More on knowledge management as learning support
by Jim McGee
Greg Lloyd at Traction Software also picks up on the same JP Rangaswami post that I did yesterday. He offers several additional examples of the value of making knowledge work visible as a simple tool for supporting on the job learning. Here’s one of his many useful insights. Go read the rest.
Learn by watching - Then do
Blog446: August 14, 2007 7:22:00 PM EST, Posted by Greg Lloyd…
Each project’s serial file was nothing fancy. Usually it was a few file drawers with incoming and outgoing correspondence, briefing slides, q&a memos, contract actions and meeting notes, all top bound in chronological order - full contracts, formal specs and other deliverables were filed separately. In pre-email days, the project serial file was a pretty accurate snapshot of our interactions with the outside world interleaved with internal notes and memos. We all kept our own date stamped lab notebooks for private jottings.A day or so of close reading and the chance to ask a few pointed questions to the original project engineer (”You said WHAT to Captain K??”) usually got us up to speed on the pulse of each project - not just the formal status and deliverables. We learned to use the project file to refresh our memory on details before and important meeting or decision - or just to reflect and review the bidding. We learned to use each other’s project files to keep track of dependencies and learn how to handle problems. ……I know that an electronic form of serial file can replace the old paper trail, since that’s what I use every day. The TeamPage blog + wiki tool lets everyone look over my shoulder - and vice versa - as we tear off in different directions and do our work as individuals or teams.I rarely need to read any one project in real time, but I know that I can come up to speed quickly, search across all projects, and dive in if I need to. If someone asks for help or sees an opportunity, they can post it if it’s not urgent; add a tag to anything that needs quick action; or IM a permalink if they need me to look at something now. What I can do, all of Traction’s employees can do - only the “Board of Directors” project is private. Board pages or posts - including monthly financials - are cross-tagged to make them visible to all hands when the dust settles.
There are days when I wonder whether one of the fundamental impediments to the take up of blogging and wikis within organizations is, in fact, their utter simplicity.
