Moving on

I have found a new home over at Wordpress.

Make sure you update your feeds (All two of you. That includes you Mum).

New site at corzandeffect.wordpress.com .

Goodbye clunky blogger. Hello smooth wordpress.

See you on the other side.

Cory

The wheel

wheel
Originally uploaded by corza

A snap from my mobile of this traveling landmark.

This wheel is set up and hangs around for a couple of years and then moves on.

I will have yet to give it a whirl. Hopefully I will remember before it moves on.

Currently stationed at Southbank, on the river in Brisbane.

Cory

Does the journey matter?

We now tend to work in an outcome focussed world.

'I don't care how you do it, just deliver the outcome.' or 'It's up to you how you do it.'are phrases that come to mind.

Now I'm all for the freedom to choose the best way to deliver. I'm a big fan of the term 'fit for purpose'.

But I think when faced with a choice, people will tend to choose the easy option.

Surely we learn most from the journey, not the destination.

So what if an instruction contained information about the sites to see on the trip as well as the destination?

Cory

Personal versus professional social networks

It is amazing the number of social computing 'experts' there are out there. Takes of back to the days of search engine optimisation experts who just entered some meta tags on your pages and submitted the site to numerous search engines.

I don't claim to be am expert in this space but I don't think it takes much to learn what these tools do and what products are available.

So anyway. There have been a number of requests made in our organisation for up to have a presence on Facebook, a Ning group etc..

Reasons range from 'our competitors are doing it' to 'gen Y demands it' all of which are based on opinion not demand or benefit.

In some of the discussions I have had with people I have noticed a blurring of the lines between personal and professional social networking. There seems a belief that you can use any social networking solution to cater for professional networking groups.

[getting up on soap box] I am of a mind that there does need to be a seperation of powers when it comes to personal and professional life. Yes there will be a few bridging relationships where you work with a friend or a collegue becomes a friend.

Maybe other people are more open to sharing and the lines between professional and personal are blurred.

I start having issues when you want to put a professional group on a personal networking site. Some have heard of the work the Deloitte have done in utilising Facebook as a professional networking tool. This has been done with the main proviso that the profile that staff use is a professional one. This does not preclude them from having a personal one but the professional one is the one that gets connected to the group.

When someone comes to me and says 'we need to be on facebook' I congratulate them for making such a decision and then try and work out exactly it is they are trying to achieve. Assumptions get made. People have only heard of Facebook so they believe that is what must be used.

Personally, I am a big fan of LinkedIn for professional networking. Now that they have provided more social computing tools (group discussions etc..) it is evolving into the professional networking tool of choice. I also maintain a profile on Plaxo (glorified address book) to pick up other people in my network who are not on LinkedIn. I also have one on Xing but nothing seems to be happening there. I belong to several Google Groups (preferred) and Yahoo Groups. I share my travel on dopplr, photos on flickr, slides on slideshare. I have my personal network on Facebook. Oh... and I blog here (when I can), tweet here and also on Yammer.

Thanks

Cory

Open Source KM

aka: Practicing what we preach.

When I first got interested in knowledge management (2002) I did a bit of research on the internet looking for methods, frameworks, theories and tools (some call them 'recipes'). What I ran into was a lot of "We have what you are looking for and are more than happy to do it for you for $X,XXX an hour/day."

Now obviously there is the need for people to have a career and be paid for their services. But having come from a computer technology background I understood that knowledge could be openly shared and people could still get paid (a lot).

So after becoming aware of the the Cynefin and Cog Edge work and this being published under creative commons instead of copyright, I held a hope that there are KM people that actually practice what they preach. That is openly share what we know.

Now you may of may not agree with me but the way I see it is Dave and his posse have been developing techniques in the sensemaking space and improving on them.

So why can't we do this with other aspects of sharing and using knowledge. Yes I'm aware of issues of IP and alike but I don't see these raised in the forums we participate in both face-to-face and virtually.

