Contents
1 Introduction
2 IBM Knowledge Management Blue Print Workshops
3 Delicious is a powerful social bookmarking tool. Are you using it?
4 ADVERTISEMENT: Certified Knowledge Manager Training
5 Would you like to have only one username and password to access all your websites?
6 We need "Managers 2.0"
7 Resistance Is Futile. You Will Be Assimilated!
8 Work for Free!
9 KM Event Highlights
10 Subscribing and Unsubscribing
11 The Gurteen Knowledge Letter
Introduction
Its a little late but a may I wish you a happy New Year unless of course you are Chinese and your New Year starts in a few weeks time!
I have been in SE Asia now since the 5th January and do not return home to the UK until the 31st. As I explained last month, the reason for my trip is a series of KM workshops for IBM in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok about which you can learn a little more below.
But it means I am writing this newsletter in Bangkok on a Sunday when really I should be getting out and seeing some more of the city. So please forgive me, if it is a little concise this month!
IBM Knowledge Management Blue Print Workshops
As I explained last month, the reason for my trip to SE Asia was a series of workshops for IBM in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok: to help IBM's customers better understand Social Tools and their impact on traditional KM and the enterprise and thus the issues of implementing IBM's new integrated social software product Lotus Connections.
Well that's all over now, the last workshop was here in Bangkok on Friday (from where I am writing this newsletter in a Starbucks!). Its been a fun couple of weeks and I have loved working with the people at IBM - it felt like being back at Lotus in the 80s - a lot of energy and a lot of fun.
And although I have been doing most of the talking when meeting IBM's clients, I have learnt a great deal. The bottom line is that there is a huge interest and enthusiasm for Social Tools in Asia but very much in the context of KM and "creating a knowledge sharing culture". The questions I was asked time and time again by senior managers was "How do you create a Knowledge Sharing Culture?"; "How do you get started?" and "How do you motivate people to open up, collaborate and share?"
Here is my presentation. You may recognize it as an expanded version of the talk - KM goes Social - I gave at Online 2008 in London in December.
I had much to say on this challenge; shared my thoughts with them freely and found myself frquently referencing the work of Bob Buckman. Expect me to talk more about this in the coming months as their questions and enthusiasm has helped reinforce my view that the combination of 'hard' social tools such as blogs and wikis and 'soft' social tools such as knowledge cafes and after action reviews are a powerful combination.
Delicious is a powerful social bookmarking tool. Are you using it?
Delicious is a Social Bookmarking tool and has got to be one of the simplest, most powerful of all the Social Tools. It allows you to store, share and discover web bookmarks but I am amazed just how few people have heard of it - never mind use it. It is no more difficult to use than your regular browser favorite or bookmark feature but so much more powerful. Just to be a be able to access your bookmarks from any PC is one of its most basic benefits but good enough reason to use it.
Jon Udell speculates why that may be and points out a few powerful features and uses of the service.
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barry.hardy[at]douglasconnect.com, +41 61 851 0170Would you like to have only one username and password to access all your websites?
I keep a Notes database that holds the usernames and passwords for over 100 websites that I have subscribed to. Its painful!
But a new web service has been under development for some time now called OpenID and I have been sitting patiently waiting for it to mature. Well that moment I think is here as on January 30th Yahoo will support OpenID which means that if you already have a Yahoo ID and password you can use it to logon to any OpenID enabled website. This is what Yahoo says:
Once you enable your Yahoo! account for OpenID access, you can simply tell any OpenID enabled web site that you are a Yahoo! user. You will be sent to Yahoo! to verify your Yahoo! ID and password and then signed in to the web site. Its that easy!And its not only Yahoo that supports OpenID. Other service providers also provide support such as Technorati and AOL.
We need "Managers 2.0"
In one of my recent IBM KM Blueprint Workshops I was talking about KM 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and the need for Management 2.0, when one of the participants chirped in that these ideas were all well and good but would never take root as long as we still had "Managers 1.0" which of course brought a chuckle of approval from everyone in the room.
And then this afternoon, I started to read Gary Hamels new book - The Future of Management. In it, in the chapter on "Forging Management 2.0" he says this.
Why exactly, is the Internet so adaptable, innovative and engaging? Because ...But what will "Managers 2.0 look like I wonder? And how might we update the 1.0 versions - if at all? In a Knowledge Cafe I ran in Croatia a few years ago the participants all agreed that the biggest barrier to knowledge sharing in their organizations was the outdated mindset of their senior managers and when asked how they might change that - they thought the only way was to "Wait for them to retire or die!" as these managers had grown up in the Communist era and they thought were incapable of change!
This may not be a detailed design spec for a 21st-century management system, but I doubt it's far off. Argue with me if you like, but I'm willing to bet that Management 2.0 is going to look a lot like Web 2.0
- Everyone has a voice.
- The tools of creativity are widely distributed.
- Its easy and cheap to experiment.
- Capability counts for more than credentials and titles.
- Commitment is voluntary.
- Power is granted from below.
- Authority is fluid and contingent on value-added.
- The only hierarchies are "natural" hierarchies.
- Communities are self-defining. Individuals are richly empowered with information.
- Just about everything is decentralized.
- Ideas compete on an equal footing.
- It's easy for buyers and sellers to find each other.
- Resources are free to follow opportunities.
- Decisions are peer-based.
Resistance Is Futile. You Will Be Assimilated!
