How to start "managing knowledge"

When I attended a conference on knowledge management a while back, I was struck by the number of people trying to figure out how to best get started with KM in their organization. The real question was, are they still trying to figure it out after several decades, or was it a whole new generation who have been tasked with KM projects but not constrained by the intellectual baggage of past techniques – a generation far more willing to embrace technology than shun it?

It appeared to be the latter (at least I have convinced myself that is the case). So here's my best advice for them, along with a do-it-yourself "KM starter kit." But first, the advice: stop worrying about tacit knowledge. Pursuing tacit knowledge delivers few nuggets of usefulness amid mountains of useless information, and wastes much time and effort to do so. And, while things like questionnaires and communities of practice are “low cost” technologically, they most certainly have a financial impact on productivity (and consulting budgets).

So what is tangible and “knowable” in the enterprise? Drum roll please...that's right, business process.

While an organization is made up of people, it is the processes, the tasks, where people interact, hand-off and collaborate that define organizational purpose and value. People can be replaced, the processes cannot (unless the business model changes, of course).
With that in mind, here's how to build your KM starter kit:

1. Make a list of all the processes you can think of (feel free to ask others, consult process models, etc.). Then next to each one, prioritize it in a way meaningful to you by assigning a naming or numbering sequence (“high value, medium value, low value,” or “1,2,3”).
   
   
2. Next, make a list of all or some of your employees. Again, prioritize in a way that is meaningful, whether by retirement date, average employee tenure, RIF candidate, etc.
   
   
3. Connect the dots. Cross reference processes with employees, then use highest priority of both people and processes to determine where to start – which processes to document first, which employees to interview.

And there's more you could do – you could make a list of information resources, and prioritize and cross reference those, so you have even better insight into the most critical areas. You could do the same with controls — types of regulations and policies. And you could even cross reference software systems.

All these things together will give you a powerful road map for managing knowledge in a useful and meaningful way.

Now get going!