FedKM.org

Does KM Save Money?

I wrote an entry into the President’s SAVE Award competition, President Obama's project to cull suggestions from Federal workers (even contractors!) to save money in government. Of course I suggested a Federal Center for Knowledge Management.

 But afterward, I wondered. Even though KM supports avoiding reinventing the wheel and reuse of knowledge resources, does it save money?

I believe at this stage, it probably costs money. But as we all know, it costs money to save money.

Does KM Save Money?

I wrote an entry into the President’s SAVE Award competition, President Obama's project to cull suggestions from Federal workers (even contractors!) to save money in government. Of course I suggested a Federal Center for Knowledge Management.

 But afterward, I wondered. Even though KM supports avoiding reinventing the wheel and reuse of knowledge resources, does it save money?

I believe at this stage, it probably costs money. But as we all know, it costs money to save money.

The Ego and Knowledge Management

Here's a post to the ActKM list that I wrote this morning. I'm resolving to post to this blog much more.
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You are talking about ego, by which I gather you mean those many dysfunctions of human self-consciousness that plague the workplace.

It reminds me of that series of cartoons that portray the indidious destroyers of online collaboration, the troll, etc.

But I think the discussion should be on another level entirely. Ego, of course, is all about the individual and his or her certainty about the world. But Km is about (in some sense) transcending the individual, to link him or her to a group, a community, world full of other people.

Km is about the things that can happen in that process of transcendence. Nonaka called the link a "ba," and writes that there are many types of ba. But he seems to be saying that when within ba, we are to some extent abandoning our ego. 

In the Western world, Carl Jung wrote of the "third space" that I and the other can share. 

The religious (Jewish) philosopher Martin Buber wrote that people can have two different types of relationships with the outside world, the "I-It" and the "I-Thou."

For "I-It" relationships, the "It" refers to entities as discrete objects drawn from a defined set (e.g. he, she or any other objective entity defined by what makes it measurably different from other living entities). It can be said that "I" have as many distinct and different relationships with each "It" as there are "Its" in my life.

By contrast, the "I" in the "I-Thou" is a separate concept. This is the "I" that does not objectify any "It" but rather acknowledges a living relationship instead. The "I" in "I-Thou" is radically different from the "I" in "I-It." "I-Thou" relationships are sustained in the spirit and mind of an "I" for however long the feeling or idea of relationship is the dominant mode of perception.

It seems to me that for a "ba" to work as advertised, we have to espouse an "I-Thou" relationship.

It's my opinion that information and knowledge exist on a continuum between disembodied information and embodied knowledge. The  growing edge of that continuum is a relational space, whether we call it ba, the third space, or simply human connections.

What is clear, however, is that we must be willing to enter into relationships and abandon our egoistic sense that we know the answers, that we are certain. I believe that we must, in fact, abandon certainty, to learn and share knowledge.

So the further discussion of ego is most definitely in order, if we are ready for it.

Best regards,

Neil

My Interview on Federal News Radio

with Tom Temin and Jane Norris, Monday-Friday 6-10am.

Knowledge Management

03-13-09

Play

Neil Olonoff
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Keeping track of all those stimulus dollars is a real challenge for the government, but one group is advocating a fix that centers on treating information like an asset. The Federal Knowledge Management Working Group sent the White House a letter outlining the steps they should take. Neil Olonoff is a member of the group and tells us more about what was in that letter. (Link mentioned on the air: KM.gov.)

Tags: Technology, Knowledge management, Federal Knowledge Management Group, Neil Olonoff, Stimulus, accountability

Federal Knowledge Management Initiative FAQ

Federal Knowledge Management Initiative FAQ*
(Frequently Asked Questions)

Who is behind the Initiative?
The Initiative is a sub-group organized under the Federal Knowledge Management Working Group (KMWG, also known as “KM.gov”), which comprises 650 government employees, contractors, academicians, and others. The initiative leader is Neil Olonoff. On http://km.gov  you can find a full listing of all the participants in the Initiative.

