davidjf

Among existing yottabytes of data, we will use, during our life, billions of information (data becomes information when it correspond to some conscious or unconscious project or objective I have...), but how much tacit or explicit knowledge (information embodied after really using it, "learning by doing"...)?

I always was reluctant to the next word, wisdom, the word appearing a bit too spiritual to me. But competency is a good one. In my opinion, competency emerges when knowledge can, in real life, be applied to some specific and useful process...

In front of a problem, everybody try to find the perfect expertise.

This is not so easy, our mind is always balanced between confidence and doubts. We are tempted to trust some nice sources, gambling unconsciously between pleasure of finding fast and cold and unpleasant hard work...

People are therefore statistically more tempted by "lovable fools" than by "competent jerks"

But KM topic still open !

- How can we separate Wheat & Chaff?

- Back to basics, KM jargon

- KM frontiers always moving, from time to time, need of refocus, its relation with HPT (Human Performance Technology)

- Companies have still to define their strategy on that...

- Some quick wins are possible...

What is real value of KM? It is highly of the type of work model we have in an organization, and alignment of decisions with it...

- Profit/employee becomes a new key indicator, even for Wall Street !

- But can we measure KM?

- Is knowledge sharing so easy?

- Must we collect information or can we get it from other sources? The old connection/collection debate...

And this dream of learning?

Can learning be made, with a good KM system, without human intermediation? I don't think so.

Some steps of learning are:

- Illumination (human based, sort of psychoanalytical transfer mode)

- Deepening (Can be Information based, personal work)

- Project, transforming information into knowledge (Vertical or horizontal human interaction necessary)

And, just for pleasure, why not some contest on KM...?

- Is KM dead?

- Let's kill KMS (KM Systems)

- Let's kill Knowledge Management

- Is KM enabling more automated decisions? This "old", very good level and still stimulating article on "nonsense of KM", can bring some ideas, with good thinking about what is really tacit knowledge, and a synthesis of a lot of point of views. Nice commentary on it too...

- Sharing calendars and schedule is a good metaphor of som KM challenges

- In the real life, what can be one's personal "rules" for KM? You can apply those one (but who does?)

So much information, so small amount of time to transform it into knowledge, let's go-on zapping !

After conducting this test (takes 5 minutes for the first test..), I must admit I am a typical procrastinator (but maybe you are too...)

(I defer very important thinks to do, creating permanent stress for myself...).

I like this article and formula on the topic.

It is surely too late for me to change !!

My permanent auto-justification is the fact I consider not doing things (at the end, I do some things...) is a way to unconsciously regulate myself, to leave non evident priorities/urgencies emerge, in the increasing stress of solicitation created by new communication world and media.

- A rather good online set of articles on Strategic Planning

- IT Gouvernance: Pénétration d'ITIL en augmentation, et quelques règles utiles pour réussir

- All companies nowadays know that main profit gains can come from supplier side, in a globalized world.

(and ....too bad for some suppliers, many ethics issues, where is win-win strategy?, ...)

This article give some good rules to follow in that perspective:

Strategic alignment, Cross-functionality, Simplification, ICT enabling, Process sourcing (BPO)

KM:

- Killer applications in KM? Good synthesis, but nothing new...

- Information is not knowledge! Wiki example

...and an opposite opinion there...

- As mentionned in my 14/1 contribution, role of KM for economies and ... need of KM adapted to specific cultures...

- About the permanent fight of librarians inside KM strategies...

- Back to basics: Deming on KM and management

- Good synthesis in this short executive abstract of some current IT market heavy trends:

Outsourcing for stable operations, new emerging technologies bundles, software subscription rather than ownership, ...

- Net Neutrality: an permanent issue, not solved...

and...

Some Hi-Tech news for teckies...

- BI (Business Intelligence) data delivered on phones: realistic?

- Moore law again: why not play on connectivity?

- Touch screens for many fingers: applications?

- Bug free software: open source a solution?

Must management concept be seriously treated?

Real world modelization is useful. It is good to reflect real thoughts by concepts and frameworks.

But where is the limit between ready to use, "gadget" concepts and real thinking?

Just look at this site. Not so bad, but ....

Let's take, as a basic example, the famous overused BCG growth/share matrix.

We can go further on that on wikipedia, with a bit more in-depth approach.

Look at this one * (I really like this second degree representation). A good representation of the visualization tools. Try it.

Is that enough to understand, or do we need a full business school education on that?

Basic conclusion:

"The map is not the territory" ( Korzybski, "founder" of General Semantics)

Information (even with a good visualization technique) is not Knowledge!

All those models and frameworks become useful only if you have the opportunity to really use them in real situations, in real life!

* I have been warned of this by this nice forum on intelligence (in french, I am member since years...)

This recent article is stimulating, to reemphasize on the basics of "semantics" (ontologies, ...), and to think about relations between information and knowledge.

It shows again the close relation beetween moving to semantics and the need of standards (with, as always, the fact that a standard implies a "point of view", and so, "political" issues...)