Knowledge Matters

I’m in the market for a silver bullet. Why? Because my clients want one, and I’m tired of telling them - “there is no silver bullet you just have to bite the bullet”!

What do I mean? Well in the days before anaesthetics soldiers were given bullets to bite on so they wouldn’t scream with pain under the surgeon’s knife. As for the silver bullet bit I can explain it no better than the Wikipedia entry which says:

“The metaphor of the silver bullet applies to any straightforward solution perceived to have extreme effectiveness. The phrase typically appears with an expectation that some new technology or practice will easily cure a major prevailing problem”.

As far as I am aware there is no silver bullet for knowledge management. I haven’t yet found the database that somehow populates itself with pertinent data that can produce a completely formatted and relevant management report. I haven’t found the process that is complete, everyone understands, and more importantly everyone agrees with. I haven’t found a way to always arrive at shared understanding and common meaning when dealing with humans. I haven’t found a way to structure content in a way that is ‘intuitive’ for everyone.

In any knowledge management initiative you have to bite the bullet. There will be pain, and there is no anaesthetic for that pain. Knowledge management is just plain hard work. Some people will be unhappy. Others won’t like the taxonomy. The people bit of it will always be difficult, and the unpleasant truth is you can’t satisfy everyone.

Unfortunately knowledge management requires discipline, and if the organisation doesn’t have discipline or is not prepared to exercise discipline then the knowledge management initiative will fail. I’ve said it before but it’s worth saying again. All knowledge management journeys require people to exercise individual discipline to constantly look to the collective good. All journeys require group and cultural discipline to work to a common cause. All initiatives require process discipline to follow corporate requirements, and all initiatives require technology discipline to work with what you have and not constantly seek the technological silver bullet. All initiatives are plagued by learned helplessness and selective non-compliance, and it takes discipline to overcome the plague. Frankly discipline matters.

But maybe I’m wrong. Perhaps there is a silver bullet somewhere out there. If so let me know – I can sell thousands of them for you!

Regards Graham