The APM Knowledge SIG held their AGM event on Thursday 25th June in London. Adrian Malone presented a case study entitled "Agile and knowledge management: sprints, scrums, failing fast and the power of Trojan Mice" What happens when the methods of Agile are applied to knowledge management? Can Agile help to build a culture of curiosity and experimentation, to fail fast and adapt in complex project environments? Drawing on recent global knowledge management projects at Atkins we will look at how focused incremental change can help to develop a knowledge sharing culture.

1. APM KSIG event 25th June 2015
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Agile and Knowledge Management
Sprints, Scrums, Failing Fast and the Power of Trojan Mice
Adrian Malone
Group Head of Knowledge Management and
Collaboration.
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Knowledge Management – Zombie Noun
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Knowledge Management Managing Knowing
Lessons learnt Learning lessons
Continuous Improvement Continuously Improving
Intellectual Capital Capitalising on intellect
Classification System Systematically Classifying
X
X
X
X
X
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Nouns which ‘cannibalise active verbs…substitute abstract entities for human beings’ (Helen Sword)

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So What?
Knowledge Management – Zombie Noun
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Knowledge Management Managing Knowing
Lessons learnt Learning lessons
Continuous Improvement Continuously Improving
Intellectual Capital Capitalising on intellect
Classification System Systematically Classifying
X
X
X
X
X



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Nouns which ‘cannibalise active verbs…substitute abstract entities for human beings’ (Helen Sword)

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Complex Adaptive Systems
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Examples according to wikipedia
global macroeconomic network
the stock market
the immune system
communitiespolitical parties
the internet
ecosystems
manufacturing businesses
the biosphere
ant colonies
Learning Lessons
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Roadmap
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Agile
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Customer
Centric
Product
Backlog
Daily
Stand-ups
Minimum
Viable
Product
Fail Fast
Short – Fat
Projects
Storytelling
Hypothesis
Delivery Model – Product Focus
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Product
Owner
Customers Designers Developers
Scrum
Manager
Day Meeting Duration
Mon Daily Stand Up 15
Tues Sprint Planning 30
Wed Sprint Review 60
Thu Daily Stand Up 15
Fri Storytelling 90

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Search Incubator
Agile in Practice
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Why Focus on Search?
• Customer Feedback
• IS Team Feedback
• Strategic Alignment
• Digital Roadmap
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Customer Feedback
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No simple way to find out what
people did on a project
Feels like I've missed out
on information very often
Difficult to filter or focus on
specific types of result
I'm constantly being shown
information which is not
relevant to me
Old information is
shown first
Lack of structure

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Customer Insights
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Part of Digital Vision
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Information becomes intelligence It’s impossible not to be informed
Find the right people

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Office 365 Roadmap
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‘We have the tools if you know the problem’
Search Incubator Principles:
• Don’t try to compete with
Microsoft
• Focus on configuration and
business change / user
engagement
• Drive ‘respect data’ behaviours
Incubator Overview
• Agile approach with 4x 1 week sprints (+ ‘sprint zero’)
• Virtual team split between UK and North America
• Use of Visual Studio Online, SharePoint Online,
Yammer to support collaboration
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What We Did (in 4(+1)weeks)
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Built Proof of Concept
Explored options
Carried out in depth
Customer Research
Technical Research
Moved data to cloud Tested POC with users
Summary
Key Achievements
• Detailed understanding of customer needs to inform and prioritise product backlog –
not only ‘what’ but also ‘why’ with worldwide engagement
• Successful experiment to move profile data from Axis to cloud with some valuable
lessons and insights about user permissions and data mapping
• POC tested with our customers – positive feedback
Next Steps
• Build product backlog for search as part of wider collaboration tools backlog
• Start now preparing data and users – it’s not about technology!
• Explore machine learning and AI
• Deliver as incremental agile incremental projects
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Thank You
Adrian Malone
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Group Head of Knowledge Management and Collaboration
adrian.malone@atkinsglobal.com