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July 07, 2008

Comments

Shibin Zhang

Chuck,

Long time no see! I am preparing some job interviews, so I am reading your blog to get myself updated. Your blog is one of the best.

Thanks,

Shibin

Ken Cowan

RE: "And a helpful, knowledgeable person can beat the smartest search engine"

Whole heartedly agree.

When I was a kid, I used to think that librarians were the smartest people in the world. You can ask a librarian anything and they'll know the answer, or know where to find it.

Even in a world of Google, you need to know what search terms to enter to find what you need. On EMC|One, there is huge value in the people who, like librarians, either know the answer or know where to find it.

KC

Michael Hickins

Chuck,
I couldn't agree with you more. As laudable as KM projects have been, they've always been DOA. Social computing will be the answer, if for no other reason than it offers fun.

Chuck Hollis

And, just on the heels of this post, please go see this:

http://chucksblog.typepad.com/a_journey_in_social_media/2008/07/a-humbling-expe.html

Kevin Shea

I too believe that KM is changing. But not in the way that the concept is changing. KM has always been there, just improperly defined/executed. Knowledge is a creation process, not an isolated task and must be addressed as a process, not a set of tasks. I believe it is the realization that KM is a process that underlies the shift.

I also believe that KM cannot survive without document management as a prerequite. So, as many folks get control over their documents, they are freer to think about knowledge. Which may be one reason why people are talking about it again.

KM is not information management, it is not document management, it is not tagging, etc. But, it may be the way in which a diverse set of tools are integrated to address the fundamental need.

I don't know if social computing per se is the answer. But I believe that defining the need, outlining a solution, selling the benefits, and introducing proper tools is.

for a brief perspective see http://kevinshea.typepad.com/kevin_shea_process_collab/2008/07/thoughts-about.html

Dan Keldsen

Chuck - Enterprise 2.0 and Findability - two great tastes that taste great together. Like minds - hmm, a good sign?

Is it an accident then that the last two research reports I've been involved in have been those very two subjects? There's a method to our madness, and it's clear that you're seeing it.

These reports are a bit hefty at 60-90 pages a piece, but at the ever affordable price of free, surely it's worth a peek, eh?

They can be found at:
Market IQ on Enterprise 2.0:
http://www.aiim.org/enterprise20

and the Market IQ on Findability (fresh off the presses as of last week):
http://www.aiim.org/findability

I put together an overview of the Enterprise 2.0 research and made a comparison of Enterprise 2.0 as Knowledge Management 2.0 = freely available via slideshare at:
http://www.slideshare.net/dan.keldsen/enterprise-20-knowledge-management-20/

Over 2,000 views of that presentation - and have gotten some nice commentary (publicly and privately). Hope it's useful to this discussion.

I'll echo Kevin Shea here - KM is evolving, and for those who have failed in the past, there was probably a disconnect between what you were attempting to do, what the culture would support, and the technologies you applied to solve the problem. KM didn't force people to create rigid taxonomies - some people simply chose that path, and for that matter, some found that to be very useful, and successful. Others never got out of the planning stage, and failed to deliver business value.

Today, people might have all sorts of "fun" via Enterprise 2.0, which may be interesting, and provide virtual camaraderie, but fail to actually DO anything. They might also have raving successes, finding ways to open up lines of communication and collaboration that had never been seen in their organization before.

Perhaps the guru of tech, Eric Clapton, said it best "It's in the way that you use it..."

Cheers,
Dan Keldsen

The comments to this entry are closed.

Chuck Hollis


  • Chuck Hollis
    SVP, Oracle Converged Infrastructure Systems
    @chuckhollis

    Chuck now works for Oracle, and is now deeply embroiled in IT infrastructure.

    Previously, he was with VMware for 2 years, and EMC for 18 years before that, most of them great.

    He enjoys speaking to customer and industry audiences about a variety of technology topics, and -- of course -- enjoys blogging.

    Chuck lives in Vero Beach, FL with his wife and four dogs when he's not traveling. In his spare time, Chuck is working on his second career as an aging rock musician.

    Warning: do not ever buy him a drink when there is a piano nearby.

    Note: these are my personal views, and aren't reviewed or approved by my employer.
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