APQC's 15^th KM conference is next week, and if the registration is any indication, knowledge management is alive and well, and travel budgets are being released from their chokeholds. This conference is always a bellwether for The Next Big Thing in KM.  We'll have to wait until next week to be sure, but my sense from talking with the keynoters and presenters is that there are two hot top-of-mind topics right now.

The first is how KM can help (rather than simply lament) today's socially networked, information-overloaded knowledge workers with their digitally induced shrinking attention spans, their iPhone/BlackBerry obsessions, and their perception that they don't have time to stop and "do KM." This includes discovering unexpected applications of Enterprise 2.0 tools to enliven communities of practice;  finding the right way to incorporate Facebook-type functionality in a business setting; using analytics to make sense out of human behavior;  and finding the "KM app for that" for mobile devices. If Apple can have a 474 percent increase in Asian sales of the (three-year-old!) iPhone and its biggest non-holiday profit EVER, then you know KM better pay attention to what will go on that tiny little Apple appliance. Or Droid. Or Blackberry. All while keeping the bad guys from getting a peak at it.

The second Big Thing is a deeper desire to understand the roots of real knowledge and wisdom.  Good heavens--dare we go there?  American KMers often fear we will be dismissed as academic or irrelevant to business if we talk about things like wisdom or judgment. Hmm... How's that working for us?  We'll see next week if there is traction to be found there.

Every year, I swear that the content and camaraderie at the conference couldn't get any better, but it does. This year should be no different. See you there.

Over the past year, APQC's internal Web technology team has been designing our next-generation Web presence. I say "presence" because our site is the primary outward-facing point of contact to our members, and many have come to equate access to our online Knowledge Base with APQC membership. Based on comprehensive feedback from our members and customers, we evaluated everything from well-known portal and content management system (CMS) vendors to this week's "Web 2.0 tool du jour," ultimately selecting Drupal as the platform best suited to our needs.

For those unfamiliar with Drupal, it's often categorized as an open source CMS, although the term "CMS" doesn't do it justice in terms of functionality. Drupal has a large and rapidly expanding install base, ranging from small, independent sites to large enterprises such as www.whitehouse.gov and www.fastcompany.com. From a knowledge management perspective, the most fascinating aspect of Drupal is the collaborative way in which the platform's programming community handles innovation. In return for access to more than 5000 contributed modules centrally organized at www.drupal.org, developers are on the honor system to contribute any generic modules they write that they feel will benefit the community as a whole. The community then offers feedback, bug reports, and feature patches.

In the interest of transparency, let me just say up front that the folks I'm helping to publicize below are clients of mine. There are two good reasons why I'm happy to help them out: 1) what they do is pretty cool, and 2) I figure that, if I want to keep them as clients, I'd better do this because they asked me to.

What does Carrier Team One do? They share knowledge, transfer good practices among projects, and help create a collaborative, networked environment (in an otherwise very hierarchical one) to improve the maintenance activities of the U.S. Navy's aircraft carrier fleet. (Quiz: Without help, can you name all the carriers in the current fleet?)

So while I'm not really all that worried about our relationship with the Navy, it would be great to fill the room to hear what these folks are doing to create a peer-to-peer "organization" that is really made up of over 50 distinct organizations.

In the modern world, we are inundated with a flood of data and information. Traditional editing systems designed to help us sort through this clutter--like newspapers--are endangered and may not survive. But the increased flow of information makes it more important than ever that we learn how to convert the myriad data streams that surround us into useful knowledge and insights we can act on. I would even go so far as to say that we are seeking wisdom out of all those facts and numbers.

How can we accomplish this? The wise use of data depends on our ability to link it to real life, to real people and their experiences, to human transactions and interactions. History is littered with examples of companies that went awry because they did not understand the context and realities associated with the data they were supposedly analyzing. In other cases, leaders did not "ask deeply" enough. They knew what, how much, and where their customers were buying, but they didn't ask the right questions to ascertain why their customers bought what they did or what those people were really looking for. Often, what we sell is not what the customer is buying (something Peter Drucker points out in Innovation and Entrepreneurship).