So what if this was harnessed? There are a 1,001 ways to do it. What if we took what we try to do (successfully or otherwise) either at work or with our clients everyday, and proved that it can work in our own discipline? 

There are fragments all over the place. In forums, books, blogs, white papers, articles, video, audio and of course in people. What if we did the unthinkable and all contributed to knowledge technology (this is using technology in it's original form talking about knowledge of a technique)? How can we provide people with a map of what knowledge management could be? A body of knowledge.

I don't even want to talk about computer technology (yet). 

I don't want to go near the IM/KM debate because it is not a debate. It is merely different perspectives. Though they may be different, they are still valid.

I am keen to here you thoughts on the validity of such an endeavor.

Cory

Starting a KM Program

At the recent 2008 actKM Conference, Matt Moore sat down with a few practitioners and consultants and asked what advice would they give to someone starting up a KM program.

The results are some inciteful comments and there is also a contribution from me.

Thanks for pulling it all together Matt.

Enjoy

Cory

Visual Wiki

In a recent presentation given by Arthur Shelley at the 2008 actKM Conference, he spoke about the use of wikis in an educational environment for not only learning about knowledge management but doing it using KM practices.

At one stage Arthur spoke of visualising wiki information. I have been looking into this for a while and specifically the offerings from ThinkMap and The Brain.

Arthur mentioned on one of his slides the work being done on Thinkbase.

It sits on top of Freebase providing a visual map of the information provided in the right frame, showing the relationships with other information and information which has similar relationships or facets.

I'm looking into ot a bit further and will hopefully remember to let you know how I go.

Thanks

Cory

actKM Day 2 (and that's 50)

Wow! My 50th post!

As you are probably aware I am not the most frequent of bloggers so to get to 50 is a bit of a milestone for me.

After recovering from an evening of fun a frivolity (actKM Collaboration Cabaret) it was back to the uncomfortable chairs for another day of sharing and learning.

Day two was another great day at the 2008 actKM Conference with highlights including:

• Serena Joyner wrapping up the actKM Collaboration Cabaret. A great effort at pre-conference collaboration mixed with social activities at the event. We have to do this again next year.
• Laurie Lock Lee gave an insight and example activity of Value Network Analysis. I had read up on this a while back but had never attempted one. Good props and interesting exercise tp help produce a Partnership Scorecard. Thanks Laurie.
• Matthew Hodgson shared his perspective of the evolution of KM.
• I got up and danced around (presentation).
• Dave Snowden shared some interesting perspectives on narrative and storytelling and shared some of his current projects. Always a delight to hear Dave's stories. The man can talk.
• The day was finished off with a Reverse Brainstorming Activity facilitated by David Gurteen. A good fun exercise although I am not too sure about the whistle. Every time it was blown I looked around to see who had been fouled.

It all ended too quickly and I eagerly anticipate the next opportunity to get together with my peers again. Thanks to all those who attended. It was great to get aquainted and to reaquaint. Well done to the organisers. You guys dun real good!!

I was just uploading my slides from yesterday's workshop when I came across this wonderful little Presentation Pack widget they provide (funnily enought it's called the Egowidget) that allows you to package up the presentations you have on slideshare and present them in your blog.

| Get your Presentation Pack

Fun for the whole family.

Cory

actkm08 - Day 1

Great day today.

Highlights?

• My first time seeing David Gurteen in the wild. Did well. First half was basic for me but set a platform for those who didn't know what Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 is. I like the evolution of KM he described - from technical to social. Presentation
• Good case study on developing a knowledge strategy using narrative input from Dr Jane Chrystal of Central Western Catchment Authority.
• Matt Moore as brilliant as ever on KM ROI and his experiences. Presentation
• Discovered a new way to use the KM Method Cards by Straits Knowledge. It was a version of Dominoes where each person was given a number of cards and one was placed face up on the table (a big table is required). Each person had to place a card next to the upturned card and show or 'sell' it's relationship. If you can't put a card down then you have to pick up a card. Some interesting discussion and 'selling' took place. Got very interesting when you had to put a card in gaps and it had to match on all sides. It was good to familiarise people with the cards and the KM concepts.
• Arthur Shelley told us about his use of wikis in education at RMIT. Good stuff!
• Eye opening presentation from Andrew Campbell of Tripplehelix on climate change and the role knowledge sharing needs to play.
• Graham Durant-Law showed us the work he has been doing on Business Network Analysis. Good stuff. Have seen this before at the KMRT.

