Weekly Knowledge Management Blog by Stan Garfield

KM Book, Blog, Link, and Question of the Week

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KM Book of the Week

Next Generation Knowledge Management, Volume 2 by Jerry Ash

Featuring key contributions from:

• David Snowden
• Steve Barth
• Robert H. Buckman
• David Gurteen
• Patti Anklam
• Carl Frappaolo
• Jerry Ash
• Megan Santosus
• Verna Allee
• Nancy Dixon
• Rob Lebow
• Nick Milton

The second volume in this new series of reports continues to separate KM myth (and hype) from the reality, detailing the thoughts of these leading KM gurus, and presenting their theories in a highly practical context. With positive and realistic perspectives, this unique report illustrates the theories and practices that enterprises must understand if they are to be successful in acquiring and exploiting knowledge management.

Areas covered include:

• Comparing, contrasting, connecting corporate and personal KM;
• The road from command and control to knowledge sharing;
• Interpersonal knowledge management (IPKM);
• Social network analysis and social software;
• Seven steps to personal knowledge management;
• How do we know knowledge works;
• Relationship of CRM and other disciplines to KM;
• Knowledge networks and value creation;
• The creation and reuse of project knowledge;
• Achieving accountability through shared values;
• New roles for top and middle managers;
• Increasing performance through knowledge;
• Defining and organizing communities of practice.

Next Generation Knowledge Management, Volume 2 draws together feedback from thousands of interviews and meetings with those people currently facing, and engaging with, the challenge of KM. It presents their combined experience in a highly practical reference source.

KM Blog of the Week

Intelligent Agent - Social Bookmarking For Enterprise Knowledge Management by Robert Berkman

This is an unconventional post:

1. It is long - and reads more like a published article than a typical blog entry
2. For readers of my subscription-based journal, The Information Advisor, it serves as an online supplement to the March 2007 Knowledge Management Supplement article “Social Bookmarking as a Knowledge Management Strategy”
3. On April 15th, as an experiment on this blog, I will share that full article, which also contains a detailed feature comparison chart of both fee-based and free social bookmarking vendors and sites here on Intelligent Agent.

In the March 2007 Information Advisor "Knowledge Management" supplement I discussed how social bookmarking can be used as a means to share knowledge and find internal expertise - in other words to facilitate knowledge management in an organization. I also examined and profiled two leading fee based vendors that have launched a product specifically designed for enterprise use: ConnectBeam and Cogenz.

In that article, though I also discussed how certain free, public social bookmarking sites could also be suitable for enterprise use - IF - they offered a “groups” function. In other words: the ability to create your own customized group where you could share your bookmarks within a defined group - such as a workforce team, department, project team, or any other defined group. That article provided a list of social bookmarking firms that fit that criteria, and included a detailed feature comparison chart (to be published here next month).

Those free social bookmarking sites that fit my criteria for potential enterprise use are:

• BlinkList
• BlueDot
• Delicious
• Diigo
• Magnolia
• Simpy
• Shadows

KM Link of the Week

Knowledge Management Maturity Model

KMMM is a methodology to develop Knowledge Management goal oriented, systematically and holistically. It consists of two models, a development model and an analysis model.

The development model defines five maturity levels and provides information how to make the next reasonable step in Knowledge Management Development. The analysis model helps to take account of all important aspects of Knowledge Management and reveals which topics should be developed in future. As a third component an auditing process is defined which structures planning, data collection by interviews and workshops, and feedback sessions.

KM Question of the Week

Q: I would like to learn more about the role knowledge advisors play at HP.

A: Knowledge advisors perform the following tasks:

1. Help users learn about and use the available people, process, and technology KM components. Provide consulting on processes and tools.
2. Facilitate collaboration. Connect people to others who can help them or whom they can help.
3. Direct users to the right knowledge sources based on their specific needs. Locate relevant knowledge resources.
4. Assist users in searching for content and knowledge. Find reusable content.
5. Actively offer assistance to work teams. Engage by contacting users, not just waiting for requests to arrive.
6. Review content submitted to repositories for compliance to quality standards, and follow up as required to improve quality.
7. Solicit user feedback. Direct feedback to the right person within the KM team.
8. Conduct training. Create and record self-paced courses.
9. Search for information to help meet deadlines. Send search results to users who are not connected to the network.
10. Network with other knowledge advisors. Back each other up. Help respond to requests. Take over open requests at the end of the work day based on being in different time zones.

For more information, see Knowledge Advisors at Hewlett-Packard: Connecting People with Information by Chris Riemer and Pam Coulter Enright of Knowledge Street.

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[The contents of this KM blog are my personal comments and do not reflect the official views of Hewlett-Packard Company.]