Knowledge Management

Tools & Techniques

 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

The purpose of this document. . .

• To outline what knowledge management is and why it is so essential

to us all

• To share knowledge management best practice

• To share examples of how knowledge capture was used within M&S

on Project 5 Plus

Knowledge Management 2
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Contents

• What is Knowledge Management

• The Value of Knowledge Management

• Methods of Capturing and Sharing Knowledge

• Knowledge Management within a Project

• Who is Involved

• Process Used

• In summary

Knowledge Management 3
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

THE VALUE OF THE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

What Is Knowledge Management?

DEFINITION
DEFINITION

• Knowledge management is about getting the right information from

wherever it is, to those that need it, quickly and effectively :
– It is a strategic approach: Maximising the capabilities and effectiveness of an organisation
by spreading the collective knowledge and learning
– and a cultural approach: valuing one’s own and other’s knowledge as much as their
contribution to tasks

• It is NOT about information databases or software systems. Even the

most user-friendly tools won't help much with managing information
unless they're strongly linked to people and processes

Effective
Effectiveutilisation
utilisationof
ofknowledge
knowledge and
andkey
keylearnings
learningsis
isthe
theobjective
objectiveof
of
what we will call “knowledge management”.
what we will call “knowledge management”.

Knowledge Management 4
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

There needs to be a widespread acceptance of the value

of Knowledge Management for it to happen
VALUE
VALUE

• Benefits of Knowledge Management:

– Development rather than creation of new tools and methodologies
– Development of information on industry practice (keep ahead of competitors)
– Better and faster onboarding for new roles
– Collective Learning from past mistakes without re-learning the hard way

• What happens if we don’t use Knowledge Management

– Experience and capability is lost with staff turnover / job rotation How on earth
– We learn in isolation (slower) did my
predecessor
– Wheel is continually re-invented and mistakes repeated do this ?
– No slick handover process
– Poor time management (not best use of time)

Some
Somecompanies
companiessee
seethe
thevalue
valueof
ofspending
spending6-6-10%
10%ofoftheir
their
revenues on developing and managing intellectual capital.
revenues on developing and managing intellectual capital.

Knowledge Management 5
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

There are many ways of capturing and sharing

knowledge. . .
METHODS
METHODS

• Best practice guides

• Procedures/standards

• Presentations

• Reports

• Newsletters

• Network groups

• Discussion forums

• Video

• Databases

Knowledge Management 6
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

In a team or project environment, knowledge is

accumulated and disseminated in some of these ways
METHODS
METHODS

Some
Someof
ofthe
theCriteria
Criteria55Plus
Plushad
hadto
toMeet
Meet How
HowWe
WeManaged
Managedour
ourInformation
Information
• For the Team: • For the Team:
– 1 central file – One electronic filing area structured by
– Global access workstreams

– Keeping stakeholders on-board – Controlled access for completed records

– An admin team acted as ‘gatekeepers’ to
ensure maintenance of the project area
– Updates to key client and M&S managers
on a regular basis

• Rest of Business: • Rest of Business

– Maintaining awareness on progress – Website detailing progress and team
on 4 key project objectives – Monthly Bulletins with wide distribution
– Bulletins and benefits on brown papers in
public areas

Knowledge Management 7
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
All members of 5 Plus played a vital part in the project’s
Knowledge Management activities
WHO
WHO
Project Manager or
Knowledge Champion:
• ‘Owns’ the knowledge management
process to ensure its success
• Makes it part of the project’s
deliverables
• Supports the knowledge specialist
Project Team Members or
Experts:
• Are the Knowledge ”experts” in
document creation and utilisation on
the Project
• Share their knowledge/learnings
• Are introduced to ‘the knowledge’ on
joining to aid utilisation
Newcomers:
• Newcomers, once inducted, will be
hungry for the knowledge they can
gain quickly from others
Knowledge Management
Project Knowledge Specialist or
Co-ordinator:
• Co-ordinates, delivers and maintains “best
in class” knowledge capture and makes the
information accessible
• Coaches people in knowledge capture
delivery excellence
Admin Support:
• Generate professional, “best practice”
documents and develop templates
• Help team members keep all project
information in one place in a
common filing area
Others:
• Those who have experience can
build on the shared knowledge
8
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

A formal process was used for putting together the

project’s change management best practice guides
PROCESS
PROCESS

How
How to
to put
put aa knowledge
knowledge document
document
together
together on
on aa Change
Change Project
Project
•• Define
Define objectives
objectives
and
and scope:
scope:
––which
which knowledge
knowledge to to •• Create
capture
capture and
and define
define
Create
boundaries
boundaries ofof topic
topic
documentation
documentation
–to ––documents
documents should should
–to what
what purpose and
purpose and •• Share
for
for whom
whom
be
be 25 pages max.
25 pages max. Share
––identify
identify owners/
owners/
–begin with
–begin with what what documents
documents
experts was
was done
done –apply
–apply 80/20
80/20 rule
experts with
with direct
direct rule •• Make
experience
experience of the
of the ––capture
capture lessons
lessons --early validation
early validation
Make available
available
subject
subject learned
learned and use
and use of
of drafts
drafts leads
leads
and
and Publicise
Publicise
them
them to to define
define to better results
to better results ––put
put on
on aa
should-be
should-be ––share website/
website/
share with
with cross-
cross-
––describe
describe toolstools and
and functional
functional teams
teams company
company PC PC
processes
processes used used ––try
try to network/on
network/on CDCD
to capture
capture
-attach
-attach examples
examples of of comments, ––inform
inform people
people of
of
comments,
forms, agendas
forms, agendas pictures
pictures andand their
their existence
existence
etc.
etc. quotes
quotes to bring
to bring ––run
run sharing
sharing
––point
point out
out critical
critical documents
documents to to life
life sessions
sessions with
with
success factors
success factors ––check
check for clarity
for clarity various
various groups
groups
––include
include contact
contact list
list as
as well as
well as of
of people
people
––include
include glossary
glossary of of usefulness
usefulness
terms
terms –if
–if possible,
possible,
involve
involve end-users
end-users
Knowledge Management 9
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

