On internal and external sources of knowledge

I just received my latest Gurteen Knowledge Newsletter from David Gurteen.  David alerts us to a new book by Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell  entitled No more consultants: we know more than we think.  I have already ordered the book for my personal library and look forward to reading the book when the order arrives.
I [...]

On advertising and web 2.0 for knowledge management

Just received my latest UTS Alumni email newsletter.  I completed two postgraduate degrees from UTS.   I was pleasantly surprised to hear that the The Fred Hollows Foundation won the world’s best not-for-profit television advertisement at the International Fundraising Congress in the Netherlands.  Readers may recall that I did a nine month contract with The [...]

On bright minds and serendipity and passion

Here are a couple of quotes that are important to me when I think about knowledge work, and pretty much everything else to do with life.  I like the fact that randomness and passion have such a strong impact on what we do.
“Chaos is very important to me. I keep my office very messy because it creates [...]

On clarity

One of the forgotten aspects of knowledge management relates to clarity.  Wikipedia defines clarity as referring “to one’s ability to clearly visualize an object or concept, as in thought, (and) understanding”.  Without providing clarity, can we have successful knowledge management?
And when I speak of clarity, I am not saying that “we know in advance” or [...]

Using social media

I often hear that some people are reticent to use social media in organisational contexts because they feel that unless they have high quality production equipment, there is no point.  I must say that I have some sympathy to this view. However, I also believe that having simple equipment can also be effective so long [...]

On purpose and need: an example

In my previous blog post I strongly advocated the need to determine purpose and need in our knowledge management planning and strategic thinking.  In fact, purpose and need are important in most business contexts.
To illustrate the point more, I was pleased to read in my latest Good Experience newsletter about how a major US hotel [...]

On determining purpose and need

I was reading the latest blog post from Gerry McGovern this morning. Gerry highlights the fact that Craigslist is an immensely popular website, even more popular than bookselling behemoth Amazon, but the site is incredibly ugly.  Craigslist, in case you don’t already know, is a webite for localised classified ads and discussion forums. Craigslist is successful not [...]

On communication, language and meaning

Last night I watched a movie on DVD called Where the green ants dream.  The film came out in 1984 and was directed by noted German director Werner Herzog.  I remember seeing the movie at the cinema back then and not quite fully coming to terms with the storyline.  When I saw the DVD of [...]

On social networking for business

I want to periodically keep up the thinking about the positive benefits of social networking and social media. My interest is both personal and professional. I view social networking, used in the most effective manner, to be of enormous benefit to business and government within the workplace environment. And, like most things, the value of the tool [...]

On organisational network analysis

I arranged for Cai from Optimice to come into AusAID today to give a short presentation on organisational network analysis (ONA).  Some people may also refer to ONA as social network analysis (SNA).
I had previously talked with Cai and Laurie from Optimice at the recent KM Australia conference in Sydney.  Cai had offered then to [...]

On judgement

The KM Australia conference is over for another year.  There were some great presentations and I took plenty of notes.  Thanks to everyone involved.  In particular, I want to thank Aimee Rootes from Ark Group.  Aimee was always helpful and pleasant, and went out of her way to find people when I couldn’t find them.
I [...]

On KM Australia 2009

I will be heading off to Sydney later this afternoon to spend the next two days at the KM Australia conference. I am looking forward to a number of the presentations, including the keynote from Dave Snowden and his debate on Thursday afternoon with Shawn Callahan from Anecdote.
In addition, just looking at the programme, I [...]

On outcomes and impact

There are many ways to find out about things. Research is obviously part of that. And research likes to use quantitative measures in order to maximise objectivity, even if these measures don’t give you much meaning.
Let’s look at hit rates on a website – a metric commonly used for “statistical purposes”. What does it mean? [...]

On social media – the Euan Semple interview on guruonline

Social media is a topic that should be of interest to anyone working in organisations. It still amazes me that social media remains unknown or is treated with suspicion from senior management-types when social media is just an extension of the ways in which people operate in the real world.
People like making connections. People like socialising [...]

On why human resource management has been a major disappointment

One of my greatest annoyances is the failure of human resource management (HRM) to adequately utilise knowledge management practices and experience in developing and nurturing the human capital of organisations. HRM seems more interested in staying bounded by payroll, employment law, and offering some training courses than actively trying to heighten the capacity and capability of the workforce [...]