Knowledge Matters™

In a recent post to actKM an attendee at actKM 2007 said of the question ‘What is knowledge management?’ – “We came to the conclusion that we could allow an individual interpretation - it was whatever it meant to you. Because KM was all about the processes.” Apparently this was the collective conclusion of a bunch of knowledge managers and practitioners who were taking part in the Adelaide Gurteen Knowledge Café Group . Now it’s not clear to me whether this group came to this conclusion at actKM 2007 or at some other time, but if this is the best collective wisdom of a bunch of knowledge managers and practitioners, then knowledge management is doomed!

Quite frankly I am amazed at these conclusions. Knowledge management is whatever you want it to be. Really! So I can call a business process reengineering initiative knowledge management. I can even rebadge down-sizing, restructuring and right-sizing efforts and call them knowledge management. Get real! No wonder the discipline is considered by many to be a black art!

Knowledge management is all about processes. Really! I would agree there is a sizeable process component, but I would have thought the human component was at least as important, and I thought technology was an essential enabler - seemingly not. It seems I have wasted my time for the last four years trying to implement an integrated people, process and technology solution in a major government department. It seems the help desk we put in place with real humans answering questions and actually providing help could have been substituted with a series of explicit processes. No doubt this would have been more efficient and less costly – I think not!

In my second blog I appealed to the knowledge management community to read some epistemology before engaging in banal exchanges of what is knowledge. Now we have banal conclusions on what is knowledge management! If knowledge management as a discipline is to mature we need an agreed definition set. This is necessary so everyone has shared understanding and common meaning. I again appeal to the knowledge management community to wake up and do some basic reading. Definitions do matter and are important!

Regards, Graham.