What is the Initiative?
It is an attempt to convince government decision makers to enhance collaboration, knowledge and learning in the Federal Government by implementing knowledge management.

Why do this?
Knowledge Management (KM), a discipline that uses advanced approaches to collaboration, learning and knowledge sharing along with culture change, has been effective in the private sector.  Some agencies have succeeded at KM, including NASA and the US Army, but there is no formal Federal program.  There is no policy, standards or direction.  There is no central clearinghouse of lessons learned or “what works.” Agencies and Departments must spend scarce consulting dollars to find their own way, “reinventing the wheel” in a wasteful duplication of effort.  To fill this leadership void, the Federal KM Initiative is presenting a Roadmap for formal KM governance in the Federal Government.

When are dates and times of upcoming events?
Our major event will be a meeting on Wednesday, April 29, 2009, 12:30-2:00 in the Ronald Reagan Building, Hemisphere A, during the eGov KM Conference.  Anyone is welcome to attend. Other events are announced in the KMWG calendar, located at http://km.gov.   

Where will events take place?
eGov KM will take place at the Ronald Reagan Building.  Learn more about it on this web page:
http://1105govinfoevents.com/EventOverview.aspx?Event=KM09

Where can I learn more about the Initiative?
Go to http://KM.gov,  the KMWG wiki site. 

How does the Initiative work? 
We have 8 working groups, who are researching and writing an extensive initiative Roadmap. When this is completed in April, we will present it to Federal decision-makers and request formal review of our proposals.

How can I get involved?
Go to http://KM.gov and read about the Initiative. Then email Neil Olonoff at Olonoff@gmail.com, expressing your interest.

Organizational Knowledge: The Relational Dimension

This is the latest version of my doctoral dissertation summary for my Ph. D. work in the Taos-Tilburg program. Learn more about Taos Tilburg here.  It's still a work in progress and I'd appreciate feedback ...

In the 1990s, knowledge management (KM), a discipline that uses advanced approaches to collaboration, learning and knowledge sharing along with culture change, began to coalesce, acquiring an independent identity forged from diverse sources including philosophy, psychology, economics and the social sciences, business theory, rationalization of work (Taylorism), cognitive sciences, organizational development, etc.

The coupling of organizational change and development methods with attempts to “manage” knowledge was, and remains, controversial.  KM weathered a stormy infancy in the 1990s, facing skepticism whether it should exist at all, and efforts by self-interested agents to influence its movement in directions they favored.  Today, KM still thrives as a turbulent storm of colliding discourses.  These collisions illustrate paradoxes at the core of organizational life.

Some view KM as dividing into two grand discourses, one related to Information Technology and the other Organizational Learning.  I see a landscape of diverse discourses, among them the nature of organizational knowledge, ways of organizing around knowledge, and individual relationships within and to the organization.  For me, the most interesting of these, and the focus of this work, is the third discourse, concerning persons and relationships in organizations.

Early knowledge management efforts were exercises in “collection” of knowledge, viewed as an object.  Soon the discipline moved on to collaboration, and an “activity centric” model of knowledge use.  I hope to profile a third phase, knowledge as “connection.”  This vision derives from the relational, constructionist view of knowledge.

The knowledge as connection notion confronts the modern organization with a paradox.  While organizations are increasingly complex, information centric and technological, they are also ever more dependent on basic human communication – conversation – as the fundamental source of new knowledge.  This paradox generates an opportunity to explore the following questions in my dissertation.  

•    Since organizational knowledge is seen as largely implicit or tacit, in what sense can any organization be said to own knowledge? 

•    Given that leading organizations are constantly striving for new knowledge creation – i.e., innovation – what does the relational nature of knowledge mean for future organizations? 

•    How will this conception of intentional and personal collaboration for knowledge creation interface with the mindset of the traditional, modernist organization with its notions of proper “businesslike” relationships? 

•    Will organizational forms dissolve and deform under the collective weight of hierarchy’s impediments to knowledge flows? 