Fun and frivolity tonight with the collaboration cabaret (more about that tomorrow), then I am on just before Dave Snowden tomorrow afternoon.

Wish me luck.

Cory

actKM Conference

In a couple of weeks I will be making my way down to Canberra for my first actKM Conference.

I was unlucky not to go last year and kicking myself because it got some rave reviews.

This year they asked if I would like to do something at the conference and I suggested I would like to run a Peer Assist on doing After Action Reviews. This will provide people with a "2 for 1" in using a technique to research another technique.

As a lead up I have circulated a request to submit your experiences in implementing/planning/running/participating in AARs. Feel free to share as many of your war stories as you like.

You can also collaborate on the conferences Ning site.

I hope to see you there.

Thanks

Cory

KM Maturity Models

I am on the hunt for an open source KM Maturity Model. I am looking to do some benchmarking with colleagues and we are wanting to use a common model.

Here are a number of models and assessments I have come across so far:

• APQC KM Maturity Model: More on implementation maturity (roadmap) than capability maturity.
• David Skyrme KM Assessment: 10 areas of assessment
• KMMM: From Siemens AG. 5 levels of maturity, eight areas of assessment (50,000 Euro?! There goes my KM budget.... for the next 5 years!!!)
• KM Self Assessment (Learning to Fly; Collison & Parcell) 5 levels, 5 areas.
• KMmm by TKCI: 6 levels, 4 areas
• 5iKM3 KM Maturity Model by TCS: 5 levels, 3 areas.
• MAKE Awards: 8 areas
• European KM Forum KM Assessment Model and Tool: 8 areas

What have you used/found and how useful was it?

I am keeping notes here. Feel free to add.

Thanks

Cory

Gliffy

I was doing a comparison of a few different open source content management tools when I came across this little gem as a plugin for Confluence.

It's called Gliffy and is an online diagram drawing tool. Free version allows you to share 5 drawings with other users.

The beauty was having it in the wiki environment and it following the wiki way of being able to edit content on the fly. No longer is this just the realm of text. Now we can be modifying diagrams as well.

Cory

2008 Australian KM Salary Survey

After exhausting avenues for trying to discover comparative salary levels for KM staff (and myself) I have decided to run my own KM Salary Survey and see what happens.

If you are a KM practitioner in Australia then please particiate in the Survey.

Depending on outcomes, we'll see if we do it again or with a wider scope.

Let me know of any feedback or questions.

Thanks

Cory

KM OZ Conference

My 1st 6 months - KM Program

Here is a copy of the slides I presented at the KM Australia Conference yesterday.

I wanted to do the presentation using the mind mapping software (iMindMap) but had issues with bringing up sub-maps in the Presentation View.

Conference was good. Caught up with some KM buddies and made some new ones along the way.

After talknig with a few Engineering related KM people will be looking to set up a group to collaborate on industry specific challenges. We'll see how it goes.

If anyone saw the presentation and has any feedback I'd be glad to hear it. Always looking for opportunities to improve.

My 1st 6 months - KM Program

view presentation (tags: knowledge management)

Thanks

Cory

What's on the menu?

I have just had a stimulating couple of days doing some knowledge based process design work with a team in Perth.


At the debrief session in a cafe this morning, one of the team members noticed the following message on the menu.



It reads:

Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it.
Then you do something else. The trick is the doing something else.

The quote is credited to Leonardo da Vinci (but I have my suspicions).

Nice work.

Cory

Accepting things at face value

After some discussion with a colleague recently where some teachers are now not accepting references from improperly referenced sources (Wikipedia included), I came across the following quote and found it interesting.