Over the past decade, organizations have been hard at work developing new and better ways to create and share knowledge. Technology has made it easier to collaborate and facilitated widespread access to information and expertise. Unfortunately, the ever-increasing amounts of knowledge at our fingertips do not seem to have improved our judgment. From top Wall Street firms to national governments, we can all name organizations that, despite their rich hoards of knowledge, have exhibited terrible judgment that has caused them to falter and resulted in catastrophic damage. 

If we accept that knowledge and judgment are not the same thing, then we must ask ourselves: What goes into good judgment? How are knowledge and judgment linked, and where do they diverge? And finally, why have so many enterprises failed to form sound judgments, despite their extensive knowledge?

•  Driving Results Through Social Networks is a collection of notes based on Rob Cross' 2009 keynote presentation. Cross, an associate professor at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce, has performed extensive research into networks and the role they play in organizational excellence.
• Change or Die is a set of notes based on Alan Deutschman's 2009 keynote presentation. Deutschman is the author of Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life, a groundbreaking book about why our typical strategies fail to incite change and how we can overcome these barriers, both inside organizations and in our personal lives.
• To the Moon and Beyond: Capturing 50 Years of Human Spaceflight Knowledge provides highlights from a 2009 breakout session by Jean Engle, CKO at NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC), and Pamela O'Beirne, program manager/strategic management consultant at SAIC. The notes describe JSC's efforts to improve its knowledge transfer processes and promote collaboration.
• As a special bonus, I'd also like to offer this 15-minute video clip of APQC's own Carla O'Dell speaking at the 2009 conference. In the clip, Carla talks about the five "ideal future results" needed to ensure that KM supports the enterprise of the future (as identified by APQC's KM Advanced Working Group).

As you review these resources from our 2009 conference, we'd like to remind everyone that we're already gearing up for 2010! Visit the Web site for APQC's 2010 knowledge management conference to  learn about our keynote speakers, find out which training courses will be offered, and get information on pricing and registration. We hope to see you all in Houston next April for what promises to be another fantastic event.

Lessons learned: The very name of this knowledge-sharing approach implies that knowledge is being reused--that each lesson drives an action designed to improve a policy, procedure, process, or practice for future users. Unfortunately, this is often not the case. Many organizations have lessons learned processes in place, but admit that what they actually have are lessons captured but not yet applied.

So, what prevents organizations from optimizing and reusing these valuable lessons to reduce risks, lessen costs, minimize reinvention, and improve key business processes? Tomorrow, November 17, I will be at KMWorld 2009 to present the results of APQC's latest Collaborative Research study, which focused on lessons learned processes and systems. Please join me to learn about the results of the study, including examples from the three best-practice organizations--Credit Suisse, U.S. Army ARDEC, and U.S. Army Center for Lessons Learned (CALL).

On Thursday November 19, I will be joining a KMWorld 2009 conference panel to share thoughts on "Envisioning the Enterprise of the Future." My goal will be to identify the driving forces shaping the knowledge-based organization of the future. Three of these forces are in play today:

1.      Multiple Generations@ Work
2.      Social Computing & Networking
3.      Decline of Attention Span

All three reflect a chasm between what used to define "productive" and what may define it in the future.  One thing we know for sure: Every generation is more productive than the last one, despite the dire predictions.  Managers complain about "social not-working" and the lost time on the job while people update their friends on Facebook. Maybe they are right...or maybe not. How could social networking actually make us more productive? 

I will be thinking about that and related profundities between now and November 19. If you have any ephiphanies, let me know.

More information on the panel, including the other participants, is available here. Slides will be up on the KM world site for registrations in a few days.

APQC's 2010 knowledge management conference is taking place April 29-30 at the Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa in Houston. At this event, we will continue our 15-year tradition of having the best KM practitioners tell their stories about the creative use and measurable impact of KM around the world.

Do you have a knowledge management story to tell? I encourage you to review the call for presentations and submit your abstract using our online form.  The deadline to submit a presentation abstract is November 20, 2009.

