1. Knowledge Management presented by Janet Foley
Suncoast Chapter
Society for Technical Communications
September 7, 2006
Please send questions/suggestions to

2. Ground Rules No phones No computers No clock-watching No bio-breaks
No note-taking
No talking
No sneezing
No burping
No laughing
No snoring

3. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

4. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

5. So What? Surprise! You already are a knowledge manager
How do you organize your projects? Your workspace? Your garage? Your books? Your life?
You bring order where there was chaos
Make the leap from carbon copies to browsing the internet
Your ability to understand KM
Allows you to bring valued ideas to management, your peers, and your reports
Broadens your career horizons
Allows you to see how what you do fits into the KM process of your organization (all organizations have it)

6. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

7. Who? Everyone Yes, KM can be practiced by:
An individual
A work team
A department
A division
An entire organization
However, to be successful in an organization, it requires
Upper management directives and support
An enterprise-wide KM organization
Initial and continued funding
Flexibility in implementation
Change Management support

8. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

9. What? Define Your Terms Knowledge Management
Oxford: An organized body of information
The Knowledge Continuum:
Data Information Knowledge Wisdom
Management
Oxford: Exercising executive control or authority
Creating order out of chaos

10. What? Knowledge Value Continuum
Data
Information
Knowledge
Wisdom
Five days
The business week is Monday through Friday.
I have to work the entire business week.
But I don’t have to work hard.
No one
The office was empty.
It was Saturday, so no one had to work.
I can work on Saturday if I want to.
There is an on-off button on the machine.
The machine needs to be on during work hours.
The last person out the door each night must turn off the machine.
I never want to be the last person out the door at night.
Factual / Non- Contextual
Contextual / Procedural
Factual, Contextual Conclusion
Interpretative /Applicative / Creative

11. Mission: Organization!
What?: What is IT?
Mission:
Organization!
…What does that mean?

12. What? So, Organize Your Closet
Mission: Organization
Throw out or give away (you’ll never use it again)
Categorize/color code
Put similar things in baskets
Maintain it—put stuff away or get rid of it
Result?
You can find what you want when you want it, quickly
You will only find things that are of value to you
Things of value to you can be re-used efficiently
You discover you are missing key pieces
Know what do you do?
You either create them, ask your friend if they have something you could use, or buy them
You categorize them
Put them where they belong

13. What? So, Organize Your Knowledge
Mission: Organization
Throw out or give away (you’ll never use it again)
Categorize/color code
Put similar things in baskets in a certain order
Maintain it—put stuff away or get rid of it
Result?
You can find what you want when you want it, quickly
You will only find things that are of value to you
Things of value to you can be re-used efficiently
You discover you are missing key pieces
Now what do you do?
You either create them, ask your friend if they have something you could use, or buy them
You categorize them
Put them where they belong
Mission: Organization
Delete/Purge/Archive
Create a taxonomy and tag accordingly
Post in a database with similar documents grouped
Review twice a year
Result?
You can find what you want when you want it, quickly
You will only find things that are of value to you
Things of value to you can be re-used efficiently
You discover you are missing key pieces
Now what do you do?
You either create them, ask your colleague if they have something you could use, or buy them
You tag them
You post them in the database

14. What? Informed Judgment is Essential to KM Success
KM requires evaluating and anticipating a user’s knowledge needs and (Judgment)
Organizing it in such a way that the user can find it intuitively (Judgment)
Navigating the Gray: Continuums
Usefulness (Judgment)
Value (Judgment)
Currency (Judgment)
Authoritativeness (Judgment)
Etc., etc., etc.
Therefore, each document is labeled and tagged according to it’s attributes: dates, title, abstract, and various continuums (Applying your judgments to the document)

15. What? Defining a Knowledge Object and Content
Re-usable
Unique
Identified by tagging
Includes contextual information
Knowledge objects may include one or more documents which become content when they are put somewhere where others can access them
Within a given document, moving sentences and paragraphs to create the optimum message is an editorial function; the final version is considered content, or perhaps, after reasonable judgment is made as to it’s value to others, is considered a knowledge object.

16. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

17. Where? Technological Enablement
Knowledge is comprised of content (knowledge objects, documents)
Why does managing knowledge require titles, abstracts, dates, tags, etc.?
Taxonomy drives browse
Tags drive search
Technology enables Knowledge Sharing: we can see in everyone else’s closets and borrow their clothes!

18. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

19. When? How do we know how often to exercise KM procedures?
Depends on the KO
Legal
Alert
Report
Etc.
Tag KOs for at least an annual review of all content

20. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

21. Why? Why Bother? Simplifies your search for what you want
Saves you time to do what you want/need to do
You know that what you find will be of value to you
Saves money
Feels good
Knowledge Management is Fun

22. TOC
So What?
Who?
What?
Where?
When?
Why?
How? (to what extent)

23. How? KM Succeeds When it Creates a K-Sharing Culture
KM is an ever-changing, ongoing process
It must be flexible to reflect the changing organization
It requires dedicated change management activities
It must be driven by upper management
It must be continually well-funded

24. So What? Surprise! You already are a knowledge manager
How do you organize your projects? Your workspace? Your garage? Your books? Your life?
You bring order where there was chaos
Make the leap from carbon copies to browsing the internet
Your ability to understand KM
Allows you to bring valued ideas to management, your peers, and your reports
Broadens your career horizons
Allows you to see how what you do fits into the KM process of your organization (all organizations have it)

25. Questions, Please
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