Strategy.manage.ent

A successful KM initiative needs:

A compelling reason why each employee should buy in - rewards are called for
training so that everyone appreciates the value of context. [...]
training so that people learn to write for an audience outside their own group of contacts. [...]
training so that people understand that most knowledge is specialized. [...]
Someone VERY senior to champion the KM cause.

There's a pattern here. Everyone see it?

As Robert Buckman said in the interview John Robb posted yesterday, 90 percent of the effort put into the Knowledge Sharing system at Buckman Labs was spent encouraging people to share. And as I wrote in "Triangulating on Knowledge Sharing", while some people will refuse to do this, most people simply don't know how.

The fact that the cost barriers for KM tools have plummeted means that those of us who already want to share can do so with less effort and less dollars. Now, how do we get those don't already want to, to join the group and be effective?

Knowledge Networks for the Cost Conscious

12:19:29 AM

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Creating affordable Knowledge Sharing networks seems to be a theme these days, given the unmitigated failure of big-buck alternatives. David Gammel of High Context goes the final mile and provides a nice overview of creating an almost no-cost KS network.

Low-cost Klog Network
The level of investment required for really excellent km tools, such as weblogs, has gotten so low that it is much easier for a relatively low level employee to start a grass-roots movement within the staff if they are motivated. Given the failure of enterprise level KM initiatives and the burst .com bubble, this could be the perfect time to stealth in some web-based knowledge sharing tools.
In this article I will discuss how you can create a low-cost knowledge weblog (klog) network using free and/or donor supported software. This method is well suited to the stealthy introduction of weblogging as a knowledge management tool. All you need is one server to host the klogs and you can be off and running before senior management has a chance to quash your initiative. Or take credit for it. :) Read more...
[High Context]

There are very important ideas in this:

With no investment chances are you can sneak this into your Dilbertian department without raising suspicion. You still need a bit of a geek to set it up and run it, but you can do it for almost free.
Even small enterprises can now afford this stuff. In fact they can no longer afford not to have it.

Young, entrepreneurial companies eat away from the bottom of the big Dilbert-company markets, but to do so they have to move fast and spread themselves thin. Most struggle to reach across geographic boundaries for anything more than marketing or a little customer support. True knowledge sharing across the country is just about impossible for the small- to mid-sized enterprise. ASPs, Salesforce.com, and MSOutlook's Public Folders haven't really helped. Most still get by on sheer luck and determination.

What David describes can be done by almost anyone with access to a geek. And not an uber-geek. Probably any 17-year-old with a knack for Python or pearl will do. That's still too techie for me, but even if you have to shell out $40 for Radio it's still an affordable way to get started.

This is great stuff, David. Thanks for bringing it to us.

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