Examples of presentation topics include:

• New and effective approaches for knowledge transfer
• New ways of collaborating
• Driving support, participation, and change
• Linking KM to strategic issues

If you have any questions or need further information, contact Debbie Norman at dnorman@apqc.org.

Lauren Trees beat me to the punch (not surprising) and was the first to post some short impressions from Day One of the conference. I composed mine in parallel and, after reading Lauren's post, do not see a great deal of overlap.

The Houstonian is a very good venue for the conference. Their service is excellent, they provide great food, the hotel is right next to APQC Headquarters (HQ for us military types), and the hotel has great Wi-Fi access (a must for those of us using netbooks or laptops to take notes). I used my Asus Eee PC 1000HE with super long battery life (at least eight hours) to take notes, but certainly could not keep up with most of the speakers so I also used my Livescribe Pulse Smart Pen to record audio so I can take more detailed notes later.  I will be working on those in my spare time in the weeks ahead and then will make them available via this blog.

It's taken me a while to gather my thoughts about day two of last week's knowledge management conference, but here are some notes on the final four keynotes:

• Rob Cross, associate professor at the University of Virginia's McIntire School of Commerce and research director of The Network Roundtable;
• John McQuary, vice president of KM and technology strategies at Fluor Corp.;
• Bryant Clevenger, global leader for IBM Global Business Services knowledge sharing strategy; and
• Alan  Deutschman, author of Change or Die: The Three Keys to Change at Work and in Life.

As most of you know, APQC kicked off its 14^th annual knowledge management conference in Houston this morning. With so much knowledge sharing going on, it's only possible to scratch the surface in a blog post (even a rather long one), but here are some of the key insights and take-aways from the three keynotes.

APQC president Carla O'Dell got us off to a great start this morning. Given that she outlined many of the main points from her presentation in her latest blog post, I will not repeat all of them here, but I will mention a few ideas that stuck out for me.

If you are really going to take knowledge management seriously--invest time and resources, engage with senior leadership, and expect to see results--then you need to consider the roles and resources required to support your organization's KM activities.

APQC's KM Advanced Working Group recently completed a collaborative project focused on knowledge for the future. As part of the project, the KM Advanced Working Group identified four critical roles necessary for developing and maturing an organization's KM capabilities.

Much has happened since APQC's last knowledge management conference in May 2008: We are well into the Big Recession and may bounce along the bottom for months; Barack Obama is president of the United States and, in addition to his many other attributes, has rock star status on YouTube; Twitter is now mainstream; and Facebook is a mainstay of soccer moms.

How has knowledge management fared in this uncertain and fast-moving environment? Not badly, and--if you use the cases to be presented this week at our 2009 KM conference as any barometer--the current recession has been a grand, if unplanned and unwelcome, opportunity for KM to show its value to leaner and more agile organizations.

It is no secret that, for many organizations, training is one of the first and easiest cuts to make when money is tight.  The need for training doesn't go away, just the budget.  Tough economic times cause companies to reduce headcount, reorganize, merge, outsource, retool, add products, chase new markets, and act in many other creative ways.  Each of these actions creates a transition such as an employee taking on a new role, a team introducing a new process or a new technology, or a partnership requiring a reset on "how we do things around here."

In each of these transitions, there are people who "know" and people who "need to know."  With formal training dollars slashed, the only way this training will happen is on the job.  Experienced people will be called on to teach what they know to their less experienced colleagues.  They'll have to break their knowledge down into manageable chunks, teach with deference to learning styles, test to ensure that they have been heard, and then give feedback on the resulting work--all while carrying a regular workload.

The globally competitive business market has driven Fluor's need for knowledge sharing and collaboration across organizational and geographic boundaries. With knowledge management, we are able to bring together the best combination of our regional, industry, and technical expertise as well as our project management; financial; risk management; health, safety, and environmental; and business strengths to serve our clients' needs.

At Fluor, we take a true enterprise-wide approach to knowledge management. This requires an expanded mindset for deploying and maintaining communities beyond what is required when the KM approach is targeted to a segment of the company, is regional, or is not open to all employees. We have also adopted a broad definition of knowledge communities that includes the global network of people and a technology platform providing integrated content, expertise, and discussions. Every employee has access to every community, a rigorous community deployment process is followed, community performance measurement and auditing programs align communities with strategic business direction, and knowledge sharing behaviors are integrated into all aspects of company operations.