Read this post by Oscar Berg on Enterprise 2.0 and the shrinking IT department. Read it the once through - its a good article on how IT needs to focus on the business:
There really are no IT projects, only business projects with more or less IT involved.And then re-read it but as you do replace the word IT with KM. It still makes sense - in fact very good sense. Oscar concludes by saying that
Enterprise 2.0 is about making IT an inherent part of all business.Expanding this a little I would say:
Enterprise 2.0 is about making IT and KM an inherent part of all business.This actually makes more sense than I first thought as for many organizations KM and IT are almost indistinguishable.
I think we could include HR in this argument too! Enterprise 2.0 will challenge the power of KM, IT and HR departments - not to mention many traditional command and control managers. Some will embrace it but I fear most will resist. This is really not the right metaphor but it causes me to chuckle. In the words of the Borg:
"Resistance Is Futile. You Will Be Assimilated!"But seriously, Enterprise 2.0 and KM 2.0 will change the power structure of organizations for ever! It will take a little time but this is going to happen, so best embrace it early then fight it.
Work for Free!
Steve Pavlina is spot on here when he talks about working for free! Its a philosophy that as a one man independent consultant I have adopted from the outset. You simply start by doing work for free. Forget developing glossy brochures or fancy traditional marketing. Doing stuff for free and giving stuff away for free is marketing and the best form of it. You are providing value - you are demonstrating what you can do in an authentic way.
You are working for free when you blog or create a newsletter or a resource website as I do or you can speak at conferences for free and even for organizations for free. This way you get to build relationships and you get to build trust and get to establish a reputation. Now slowly you can start to charge - as Steve explains - as the work load increases - you can start to raise your fee and to throttle back the demand to what you can deliver.
I see so many people start out as independents who do not understand this and quickly end up returning to corporate life. I have one friend however, who started off by working as an executive coach for free - it was the only way to establish himself and he now earns an annual six figure sum from that part of his work alone. As Steve says:
One of the best ways to show people the value of your work is to share it with them for free. This minimizes other people’s risk and makes it easier for them to receive your value. In this manner you can start sharing your value immediately.Thinking about it - I have done it for years. In my very first job in my early twenties - I was a CAD engineer/programmer in the Space Division of British Aerospace. My boss always had more requests for new projects than he could handle. I used to make sure I got to know what those projects were. The ones that interested and excited me I offered to work on in my own time!! I got to do the stuff I loved and many of those projects developed into funded projects. It also helped establish my reputation for doing leading edge work.
KM Event Highlights
This section highlights some of the major KM events taking place around the world in the coming months and ones in which I am actively involved. You will find a full list on my website where you can also subscribe to both regional e-mail alerts and RSS feeds which will keep you informed of new and upcoming events.
Knowledge Management and Organization Performance
22 Jan 2008, Bangkok, Thailand
I will be giving the keynote talk and facilitating a Knowledge Cafe at this one day seminar at Bangkok University.
NYC Knowledge Cafe
22 Jan 2008, New York City, United States
Run by Suzanne Roff in NYC - try to get along if you can.
Henley Knowledge Management Forum Annual Conference (Feb 2008)
06 - 07 Feb 2008, Henley-on-Thames, United Kingdom
I will be attending this event again this year. Its one of the better ones!
Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum
19 Feb 2008, Sydney, Australia
Looks like a great event from my good friend Ross Dawson.
The Effective Knowledge Networker
04 Mar 2008, London, United Kingdom
I am running this one-day workshop for Unicom.
Web 2.0 and Beyond: Applying social and collaborative tools to business problems
05 - 06 Mar 2008, London, United Kingdom
I am chairing this 2-day Social Tools conference for Unicom.
4 Congreso Internacional de Gestión del Conocimiento y la Calidad
13 - 15 Mar 2008, Bogota, Colombia
KM Conference in South America.
Buying & Selling eContent
13 - 15 Apr 2008, Scottsdale AZ, United States
Library + Information Show 2008
23 - 24 Apr 2008, Birmingham, United Kingdom
APQC Knowledge Management Conference 2008
28 Apr - 02 May 2008, Chicago, United States
The 9th Annual Knowledge Management Conference & Exhibition
28 - 29 Apr 2008, Washington DC, United States
KMICE'08: Knowledge Management International Conference and Exhibition 2008
10 - 12 Jun 2008, Langkawi, Malaysia
Special Libraries Association Annual Conference
15 - 18 Jun 2008, Seattle, United States
I will be running a Knowledge Cafe at this event.
KM Australia 2008
21 - 23 Jul 2008, Melbourne, Australia
Subscribing and Unsubscribing
You may subscribe to this newsletter on my website. Or if you no longer wish to receive this newsletter or if you wish to modify your e-mail address or make other changes to your membership profile then please go to this page on my website.
The Gurteen Knowledge Letter
The Gurteen Knowledge-Letter is a free monthly e-mail based KM newsletter for Knowledge Workers. Its purpose is to help you better manage your knowledge and to stimulate thought and interest in such subjects as Knowledge Management, Learning, Creativity and the effective use of Internet technology. Archive copies are held on-line where you can register to receive the newsletter.
It is sponsored by the Knowledge Management Forum of Henley Management College, Oxfordshire, England.
You may copy, reprint or forward all or part of this newsletter to friends, colleagues or customers, so long as any use is not for resale or profit and I am attributed. And if you have any queries please contact me.
David Gurteen
Gurteen Knowledge
