Myths & Other
Contradictions
Melissie C. Rumizen, Ph.D.
Buckman Laboratories
[email protected]
Copyright ©2001, Buckman Laboratories International, Inc.
Welcome to New York City
– It was a fad among New
Yorkers to bring home
alligators.
– Which sadly would wind
up disappearing down
plumbing.
– Eventually producing
colonies of alligators
living in the NYC sewers
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ALLIGATOR FOUND IN
UPTOWN SEWER
• The New York Times of February
10, 1935
• Youths Shoveling Snow Into
Manhole See the Animal Churning
in Icy Water.
• Snare It and Drag It Out
• Reptile Slain by Rescuers When It
Gets Vicious—Whence It Came Is
Mystery.
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Myth
• A popular belief or story that
has become associated with a
person, institution or
occurrence
• A fiction or half-truth,
especially one that forms part
of an ideology
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Koan
• A paradox to be meditated
upon that is used to train
Zen Buddhist monks
• Form is usually a statement
with corollary, an opposing
statement
• The purpose is to derail
mental processes
• The goal is to gain sudden intuitive enlightenment
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Koan
Whatever you say a thing is
– It is.
Whatever you say a thing is
– It is not.
To find yourself you must lose yourself.
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Koan
A dunce once searched for fire with a lighted
lantern.
Had he known what fire was,
He could have cooked his rice much sooner.
It is too clear and so it is hard to see.
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Knowledge Management Is
• How an organization
– Identifies, creates, captures, acquires, shares and
otherwise leverages knowledge.
• Systematic processes support these
activities, also enabling replication of
successes.
Melissie Rumizen
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Knowledge Management
Copyright ©2001, Buckman Laboratories International, Inc.
Strategy
• There is an perfect knowledge
management strategy for your
organization.
–
–
–
–
Business strategy
Business goals and drivers
Core business
Other organizational efforts
• Every organization is different so
that what is right for one company
is wrong for another.
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CEO Sponsorship
• Having the CEO as a sponsor guarantees
success.
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Culture
• Our organizational culture is
hostile to knowledge
management.
– Are sharing, using,
collaborating and improving
unnatural acts?
• Our culture must be changed!
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Measurement
• Knowledge management results can not be
measured.
– Like IT, it is correlated to many factors,
tangling the web of casual relationships.
– Over time, a successful KM effort also raises
the baseline of performance.
– Besides which, the inherent goodness of KM is
such that measures are unnecessary.
Copyright ©2001, Buckman Laboratories International, Inc.
Technology
• Information Technology Is Not Knowledge
Management
– In the beginning, Lotus Notes was not knowledge
management.
• Although databases were a popular favorite.
– Progress has brought us to portals are not
communities of practice.
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Collaboration
• People want to share knowledge and
collaborate.
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Only Tacit Need Apply
• Tacit knowledge must be made explicit.
– Important procedures, processes, projects and
decisions need to be documented. Otherwise
you reinvent the wheel constantly and
continually.
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Knowledge As a Process
• Knowledge is always changing
– While some areas in some fields are more
stable, mankind continues to explore and learn
• Flat earth
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Language No Barrier
• Requiring everyone to speak English solves
language and cultural barriers.
– Decreases errors that can creep in via
translation
– Eliminates cultural idiosyncrasies
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Knowledge Multiplies When
Shared
• One plus one equals
three
– Three plus three
equals six
– In organizations we
need to share to
maximize value
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KM is a Bad Name
• One can not manage knowledge in the
traditional meaning of management as
command and control.
– What is knowledge anyway?
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And in Farewell
In spring, hundreds of flowers;
in autumn, a harvest moon;
In the summer, a refreshing breeze;
in winter snow will accompany you.
If useless things do not hang in your mind,
Any season is a good season for you.
Copyright ©2001, Buckman Laboratories International, Inc.