Cognitive Edge: Comments

Comment on "...this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:36:08 +0100

In a related discussion today on Google Plus made this comment:

I came through the "Quality Era" of the 1980's where the term "quality" was "packaged up and sold as products and services" by consultants and entrepreneurial organisations claiming to be the guru's of the "discipline". The same happened to KM (the culprits mainly being software peddlers). The basic philosophy of what "KM" is (and is not) was confusing to the majority and the real benefits of how knowledge assets (or in the 1980's quality) could be leveraged to create value, competitive advantage, innovation etc were lost in translation. In good organisations, many of the principles of KM have been absorbed into the fabric of how they do business, just at the principles of quality became a part of normal business to enhance outcomes and reputation. Once this becomes the case the "get rich quick" crowd move to the next big shiny thing and criticise the earlier toys as being inadequate (or what they really mean is, we can't make money from it as it has become generic - so kill it off to create a thirst for another thing I CAN sell). The sad truth is that in all this there are many that just did not get to understand what KM could do for them and still do not work in a knowledge-based manner. These businesses will unfortunately not operate to their full potential as a result.

So is (the term/brand image) KM dead? Quite probably! It has been assassinated like Caesar by the very colleagues that gained from its existence (rather than using its guidance). However, like Martin Luther King, KM philosophies continues to inform us from its grave about how we could interact with each other to generate more optimal outcomes (for those who choose listen and reflect to HEAR the message). There is still a clear and rich message that will produce benefits from the application of KM principles (regardless of whatever we call them in future - like quality management slipped into "good business practice".

- Arthur Shelley

Comment on "...this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 09:20:31 +0100

Why cannot I tweet these posts?

- W.J. Pels

Comment on "...this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 22:53:52 +0100

Dave & David,
To me the starting point is what do we want to achieve (althought there are some instances where this is unknown, in which case the achievement is new knowledge as in research or develop new capabilities as in learning). The desired outcome provides insights as to which resource (people, process and/or tools) is/are most appropriate to leverage , within that context. As we proceed through the activity, the optimal balance of resources changes. That said, good people with bad tools and processes can still get a good outcome, but th reverse is seldom true. In my experience, choice of people has more impact than either tools or process. People think, engage and interact with context to enable emergence of optionsar more capably than process or tools can - thus acting as effective moderators. Without people the process and tools annoy move the situation on to achieve an optimal out one. That said, the leveraging knowledge assets to create value is how I would use the term KM. To me, KM is just a label for the process of harnessing the synergies of all three types of resource through some insightful leadership. This will never go away, though I accept people will continually argue about what we call it.
Arthur
@Metaphorage

- Arthur Shelley

Comment on "...this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:33:58 +0100

Very interesting exchange guys.

My objection to most "KM is dead" posts is that they tend to be self-serving, ie "KM hasn't worked but this thing (which I happen to be involved in) will work despite having no greater evidence for it working". So I'm naturally skeptical.

Personally I think that you are both right. Organisations are fundamentally about people and wouldn't exist without them. But the processes and cultures that become embedded in organisations are often deeply tied to the technologies that enable them.

The analogy I would use is that of the termite mound. Without termites there is no mound, but the type of sand available in the location will affect the eventual form of the mound built.

- Stephen Bounds

Comment on "...this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 20:04:52 +0100

Well given the result I am in a good mood. However a few points

I think most technological consequences are emergent in nature and what matters is that management and HR engage without excessive constraint
I am generally unhappy about the use of drivers for anything to do with a complex adaptive system, smacks too much of causality. I prefer modulators.
I think more or less all solutions marketed as KM are a waste of time. New KM capability comes from social computing and developments in the decision support/research arenas which create knowledge management capability as a secondary or even tertiary effect.
I think after ten years, much as it is tempting to argue that KM could be a good thing if only…. The if only is not going to happen, time to move on. The strategic aspects have moved on

- Dave Snowden

Comment on "...this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side."

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 15:45:35 +0100

Hi Dave,

Just a quick note before 80 minutes of hope for another Grand Slam year...

I agree with what you are saying. Technology offers emerging opportunities that can either be grasped or watched from the wayside. However, for every opportunity there is a consequence for the management and needs of Human Resources - I still passionately believe that any concept that sets out to coordinate knowledge has to accept and account for the needs of people...which seem to sit at the heart of the environmental drivers.

Also, the crux of my problem is that many of these purported KM solutions (or paradigm shifts) are nothing more than old wine in new bottles. For example: It is one thing to propose that we usher in 'Social Business' and park KM in the way we did with Industrial Efficiency Engineers (after all, we are all saying that the concept will evolve). But, we also have to deal with the very real issues of today as well...for example, we need to start protecting the expertise that is separating from our organisations and that sounds like something that KM should be doing...after all, at the moment, what else is there?

Anyway... more important things for now... Come on Wales!