•    What needs to happen for knowledge intensive firms to evolve into increasingly fertile spaces for trust, conversation and deepening human relationship? 

At the present moment we cannot avoid the darkening shadow of economic and social events.  The possibility exists that powerful economic stressors may derail the utopian progression of organizations towards civility, deepening the violence of the collision between modernist and postmodernist discourse. 

An American Evolution: The Federal Knowledge Management Initiative

Please take a look at the Federal KM Initiative, at this link:  http://wiki.nasa.gov/cm/wiki/?id=6002

The 700 members of the Federal Knowledge Management Initiative have mounted a campaign to enhance collaboration, knowledge and learning in Government with formal knowledge management. It has a direct connection to President Obama's Memo on Transparency and Open Government, in which he references collaboration.

Here is our position statement:

The vast scope of the economic crisis is now clear. Most are looking to government for the solution. Government must rise to the challenge. Agencies must overcome bureaucratic obstacles to become efficient, mission-focused teams.

Government has to evolve, embracing collaboration for greater productivity. Isolated stovepipes need to open meaningful conversations with external stakeholders. Slow processes must be streamlined and accelerated.

Private sector companies compete successfully with collaboration for productivity.  Now, it's essential for government as well. Efficient government action is vital to the health of our economy, and rebuilding the strength of the nation. Our plan will help them succeed.

Please visit us at http://wiki.nasa.gov/cm/wiki/?id=6002  and offer your comment or endorsement.

The Federal KM Initiative in The News

If you enter "Federal Knowledge Management" into Google News, the top two hits refer to the Federal KM initiative:

Group advocates federal knowledge management program

FCW.com - ‎22 hours ago‎

Elected officials should create a formal federal knowledge management program to help implement all the programs that will be funded by the $787 billion ...

Federal Employees Pursue Knowledge Management

Secrecy News - ‎Mar 9, 2009‎

An ad hoc group of several hundred federal employees and others has convened online to advocate improved “knowledge management” in the federal government. ...

In addition ...
Live Radio Interview this Friday Morning
I will be interviewed on Federal News Radio 1500 AM in Washington, DC at 7:25 am on Friday, March 13 by hosts Tom Temin and Jane Norris. The 10-minute interview will focus on the Federal Knowledge Initiative.

What’s That Big Red Letter on Your Chest?

I am spearheading an initiative in Washington, DC to try to establish formal knowledge management in the Federal Government.  Like most volunteer groups, we started out with great energy but in some committees it began to flag.  I have habitually addressed our Action Group members as “Action Heroes.”  Here’s an email I sent the group over the weekend:   One of our Action Group chairs has reported back that the members of his group are not as active as they should be.  He doesn't even think they're registered on the wiki yet.  Obviously, you cannot be an Action Hero if you aren't active.  So maybe you need a little coaching on being an action hero or heroine. When I was a kid growing up in Brooklyn, I loved Superman.  Batman was okay, and I kind of liked the Flash and Green Lantern, but Superman was my guy. I knew everything about him. And one thing puzzled me; that big red S on his costume. I knew that Martha Kent had fashioned the costume from his baby blanket, hence its indestructibility. But that S was a Kryptonian symbol, and on Krypton they didn’t speak or write English. I knew that for a fact. So it wasn’t an S, really. It was some other symbol, and who knew what it meant? It was a mystery. I figured Kal-el, or Clark, as they knew him in Smallville, probably grew up and puzzled over that symbol. When he learned to read he saw, of course, that it looked like an S, and that got him thinking what it might really mean for him, on earth. And then later he went to his Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic and took the eLearning course developed by his father, Jor-el, years before on Krypton. And Superman was born. When I was a kid I had a vibrant fantasy life – what kid doesn’t? I’d imagine myself a super-hero, living in the clouds with my superhero friends, all with great uniforms, and all with different letters on their chests. My costume was silvery, but in my daydreams, I could never quite make out the letter. I guessed that was something you had to grow into. I’m much older now, but I still have a rich fantasy life. I can’t seem to shake a utopian vision of us all, living a science fiction life in a wonderful world. I no longer desire a skin tight silver costume, and with my body, I wouldn’t even try it on. But that letter – I’ve continually tried to make it out.  My letter might be an E, for energizer. I’ve been trying to energize this organization, and we’ve had some success. Or it might be an I, for Imagination.  It takes Imagination to succeed in the world, and to see a better tomorrow.  Or it might be an O, for Organization, or a C for Collaboration, or a K, for Knowledge. I guess I still don’t know what exact letter I am. I’ve been peering under my shirt to check every once in a while and it seems to change. Do me a favor. Find a mirror and look into it. If you are wearing a shirt, unbutton it and tear it open, like Clark Kent in a phone booth. Do you see a letter there?  If so, don’t tell anyone; that’s your secret alone.  But now you have a hint as to your super power, and where it comes from, and what it’s good for. Use it for good, not evil. If you will use your power to help the Federal Knowledge Management Initiative, now is the time for action. Regards, Neil