In defining the scope and objectives of any knowledge

documents, their potential value was established
PROCESS
PROCESS
Qu
alit
yN
Questions to be asked: OT
Q uan
• Will the document provide valuable insight for the reader? tity
• Will many others be interested in this topic and is this the information
they would want?
• Can this document be used to educate a person new to the business or role?
Or can it be used effectively to present an idea to another team:
–Who is the prospective user (at what level should the information be pitched)?
• Does this document give detailed/concrete examples, advice and learning of
an approach?
• Does this document help share lessons learned, reasons why options were
chosen and/or resolution of issues?
• Can this document stand alone or will an expert be required to present it?
• Will the information save others significant time or make them more effective?
• Will the information be accessible and easily read and understood?
(doesn’t use jargon or explains jargon)
Knowledge Management 10
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Developing a ‘contents’ page was a starting point to

ensure we captured all the information sequentially
PROCESS
PROCESS

• Document introduction:
– The purpose of the document and the benefit for the reader
• Documents contents (essentially this list)
• Definition of a process or tool if needed
• Background on activities and what you did
• The tools and processes used, including examples
• The deliverables and achievements
• Lessons learnt and quotes from teams/clients
• What good looks like/best practice (what could be done
differently next time) The information
or “story” can also
• Contacts for further information be condensed into
1 or 2 pages in
• Reference to supporting stream documents (incl. document portrait format
number/name and where filed)
• Glossary of terms page to explain abbreviations/jargon

Documents
Documentsshould
shouldbe
beabout
about20
20panels
panelslong
longusing
usingaastandard
standardtemplate.
template.
Knowledge Management 11
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Using the formal knowledge management process helped

us pull a lot of existing information together
PROCESS
PROCESS

• A knowledge co-ordinator a compiled a list of the documents or “knowledge

granules” to be created and nominated owners or “experts”
• A timeframe was set to ensure document completion
• The documentation was put together following content/format guidelines
• The draft documents were reviewed by others to add their comments on clarity
and usefulness
• The information was then made widely available:
– In a common filing area on the project drive, on the Intranet and on CD - Change Management Toolbox
-through sharing sessions with various groups of people and by “advertising” on the project newsletter

Updates of 5 Plus Knowledge capture: ‘Tools and Techniques’

the “knowledge
Draft
Draft11Draft
Draft22Draft
Draft33Draft
Draft44 Reviewer
capture” list were Tools Tools&&Techniques
Techniques Who
Who June
June July
July AugAug SeptSept
Reviewer
sent out regularlyWriting
to effective presentations (storyboarding) PPSymonds/G
Writing effective presentations (storyboarding)
Symonds/GBell
Bell NNRoberts
Roberts

the team to ensure

Giving effective presentations)
Giving effective presentations)
Brainstorming - brown/white papers
P Symonds/G Bell
P Symonds/G Bell
RRPreston
N Roberts
N Roberts
J.J.Donaldson
delivery Flash
Brainstorming - brown/white papers
reports
Flash reports
Preston
N Roberts/A Cleghorn
N Roberts/A Cleghorn
Donaldson
P. Symonds
P. Symonds
Running a mini-launch JJCartwright/I
Running a mini-launch Cartwright/IWalton
Walton PPSymonds
Symonds
HPT
HPTOverview I IWalton/L
Overview Walton/LPugh
Pugh MMMadgwick
Madgwick
Coaching and feedback (incl 360o ofeedback) PPSymonds/N
Coaching and feedback (incl 360 feedback) Symonds/NRoberts
Roberts SSLuckhurst
Luckhurst
Plan-Do-Review S Lees M Madgwick
Plan-Do-Review S Lees M Madgwick
Team
Teambuilding/icebreaker
building/icebreakeractivities PPLidbetter/K
activities Lidbetter/KDinley
Dinley AACleghorn
Cleghorn

Knowledge Management 12
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

“Good Practice” guide

IN
INSUMMARY
SUMMARY

• Keep the document short, succinct and interesting

• Cascade your information from an introductory level, through

guidance and into detailed examples

• Use links effectively in websites to relate various levels of

information

• Use pictures to illustrate good and bad examples

• Present your ideas to others in your field and encourage

them to share their views and information
before publishing on a wider level

The
Theperson
personneeding
needingthe
theinformation
informationis
isoften
oftenthe
thebest
bestperson
personto
to
capture it!
capture it!

Knowledge Management 13
 KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

And Finally!
IN
INSUMMARY
SUMMARY

KNOWLEDG
E
KNOWLEDG
E
KNOWLEDGE
KN
KN
KNOWLED
EDGE

The
Theknowledge
knowledgeyou
youleave
leavebehind
behindfor
forothers
othersshould
shouldlast
lastlong
longafter
afterthe
the
memory
memoryof
ofyour
yourown
owncontribution
contributionhas
hasfaded
faded!!

Knowledge Management 14