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

Defining KM

Ray Sims has recently done some work on collecting 43 definitions for knowledge management.

This has been a recurring theme on the actKM list that gets debated every now and again.

It is interesting when you plug them all into the Many Eyes toolset from IBM and see what the tag cloud looks like. Also try the two word view.


Thanks

Cory

Two sides of the same coin

I had a fantastic conversation today with the Manager of our strategy area. This is the first opportunity we have had to talk face to face since I started two and a half months ago and was thoroughly enjoyable.

Our conversation ended up highlighting two sides to the same coin in relation to the role of a Knowledge Manager.

On one side of the coin we talked about the "influence gig", the evangelist. The role of the manager to work with parts of the business on developing their understanding of knowledge management and the benefits it can provide as well as supporting the development their strategic plans. This is an enterprise wide activity that not only involves the areas of the business that are delivering to customers but also the corporate service aspects of the business (HR, IT, Finance etc..).

On the other side there is the "service provider". Supporting the business by providing the services, knowledge and tools they need to execute their strategies and deliver quality outcomes.

At this point in time I am a team of one and not necessarily able to excel in either of these areas whilst Í am constantly spinning the coin. It is an ability to be able to switch between strategic and operational roles but it is not necessarily a sustainable endeavour.

So in developing our KM strategy I need to look at this balance. How can I provide in the role of advisor and supplier? What roles and resources will we need? It will be through some great conversations, like the one today, that I hope to collaborate with my stakeholders and consumers on a suitable solution.

Thanks

Cory