KM Solutions for the Coming Federal Hiring Wave

In a Washington Post article entitled, Many Hires Needed for Budget Goals,  published on Tuesday, March 3, 2009 Philip Rucker writes:

President Obama's budget is so ambitious, with vast new spending on health care, energy independence, education and services for veterans, that experts say he probably will need to hire tens of thousands of new federal government workers to realize his goals.

Later in the article, the “tens of thousands” figure is estimated at between 100,000 and 250,000.  These will be Federal employee hires, not contractors, because President Obama has also spoken against the expensive practice of Federal contracting.

Hiring many people in a short time is somewhat analogous to mergers, where large numbers of personnel are sometimes mixed together resulting in many different effects and challenges. Some Agency representatives say that they will also move many existing employees to more critical positions.

Some of the major challenges of this hiring tsunami (and by no means all of them) include:

• Personnel Location: In a situation where you have many new people added to the Agency, it becomes difficult to find out “who knows what” or who is responsible for a given task. Knowledge management provides a tried and tested answer to this issue, with “organizational yellow page” systems, sometimes called “expertise locators.”  These systems simplify the ability to locate the right person quickly.
• Knowledge Retention:  The article also mentions the large numbers of soon-to-retire Baby Boomers.  Most of the tacit knowledge in Agencies is in their heads.  Before they leave, it would be advisable to attempt some transfer of knowledge to younger employees.
• Knowledge-Enabling of Processes:  Most new hires and personnel who transfer into new, more critical positions, will need performance support in doing their jobs. Training is the usual answer, but it takes a long time and there most likely aren’t existing courses for all of these diverse positions.  When jobs consist of definable processes, it might be useful to consider process mapping, and embedding of performance support content in the process, using some fairly low cost tools which are on the market. This will enable new employees to hit the ground running.
• Knowledge Sharing and Informal Learning: It is critical that Agencies establish the proper atmosphere   for rapid and efficient knowledge sharing within and across organizational boundaries.  Without this capability, every task will become more difficult as employees struggle to find answers to their many questions.
• Transition Help Desk:  It will be useful for each Agency to establish a Transition Help Desk staffed by experienced employees to support new hires with basic information.

Most of these programs and solutions fit into the toolset of Knowledge Management, or KM. KM is a discipline that uses management tools along with culture change, has been effective in the private sector.  Some agencies have succeeded at KM, including NASA and the US Army, but there is no formal Federal program.  There is no policy, standards or direction.  There is no central clearinghouse of lessons learned or “what works.”  Agencies and Departments must spend scarce consulting dollars to find their own way, “reinventing the wheel” in a wasteful duplication of effort. 

The Federal Knowledge Management Working Group, over 700 Federal employees, contractors, academicians and interested members of the public, have mounted a campaign to enhance collaboration, knowledge and learning in the Federal Government by implementing formal knowledge management. This is the Federal KM Initiative.