge Management: A Generational War.
http://enterprise2blog.com/2008/09/social-media-vs-knowledge-management-a-generational-war/

1. Sharing knowledge is always
voluntary, no one can ever be
forced.
2. We share knowledge when we
have the right audience, that
motivates us and creates the right
context.
3. Social Software alone is not the
solution to the old problems of
knowledge management.

Will Brad and Lisa ever find
each other?

http://www.besser20.de/english

Frank Wolf, Christoph Rauhut, Simone Happ,
Christopher Buschow, Katja Dräger, Christin Büttner
Thanks to: Anne Glas, Holger Günzler, Dada Lin, Jana Frommhold, Ricarda Köckler

f.wolf@t-systems.com
simone.happ@t-systems.com
http://www.t-systems-mms.com/mms/en
http://www.besser20.de/english