Beyond lessons learned: proposed new SIG on knowledge sharing and collaboration
Posted by Judy Payne on 26 January, 2012 - 16:46
You might have heard that APM is evaluating a proposal for a new ‘knowledge’ SIG. There’s a team of us beavering away on working up the proposal and before we go much further, we’d like your input. The new SIG will cover the theory and practice of what some of us call knowledge management – but as this means different things to different people, here’s an initial idea of the scope:
- Practical knowledge management: creating, finding, sharing, organising and exploiting knowledge - through tools and techniques involving people, processes and technology.
- Strategic knowledge and information management: why these are important and how they differ.
- Collaboration: people working together across and within project teams to achieve something they could not accomplish alone.
- Social networking and social media as means of sharing knowledge by helping people to connect with each other.
- Organisational and cross-organisational learning.
- All of the above within and between projects, organisations and individuals.
What’s your interest in knowledge sharing?
Would you be interested in joining a new SIG?
What would you like the new SIG to cover?
Posted in
As one of the people who is working witrh Judy to start a Knowledge Management SIG I am keen to understand how KM can make my job better, easier, faster. The old "more with less" maxim.
How do i find things, stuff in the quagmire of organisational files, folders et al. I am sure I am no different in feeling that i waste a lot of time looking for stuff and thinking there must be a better way of doing things.
My are of professional work is as a Constrruction Project Manager and as such i deal with projects that have a rigid legal framework that is often overtly adversarial in nature (despite a decade of partnering). How can knowledge management help instil behaviours that help ease the difficulties of find out things on a site. Far from easy given the commercial advantages available to operators who choose to ambush the other side.
I look forward to hearing from others and taping into the expertise of the APM community
As another (!) member of the nascent Knowledge SIG, I'm particularly interested in those elements of the scope (above) that are about;
1. sharing know-how, experience, good practice tips, shortcuts (etc etc) between projects,
2. sharing info & knowledge generated as part of projects wider, for the overall benefit of the Organisations that run, sponsor and benefit from those projects, and
3. bringing more of the power of social networking and social media into project management, which I fear is sometimes perceived as being as much about process as it is about people.
I must confess to having learned more so far about Knowledge Managemet than about Project Management, but I am convinced that the two can find a natural way to live and work together perfectly compatibly :-)
As another member of the fledgling / proposed Knowledge sharing and collaboration SIG, I'm coming from the other direction from Martin. My background was initially Project Management moving into the world of knowledge sharing. I agree that the two can sit together well and enhance each other.
Knowledge sharing techniques can enable tasks to be accomplished more quickly, cheaply and creatively.
I look forward to discussing further!
WIth so much more being asked of all of us, the new SIG should help make our life easier. Thats the attraction of Knowledge Sharing, it should give us the opportunity to learn from each other and create time and opportunity to:
do the routine things quicker and better.
spend more time being creative and innovative.
Knowledge should empower us all to improve what we do and how we do it, delivering better value for ourselves and our customers.
Knowledge should help us minimise our wasted or repeated effort.
Hi All,
Sounds like an excellent idea to me! One of the areas we all struggle with is knowledge sharing, just take the example of the Lessons Learned log that we all create during projects... is this ever actually referenced in other projects...? There must be better, and more efficient, ways of sharing knowledge, and I would be interested to find out more.
I hate re-inventing the wheel - if someone has done it before we should be learning from them and their experiences!
I suspect a significant element that will come into play will be the use of social media. There are a number of us in the PM community interested in the use of social media in project management, and we have a discussion group - Judy, I note you have made contact with the group, good stuff!
Also, if you would like to have a session at a Branch event, Yorkshire & North Lincolnshire Branch would be interested in discussing. We have had a recent event beginning to delve in to the topic of Quality, and this could be a similar session - i.e. what are the issues, what do we mean by knowledge sharing and collaboration, some pointers on 'quick wins' etc, all which will leed to discussions and will help to shape the proposed SIG.
Regards,
Ed
Indeed there are other ways of sharing knowledge. Lots! Including this one... There's a lively discussion going on in the APM LinkedIn group about lessons learned. Now and again people try to widen it to include other knowledge sharing methods, but someone always takes it back to lessons learned - usually on the basis that if we made 'reading' of 'lessons' compulsory at the start of a project, then everything would be fine. Which it wouldn't, not least because people don't learn because they're told to.
Ed - yes to the question about doing something around knowledge sharing and collaboration at one of your Branch events. Could we have a chat on the phone about what you would like? Or if any Branch members are reading this, please give us some suggestions!
Hi folks,
My first post and thought I'd chip in my two-penneth.
My working life started in an engineering apprenticeship, before moving into engineering line management and latterly an HQ and PPM environment. This has formed a strong belief in Nonaka & Takeuchi theories, particulalrly the identification of Tacit and Explict as two destinct forms of knowledge and the development of 'Ba' to enable sharing knowledge.
