I have been absent from the blogosphere for a few days thanks to a 13 hour flight from Singapore to London, followed 20 hours later by a ten hour flight to Dallas. Overall a 14 hour time difference and I am only just recovering. I presented today at an event in Dallas with old friend Hubert Saint-Onge (whose criticism of blogs and wikkis as knowledge tools will be subject of a corrective post tomorrow) and Major Bradley Hilton from the US Army. The latter reminded me of the criticality of KM. His story was of a company commander who spotted something odd about a sign in Iraq, as a result he was cautious and it turned out that the sign was booby trapped. The source of that knowledge was a fragment, a casual remark on a virtual chat area by another officer. It reminded me of one of the essential aspects of knowledge transfer, it works from fragments, snippets or anecdotes not well constructed doctrine and best practice.
I also recalled that all the experimental work I have done over the years, it is far more rewarding to work with the military. The reason is that they take exercises seriously. If they don;t understand something they seek to learn, rather than complaining that a workshop is too conceptual. I think one reason is that exercises are safe-fail rehearsals for situations where people get killed if you get it wrong. My earlier story also shows that effective knowledge flow can save lives.
Comments (3)
Dave – we enjoyed your presentation in Dallas. Your thoughts on KM in the military spurred my memories of having worked as an emergency room nurse and recalling how efficient and effective knowledge transfer can be when lives are at stake. Nonetheless, amazing breakdowns still occur – as with now well documented example of the inability and in some cases the unwillingness on the part of the CIA and the FBI to share their knowledge regarding the activities of certain individuals who eventually participated in the 9/11 attacks - one of the most prominent and unfortunate examples of the real cost for failing to share knowledge.
Posted by Joel | February 7, 2007 4:47 PM
Posted on February 7, 2007 16:47
Dave,
Thank you for commenting on my ITToolbox blog. The Cynefin framework is really the most useful model I have seen in the last two years. I am part of a IT research and consulting company operating in the Unitec kingdom, South Africa and Australia and would be interested in exploring ways in which we can collaborate in terms of research efforts.
Best regards,
Jurgens Pieterse
Posted by Jurgens Pieterse | February 7, 2007 7:44 PM
Posted on February 7, 2007 19:44
Dave,
I’ll await your follow-up post concerning Hubert’s criticism of blogs and wikis as knowledge tools. The hive mind is seductive and a challenge if used for information rather than inspiration--the latter use holds great value.
The rewarding experiences you found from your interactions with military personnel is really interesting. I guess doctrine and the elusive “best practice” go out the window when timely decisions, with real consequences, need to be made. As you point out, it’s the stories that matter and we can all learn from that lesson. Your blog is insightful and a blast to read! Thanks!
Posted by Nick Brumleve | February 7, 2007 8:55 PM
Posted on February 7, 2007 20:55