Concepts that have proven useful in ordering things easily achieve such authority over us that we forget their earthly origins and accept them as
unalterable givens.

Albert Einstein 1879-1955

Enjoy.

Cory

Its all in the cards

Í saw something interesting appear on the Green Chameleon blog the other day and quickly followed up by buying the pack of cards that it mentioned.

Instead of trying to write the manual on knowledge management, it's seems Patrick and his cohorts have gathered together many of the pieces of the KM puzzle and allow you to put them together in a way that makes sense to you in your situation.

The pack is split into three major types of cards that deal with Approaches, Methods and Tools with the Methods cards broken down further into five sub-groups of Interview, Group, Process, Packaging and Events (index sheet). Trust Patrick to come up with a semi-taxonomy for KM items.

The cards contain brief information on the item but also show relationships to other cards in the pack.

I am very excited and have already ordered a second pack to pass onto a KM colleague. I see these not only as a learning tool to get people to understand KM better but a good way to cluster pieces around a challenge to find the right mix for one or more solutions.

Make sure you get yours quick smart.

Cory

Time on a plane

I do a bit more travelling these days and on a trip from Melbourne to Sydney the other night the 'entertainment' (probably a repeated episode of Myth Busters/Two and a half men and the news) was busted.

This resulted in a large amount of noise being generated in the cabin from conversation. People talking to strangers. Interesting discussion between a 40 odd gentlemen and an early twenties lady behind me. Two colleagues talking work gossip in front. Rabi across the aisle and me on my own (I need the leg room). It did allow me to catch up on some reading over the din.

Maybe we need to turn off the 'entertainment' to allow some real conversations to take place in our organisations.

Cory

Collaborating outside the firewall

I had been asked recently to share my knowledge of some of the collaboration/sharing tools that are out there (beyond the firewall), available for little or no cost and differ from the 'classic' social computing apps (wikis & blogs).

So here are a few I have been stashing away in my favourites when I come across them.

• Aps
  Google Aps - www.google.com/a
• Mind Mapping
  Mind42 (mind for two) - http://www.mind42.com/
  Mind Meister - http://www.mindmeister.com/
• Diagrams/Visualisation
  Sketchcast - http://www.sketchcast.com/
  Many Eyes - services.alphaworks.ibm.com/manyeyes/home
  Swivel - http://www.swivel.com/
• Groups/Discussion
  Google Groups - groups.google.com/
  Yahoo Groups - groups.yahoo.com/
  Grouply - www.grouply.com/
  Tangler - http://www.tangler.com/
• Sharing Documents
  Google Docs - docs.google.com
  Slideshare - http://www.slideshare.net/
• Sharing Images
  flickr - http://www.flickr.com/
• Sharing Books
  Library Thing - http://www.librarything.com/
• Sharing Links
  del.icio.us - del.icio.us
  digg - digg.com
• Networks
  LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/
  Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/
  Fidg't - http://www.fidgt.com/
  Ning - http://www.ning.com/
  Xing - http://www.xing.com/
• Wiki
  Google Sites (Aps) - sites.google.com
  wik.is - http://www.wik.is/
  Wikispaces - http://www.wikispaces.com/
  Wikimatrix - http://www.wikimatrix.com/
  
• Blog
  Blogger - http://www.blogger.com/
  Wordpress - http://www.wordpress.com/
  Live Journal - http://www.livejournal.com/

I have come across a number of these tools by monitoring a few blogs/feeds, groups and email newsletters including:

• XML Daily Newslink - xml.coverpages.org/newsletter.html
• actKM Forum - http://www.actkm.org/
• Online Facilitation Group - tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/onlinefacilitation
• ComPrac Group - groups.yahoo.com/group/com-prac

Thanks

Cory

Free Resource

Always happy to come across a free resource. Yes the quality varies but this one seems to have some value.

Quantum²

Quantum2 is the Thomson Scientific leadership development program for information professionals. It provides the resources to help you transform your organization...the power to lead change.

Thanks to Denise Cadman for the introduction.

Cory