We reached the tipping point! After years of defining the knowledge transfer and learning (KT&L) program at Catholic Health Initiatives, documenting successes, and proving impact, KT&L has become recognized as a strategic capability and is now directly applied to organizational priorities.

The KT&L team developed core capabilities that are now applied to organizational priorities, resulting in accelerated performance improvement, time and cost savings, the transfer of expertise, and increased connectivity among people. These capabilities address the need for both explicit and tacit knowledge sharing.

According to the cliché, it's not what you know, but who you know, that matters. Like all clichés, this one overstates the case while also containing a measure of truth. Network connectivity plays a critical role in the performance of knowledge-based organizations and the way in which knowledge workers formulate strategy, make decisions, and both learn about and capitalize on opportunities. In fact, as much as 90 percent of the information that high-end knowledge workers receive and take action on comes from the people immediately around them. Yet these networks are often invisible, are not consciously built or tracked, and contain systematic biases that can lead to poor decisions, misguided strategies, ineffective investments, and incredible costs.

What is it we want out of knowledge management implementations?

• We want organic growth of information, but we also want an "official version."
• We want to promote innovation and open usage, but we cannot risk exposing proprietary intellectual property.
• We want fast, intranet-based tools, but we don't want to spend money.
• We want everything in beta, but the tools still need to be stable.
• We want free-flowing information, but without negatively impacting legal, e-discovery, or litigation.
• We want integration with large legacy systems, but we also want low implementation costs.
• We want grassroots adoption, but with executive sponsorship.
• We want to increase KM effectiveness, but with little or no additional funding.

Ok, I'm sure you get the point.  I think we've all faced these tradeoffs--and many more--when undertaking KM implementations. We've preached for many years, "Integrate everything and get it out at the right time to the right users." But solving this dilemma has been elusive at best.

Organizations are facing ever-increasing challenges brought on by marketplace pressures and other factors.  Many organizations are now looking to knowledge management to address these challenges. Such initiatives often begin with the development of a KM strategy. What should organizations consider when developing a KM strategy?  Are there specific steps to follow?  If so, can a framework be developed that others can adopt?

The MITRE Corporation--a nonprofit organization working in the public interest in the domains of national security, aviation, and tax administration--has embraced knowledge sharing and integrated it into its corporate culture.  Our KM strategy (illustrated below) aims to enhance mission outcomes by leveraging internal and external expertise and assets, supporting the exchange of knowledge among individuals and groups, supporting knowledge reuse through capturing and sharing knowledge assets, and transferring knowledge explicitly captured in knowledge assets back to people.

If you have long-time, successful employees, at some point along the way you will need them to train coworkers on the job.  Experienced workers transfer knowledge to ramp up new employees, to cross-train existing employees who are changing roles, and to prepare for their own departures when they retire.  This training must include more than the steps involved in doing the work.  It has to incorporate the "secret sauce" that makes the trains run on time. Wisdom.

Managers often lament that it's too hard for their veteran employees to share with others the wisdom they've accumulated. This type of tacit knowledge is too amorphous and too dependent on years of experience to be teachable.  After all, how can a veteran project manager say what he's looking for as he "takes care" of his team or a long-serving nurse explain how she just "knows" when a patient is in trouble?  How can the research scientist describe 35 years of testing methodology or the maintenance technician describe how he can "hear" a problem deep in the bowels of the plant?  How can anyone impart all those years of trial-and-error experience to someone else?  The answer is that it might not be easy--but we need to do better than simply wringing our hands and admitting defeat.

I want to remind everyone that the early-bird registration deadline for APQC's upcoming knowledge management conference is tomorrow, April 1. If you're planning to attend, I encourage you to take advantage of the $200 discount by registering today or tomorrow. You can learn more about the conference on APQC's Web site and on this blog, where we will continue to post articles and commentaries by and about the conference speakers.