From the above Lessons Learned is a part of KM, but only represents one methadology amongst many which can be used. However, any KM startegy must be set within a framework of knowledge generation, codiification & coordination and transfer/responsiveness as well as being implemented within a receptive culture and suitable organisational structure etc. if it is to add value. KM is a veritable can of worms and despite spending a my dissertation year on the subject, I am still learning. I won't drone on too much as I even end up boring myself...
Just to clarify, is the APM interest in KM from the perspective of distribution of good PPM practice, or in developing guidance as part on an integrated approach to PPM through life and business processes?
Regards
Craig
Hi Craig, and thanks for the interest in KM and the new SIG. I've never heard KM described as a can of worms before! Is this an opinion you formed from studying SECI and Ba?
Like all good answers to KM questions, the answer to yours is it depends - in this case on the needs of the SIG members and wider community. We have to start somewhere, so our initial focus will be on good practice, particularly on opening minds to the world of KM beyond lessons learned. We will also be getting involved in the development of APM HQ's own strategy for looking after the knowledge of the PPM profession. Now that's a can of worms... ;-)
Our first event will be on 5 July, probably in London. Assuming that's successful, we should become a fully fledged SIG shortly afterwards. I don't know where in the world you are, but if you're interested then I hope to see you at the event!
Judy
Hi Judy, is there a way I can participate from Australia?
Regards, Stephen
Hi Stephen - we will be tweeting the event, but it will be in the middle of the night for you :-(
Our longer term plans for the SIG include twitter conferences, which we'll try and arrange so that people in different time zones can join. We'll also be blogging and getting more online discussions going so that people can participate wherever they are and whenever they have time.
When we're up and running as a SIG, anyone will be able to join online (free) and then you'll get notifications of events.
Watch this space!
I've just come accross this thread and I would be very interested in joining the SIG, particularly in relation to the collaboration aspects. I spend my time as a freelance PM running multiple small projects with small virtual teams accross the world.
Chris Ed - would also be very interested to hear any developments you are making around the notion of Quality - that is something we have on our list to explore!
Hi Chris - great to hear from someone who is taking KM seriously! When we get the go-ahead for the Knowledge SIG, we'll certainly need to add to our team. Are you able to come to the conference in London on 5 July?
Tell me more about what you mean by quality in relation to KM. Do you mean quality of information, or something else?
Hi Chris and Brian
I meant to reply sooner - sorry - and not rely on Judy to (reliably) beat me to it.
Sounds like a lot of good stuff going on at Lancaster. Where I introduced a first stab at a 'knowledge-enabled' PM lifecyle (part of NHS West Midlands), we also had requirements to demonstrate having sought out lessons as an integral part of the beginning of each new project.
Similarly, the close-down had to include some outputs in terms of lessons to pass on within the wider organisation, and we focused on even fairly loosely recording and stimulating discussion of these on our (very well used) organisational wiki - in which we also housed the more formal PM templates etc - in the 'bigger picture' context.
I'd also be keen to hear about your approach to quality, Chris.
We should be confirming our (London) venue very soon for the 5th July event. Can we hope that you might come & join us then?
And I also think that you might bring some really useful experience to the SIG team...
Martin
Hi
First post as a member. I am interested in some simple hints and tips about capturing and reflecting on lessons learned in project delivery within the my project and sharing with the wider organisation. That to me is the tricky bit, particularly where an organisation is large and works in descrete sillos.
The discussion so far has identified separate strands of interest. The subject header is knowledge sharing which to me seems more of an interactive thing, whereas knowledge management is more process driven. It might be useful to breakdown the different areas that people would like to explore.
Having been to some of the events that have discussed where projects have gone well and badly I have taken away some useful lessons and suggestions. I would be interested in a group that looked at sharing experiences and learning both good and bad.
Another way of sharing knowledge and experience could be through solving particular problems or barriers that members might be facing, so that the lesson shared is the right one at the right time to prevent someone else experiencing the same issue, so hopefully averting some of the bad experiences. Sometimes it is useful to get an objective perspective to a barrier or problem in order to come up with the most effective solution. That way hopefully some of us that are at early stages in our project management careers don't have to find out everything the hard way.
Regards
Jo
Hi Jo, and welcome to the discussion. I think you've hit the nail on the head with your comment about knowledge sharing in large organisatiions. Introducing and encouraging knowledge-sharing practices can actually help break down silos and - eventually - change the culture of an organisation.
Knowledge sharing is part of knowledge management, which itself is a bit of a misnomer, as knowledge can't actually be managed! What we can do is create an environment in which people want to share knowledge, and encourage the use of tools and techniques that make knowledge sharinig easier.
