If you look at how companies approach knowledge management, you can see that the problem is in the execution. Companies commonly make catastrophic mistakes ... Realize you don't have to solve every information problem on the first day. Start small, demonstrate successes and develop evangelists for your efforts. One caveat: You need to think big even as you start small. Focus as much on the value and reliability of the information as on how the information is stored. [A firm] built a way for people to query each other -- people no longer just looked up information but could find the scientists who generated the information and ask a precise question. Employees were delighted. They made better decisions, and in less time. In the end, knowledge management isn't about maintaining a pristine database. It's about fostering an environment in which people can ask questions ... an open system that encourages building relationships through communities and creating opportunities for personal interaction, across cubicles and across oceans. |