You can register for the conference by calling APQC at 800-776-9676 or 713-681-4020, e-mailing Debbie Norman at dnorman@apqc.org, or online. If you have any questions, feel free to post them as a comment on KM Edge or contact Debbie Norman at the above e-mail address. I hope to see you all in Houston this May!

At IBM, leveraging knowledge has always been an important part of our business.  Last year, we undertook a massive overhaul of the technology and approach we use for knowledge management, moving from a centrally managed, linear, taxonomy- and repository-based system to one that leverages the best of Web 2.0, including social software, user participation, and key market-driven concepts like sponsored links. We see this as a shift from "knowledge management" to "knowledge sharing."

Just as managers make sure that we do things right, leaders are responsible for ensuring that we do the right thing. Similarly, knowledge management helps us do things better, but strategic knowledge management (SKM) makes sure we invest in doing the right things for the right reasons.

The problem with traditional KM thinking and practice is that it is largely context-free in the way it is expressed. You either do it--or you don't. You either believe in the effectiveness and importance of KM or you are an unbeliever, and resistance leads to the traditional complaints of, "When will they get it?"  The irony is that KM literature rarely deals with the knowledge involved in the social pathology of organizational behavior. It consciously excludes serious discussion about the social psychology of organizations. And thus, it is perpetually surprised by what happens in implementation.

A few weeks ago, as the stock market bounced along on the bottom, I leavened the gloom by speaking with Chris Meyer, a keynote speaker at APQC's upcoming 2009 knowledge management conference.  With a background in economics and innovation, Chris's job as chief executive of Monitor Networks is to suggest new ways to sense and think about complex--and sometimes alarming--situations. (That's why we asked him to keynote, of course, and why I called him.)

We talked about what Chris is going to share at our conference. Connectivity, for instance: We think of it as good, right? Yet falling economic dominos attest to the dark side of our interconnectedness. 

For those of you who've been with KM Edge from the beginning, you'll remember that we launched this Web site at APQC's 2008 KM conference. Since we know that travel dollars may be limited next year, we want to make sure that our readers are among the first to be offered early-bird pricing for our 2009 knowledge management conference and training, The Knowledge Transfer Revolution: New Paradigms, New Payoffs, which will take place in Houston May 11-15.

Dale Arseneault is manager of knowledge services at Bank of Canada and has been one of KM Edge's most active contributors. After returning from APQC's KM conference, Dale posted his thoughts about generational gaps in KM to his own blog, Reflections on Knowledge Management and Organizational Innovation. Here's an excerpt:

Since returning from the APQC KM Edge Conference in Chicago, I've been thinking about one of the themes that came out of some of the keynotes/presentations--differences between the "boomer"/older generations and the "younger generations"--such as millennials' ability to time-slice, their ease with technology, and focus on development rather than long relationships with a single employer ... There is no shortage of emerging research and commentary about differences between generations, and the challenges that could result. But, why not focus on the similarities?

As you can see, Dale's post is partially a reaction to Bob Wendover's keynote at the conference. In addition to Dale's blog, I encourage you to read  the KM Edge conversation on this keynote topic and add your own thoughts about how generational gaps affect today's workplace.

Marc Aafjes, global head of knowledge management at Vodafone, has used his own blog to post a very effective summary of his breakout session presentation at this year's KM conference. In his post, Marc clarifies the concept of "the shadow organization" on which his presentation was focused:

By connecting various participants across the company around the execution of our knowledge strategy we're cultivating a meta network--the shadow organization--that enables the company to enhance the value we derive from the knowledge we have. Framing knowledge management in economic terms, the shadow organisation in effect is 'making the market for knowledge' by connecting otherwise disparate parts of the company around knowledge needs. This shadow organisation consists of the change agents that help us execute the knowledge strategy and embed sustainable change in all parts of the company.

Marc's post goes on to describe the five key groups within "the shadow organization" and highlight some of the benefits that this model has provided for Vodafone.