Effective knowledge sharing is interactive, as you say. Knowledge can never be fully captured. When someone writes down what they know, something is always lost - and that something is often the most valuable bit. 'Capturing' what people have learned usually results in information - which is fine, as information can be stored and searched - but it isn't knowledge. To share deeper knowledge (which includes insights, experience and other thinigs people often find difficult to articulate) requires a different approach - and this is where knowledge management practices come in. I wouldn't say that KM is process driven. Knowledge creation is also part of KM, and new ideas come from interaction and collaboration. Creating the right environment for knowledge creation and knowledge sharing is a mixture of processes, people practices, and technology. What works in one organisation doesn't necessarily work in another - there's no one-size-fits-all recipe.
If there's one thing organisations that are 'good at KM' have in common, it's an appreciation of the strategic importance of knowledge - and a working definition that distinguishes knowledge from information. Without this, organisations often end up managing information rather than knowledge.
Since starting this thread, we've changed the name of our proposed SIG to just 'Knowledge SIG' as we plan to cover all aspects of KM - and a bit of information management too. One of our goals for our first year is to deepen our understanding of what the project community needs. This isn't as simple as it sounds, because everyone uses different words to describe what they need! Words like 'capture' and 'disseminate' aren't very good knowledge words, but we hear them all the time. Is this because people are confusing knowledge with information, or are the words being used casually and out of habit? 'Lessons learned' is another can of worms - people sometimes use it to refer to the practice of writing down things they have learned in a project and storing it in a database for others to search (which is a very narrow, tiny corner of KM) and sometimes use it as a shorthand for all learning and knowledge sharing.
You can help us here! Tell us more about the kind of things you want to share, and the people you want to share them with.
BTW, I love your comment about reflecting on learning. That's an important point.
I'd be very interested to know what others think, too...
To Judy and Jo, like both your work and words...
Judy, I would add culture and infrastructure into the mix of variables (along with processes, people practices, and technology).
Cheers from Stephen, downunder (http://www.pmlessonslearned.info/)
One aspect mentioned by Philip at the beginning of this tread is the ‘adversarial' nature of some contracts and how knowledge sharing could help. We are developing an optimisation approach at UCL for project management that allows all stakeholders, to explore using visualisation the space that doesn’t significantly reduce the requirements or goals of others. This process helps creates for stakeholders an objective perspective. As the participants recognise that the process is fair this allows discussions to be more constructive and agreement to be reached sooner.
To answer the important point on culture, we have been developing this approach to help cater for diverse views and technical backgrounds.
One example programme that overall has reduced costs and has saved an estimated 10000 lives ( Independent Friday 4th May , ‘The most effective treatment on the NHS’) led by Sheldon Paul Stone UCL ensures lessons are learnt and good practice is shared. Similar to our aims in optimisation research, including the knowledge sharing aspect, is trying to ensure stakeholders have better outcomes; in Dr Stone’s research project there have been considerable improved patient outcomes including lower infection rates and patients home from hospital sooner.
Hi again Judy, Martin and everyone else actually!
Apologies for the late reply. In between juggling annual appraisals, I've managed to find a cheap enough train ticket to be able to attend on the 5th July so will be great to meet some of you then.
Quality of information is something we want to consider at Lancaster - I say information, this goes back to the point made about the differences between information and knowledge and we are looking to refresh our 'Data Quality Strategy' and even the name of this might need to be changed to underpin our focus on knowledge. Also thinking of quality in a wider sense, the quality of benefits, which again has had the potential to be interpreted by some more as outputs.
I can definitely appreciate the talk of 'silos' so anything to break that culture down is benefical.
In terms of social media and technology (infrastructure) it will be interesting to hear whether people have come up against substantial internal hurdles with this. I think we are starting to get there here at Lancaster but perhaps we could be more ambitious with our use of it.
Cheers,
Chris
Our first event is open for bookings!
Making knowledge work - beyond lessons learned
Thursday 5th July 2012, London
http://www.apm.org.uk/event/making-knowledge-work-beyond-lessons-learned
Hi Chris, it's great that you can make it on 5th July.
Be very glad to talk about as much of the above that we can fit in (!)
It will be particularly interesting to swap experiences with social media ('culture clashes' - or not) etc.
Also telling how this fits in with some aspects of quality that you mention. I think we all have issues with quality generally not least in terms of defining outcomes & benefits and later evaluating them, which to my mind is one of the key overlaps between 'KM' and 'PM'.
Meanwhile I am fresh from a conversation in which a senior colleague whom I was presenting to made a very clear distinction between blogging and 'real work' (I think he knew he was being slightly provocative!).
Martin
I think the idea of a knowledge SIG is fantastic. I am very interested in the concept of knowledge and believe that in PM, it could be the reason one project fail and another succeed. If knowledge gives an organisation competitive advantage over another, why not in PM?
I will like to be part of this new SIG and hope to see it work towards defining good KM practice in PM.