- David Griffiths

Comment on "A work in progress"

Sun, 05 Feb 2012 07:12:45 +0100

This reminds me of a series of charts in Howard Steven's "Do Lunch or Be Lunch" see pages 162 thrue 177. He uses "degree of agreement on what we want" for your convergence axis and "degree of agreement on how the world works" for your coherence axis.

- Sean Murphy

Comment on "For those in peril ..."

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 17:29:16 +0100

How about those active in "the world's oldest profession?" They are indeed professionals. There is proof. Like consultants, their invoices and credit card charges proclaim, "For Professional Services" (so I am told). Besides, whether you hire a consultant or a lovely belle-de-soir, the activity and outcome is always about the same. -j

- John Maloney

Comment on "For those in peril ..."

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 02:29:25 +0100

Good catch Dwight - corrected and thanks

- Dave Snowden

Comment on "For those in peril ..."

Sat, 04 Feb 2012 01:23:21 +0100

working to "*save* lives"

but yes, spot on!!!

- Dwight Towers

Comment on "Is there balm in Giliad?"

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:04:11 +0100

Don't forget Evgeny Zamiatin's extraordinary _We_ (1921) in that dystopian canon. It fed Orwell's mind for his _Nineteen Eighty-Four_, and, erm, influenced Ayn Rand's _We The Living_.

- Bryan Alexander

Comment on "Muddling through Sunday"

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:01:07 +0100

You may want to consider this one. http://www.creminternational.com/produkt.asp?prodid=807&struct_id=193&h=119&m=432&u=0&uu=0 The guy who sits next to me recently bought one and swears by it.

You should also consider some Monmouth beans ( my recommendation ), he use Illy ( yuck ).

- Chris Matts

Comment on "Every child is an artist. The problem …."

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 18:14:55 +0100

Lovely. Read these as a kid, and read them to my daughter when she was 4 and 5 and it launched us into a life long practice of singing sea shanties (and other great chorus songs) together.

- Chris Corrigan

Comment on "Meaning and truth"

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:28:27 +0100

Great article. I have been contemplating trying to write something similar as a result of a fall of political scaremongering happening locally in my community and nationally in Canada around First Nations issues. Swiftboating is the mainstream practice now I am afraid. It is frustrating that a lie causually tossed out can induce hours of research in reply only to have another made up story take its place.

My 11 year old son is learning practical reasoning in school and we have had many occasions where he has told me the names of the fallacies being spouted all around us which of course, makes a dad proud. But we have also had the conversation about the fact that people don't care whether a statement is a fallacy or not or what kind of fallacy it even is. It doesn't seem to matter, because the court of public opinion has no rules, unlike a jury system or a scientific inquiry.

In the work I am doing with Sensemaker at the moment, I can see how this form of meaning making is important, because truth does not in fact motivate actions in these domains, and what we learn from the patterns of fragments of narrative is very powerful. But it IS indeed hard to explain to a client that what we are doing is not a research project designed at getting at the truth, but rather a discernment project designed at creating high quality strategic choices. In a faith-based context, I would have thought that this would be an easier thing to explain and experience, but modern management practice and view trumps a lot of otherwise good thinking.

- Chris Corrigan

Comment on "Half way down the Thames"

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:13:56 +0100

Also just back from a short trip to England and Ireland and was reminded, walking through childhood river valleys and through fields and commons that the Normans documented, of the great gift that is the lacing of trails in the English countryside. Here in North America we are too preoccupied with private property rights to have such things and I lament the fencing of the land and the refusal to share space. On the little Island where I live we have a small group doggedly trying to create a trails system on public lands, but they need a few out of the way rights of way across private land to make these trails complete, and that process is fraught with permissions and trade offs and other bits and pieces of transactional minutae. I hope the similar trend you identify in your post is not a worryingly developing one in England and Wales.

- Chris Corrigan

Comment on "Is there balm in Giliad?"

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:43:14 +0100

Yep - just leant my copy of The Handmaid's Tale to my daughter and have read Darkness At Noon several time. Must read it again!

- Euan

Comment on "A work in progress"

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 01:31:02 +0100

I've posted a response to this blog post on my blog CALM Beta Wave (I need to use pictures)

Exploring "A work in progress" http://bit.ly/AcMTZw

- Jabe Bloom

Comment on "Rose tinting"

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:19:21 +0100

Thanks Ron
To help the lack of understanding (too much time with the wrong shaped ball), if it had been "7" and "0" it would have been even better

- Dave Snowden

Comment on "Rose tinting"

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:53:12 +0100

Hi Dave,

I nominate this as your most important, well most useful to me post on your blog ever. More recently I have been introducing and using the cynefin framework couched only in terms of 'how predictable the outcome might be' but this post explores both the thinking and the simplest of explanation needed.
I still don't understand the thinking behind rugby though.
Good luck with the CALM event on 16th which unfortunately I cannot make.

Cheers, Ron

- Ron Donaldson

Comment on "Rose tinting"

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 10:45:26 +0100

Thanks Albert will look at the paper

Its good because of the "5" and the "1" and a less extent the "2"

- Dave Snowden