Thank you to everyone for their Edge-y comments on APQC's 2008 KM conference.  In the two weeks since we've launched, the site has generated more than 150 comments--we have been overwhelmed by the quantity and quality of your submissions. We wish that we could formally reward all participants, but only 10 can be official winners of our Comment to Win contest. The following individuals have been selected through a random drawing to receive $100 Amazon gift cards:

Although the contest is closed, the conference pages remain open and are available here. Please feel free to read over what others have said and add your own insights.

UPDATE: APQC's 14^th annual KM conference and training, The Knowledge Transfer Revolution: New Paradigms, New Payoffs, will occur May 11-15, 2009, at the Houstonian Hotel, Club & Spa in Houston. For more information about this upcoming event, visit www.apqc.org/kmconf09.

2008 Keynote Presentations:

"The New Edge in KM" -- Carla O'Dell, Ph.D., president, APQC

"The Future of Knowledge" -- Laurence Prusak, researcher, consultant, and founder and executive director, Institute for Knowledge Management (IKM) "From OJT to DVD: Knowledge Management and the Emerging Generations" -- Robert Wendover, managing director, Center for Generational Studies "Unlocking Cool" -- Jeremy Gutsche, founder, TrendHunter.com "The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action through Narrative" -- Steven Denning, author and organizational storyteller extraordinaire Panel Presentation: "APQC's Stages of Knowledge Management Maturity" -- Cindy Hubert, Director, APQC, with Navy, SAP, State Farm, Baker Hughes, Marathon, and Petrobras

This post is to let you know about some of the new content that's been posted to KM Edge today. First, Carla O'Dell has added notes and reactions to the presentation page for Jeremy Gutshe's keynote, "Unlocking Cool." Carla's observations are located directly above the comments section. Jim Lee has added remarks on Steve Denning's keynote, "The Secret Language of Leadership: How Leaders Inspire Action Through Narrative." Again, the new material can be viewed directly above the comments section. If you're interested in these presentations, I encourage you to read Carla and Jim's responses and then add your own thoughts via the comments feature.

Also, I'd like to let everyone know that the current KM Edge Web site is only phase one--robust community forums and social networking are on the way, so please stay tuned. On the session page for Carla's keynote, she's included a personal message asking for feedback, user-generated content, and any help you are willing to give us in making KM Edge the best it can be. If you have suggestions or would like to get involved, please e-mail us at build@kmedge.org.

Dale Arseneault has posted an in-depth discussion of the pre-conference training session he attended--"Measuring the Impact of Knowledge Management," led by APQC's Cindy Hubert--on his own blog. I encourage everyone to read and comment on his post at Reflections on Knowledge Management and Organizational Innovation.

Thanks so much to Wesley Vestal from Baker Hughes and Eric Johnson from the U.S. Department of State for adding comments and contact information to their breakout session pages. I know that everyone really appreciates the opportunity to follow up with presenters and ask for additional information and resources. If you're interested, please visit the Baker Hughes session page and the U.S. Department of State presentation page to add your comments and get in touch.

Many of our other presenters have also sent us contact information, which we have posted to the appropriate keynote and breakout session pages. Please feel free to look through these pages and contact the people whose presentations you found most interesting.

I guess one of my biggest takeaways from his talk is the notion that, to bridge these generational gaps, we all have to work at it--and we need to do it at home as well as at work. It's a two-way street. There are learning and knowledge transfer opportunities on both sides. Both sides of the divide need to reach out and work together to understand each other and work together more collaboratively and effectively. Both sides have knowledge and skills that could be of value to the other.

Visit the conference page for this keynote to read more from Darcy and others.

I love the weather--so does Dr. Carla O'Dell.  In her talk today, she used the unpredictability of the weather as an analogy for the unpredictability of the new forces bearing down on KM practices.  She suggested that these new forces, while they have the potential for "disaster," also open the door to new opportunities. Social computing and networking are scary for organizations because using these tools involves giving up some control to users. However, these new practices are revolutionizing the way people collaborate and share their knowledge.

The question that keeps coming up for me is: Are we putting too much emphasis on the formality of managing knowledge, and should the new forces be allowed to merge into the "old way" of working and thinking?

Please visit the presentation page for Carla's keynote to read Cindy's full reaction and share your own thoughts about what Carla said.