Milestones: 50th post, 10 years of SIKM, Setting up a KM Program

Stan Garfield

Mar 3, 2018·8 min read

Originally published May 11, 2015

This is my 50th long-form post on LinkedIn. It is a good time to reflect on several other recent milestones.

I now have more than 5,000 followers here in LinkedIn. Thanks to all of you for your continuing interest in my posts.

Links to my KM site and Twitter feed:

• Knowledge Management
• Twitter

SIKM Leaders Community 10th Anniversary

10 years ago at APQC (American Productivity and Quality Center)’s 10th Knowledge Management Conference, held May 5–6, 2005 in St. Louis, I started the SIKM Leaders Community. For more on its history, see A community of practice for knowledge management. Since then, it has grown to 561 members, held 119 monthly calls for knowledge sharing, and discussed many important topics in its discussion board. Here is a list of all calls featuring a presentation.

1. 2005–07 Unisys Services KM Program: Paul Rehmet
2. 2005–11 Knowledge Enablement in IBM Global Services: Mark May
3. 2005–12 Thinking for a Living: Improving the Performance of Knowledge Workers: Tom Davenport
4. 2006–01 KM at Cisco Advanced Services: Doug Madgic and Gary Borella
5. 2006–02 Building a Knowledge Culture at MindTree Consulting: Raj Datta
6. 2006–03 Caterpillar Knowledge Network: Reed Stuedemann
7. 2006–04 What blogs and wikis bring to business and knowledge management: Bill Ives
8. 2006–05 Making learning & performing routine: Kent Greenes
9. 2006–06 Blogging and Knowledge communities — is there a connection?: Jack Vinson
10. 2006–07 Eight Strategies for Maximizing the Value of Knowledge Sharing: Sanjay Swarup
11. 2006–08 Virtual Collaboration in the Global Enterprise: Brian Gorman
12. 2006–09 Discussion on KM: Steve Denning
13. 2006–10 How to leverage public education by means of a collaboration strategy: Mike Koffman, Jillian Darwish, and Matt Saddler
14. 2006–11 Nurturing Trust — Leveraging Knowledge: Peter West
15. 2006–12 Networks and Sensemaking: Themes from Net Work: Patti Anklam
16. 2007–01 Demand Driven KM and Ignorance Elimination: Bruce Karney
17. 2007–02 Generational differences and their impact on collaboration: Lynn Busby of IBM
18. 2007–03 Driving Outstanding Customer Experience to the Bottom Line: Marilyn Martiny
19. 2007–04 Modeling Complexity with Value Network Analysis: Verna Allee
20. 2007–05 GM Case Study Preview & The KM Domain: Steve Wieneke and Karla Phlypo
21. 2007–06 KM for Call Centers: Greg Reid
22. 2007–07 Learning and Performing: Rick Wallace of APC
23. 2007–08 Business narrative experiences at Anecdote: Shawn Callahan
24. 2007–09 The Kingdom of Taxonomy: Patrick Lambe
25. 2007–10 Knowledge Harvest Facilitation: Kate Pugh and Nancy Dixon
26. 2007–11 Knowledge & Innovation Management: Christian De Neef and Ives De Saeger
27. 2007–12 Implementing KM in an ITIL Environment: Stephanie Barnes
28. 2008–01 Facilitated Better Practice Transfer: Kent Greenes
29. 2008–02 KM Adoption at EDS: Jason Ferguson
30. 2008–03 Results from the Fluor Knowvember Campaign: John McQuary and Tara Keithley
31. 2008–04 KM at Boeing: Jim Coogan
32. 2008–05 Collaboration at Accenture: Stacie Jordan
33. 2008–06 KM at 3M: Barry Dayton
34. 2008–07 Replacing a Lessons Learned Database with a Visible Learning Process: Steve Wieneke of GM
35. 2008–08 Content Supply? Meet Knowledge Demand! The Case for Knowledge Planners: Marc Solomon of PRTM
36. 2008–09 Collaborative Networks and the New Enterprise: Hubert Saint-Onge
37. 2008–10 Developing, Deepening and Retaining Expertise: Richard McDermott
38. 2008–11 KM at ManTech International: John Hovell
39. 2008–12 Knowledge Services: A Business Framework for Knowledge Management: Al Simard
40. 2009–01 Creating Successful KM Business Plans and Goals: Bernadette Boas
41. 2009–02 Impacts of behavior on knowledge transfer and project outcomes: Arthur Shelley
42. 2009–03 Building a Knowledge Ecosystem: Raj Datta
43. 2009–04 Interviewing Skills for Discovering Unconscious Knowledge: Carl Gaertner
44. 2009–05 Adaptive Knowledge Architectures: Andrew Gent
45. 2009–06 Managing Knowledge Loss Due to Workforce Attrition: Bill Kaplan
46. 2009–07 Understanding our Hidden Diversity: Steve Wieneke
47. 2009–08 Sustainable KM: Andrew Gent
48. 2009–09 Planning & Running Successful Virtual Meetings: Nancy Settle-Murphy
49. 2009–10 Community Metrics: The Novell Approach: Lee Romero
50. 2009–11 Using Expertise: The Story So Far: Matt Moore
51. 2009–12 Relationship of Learning, Knowledge and Sustaining Innovation: Rick Wallace
52. 2010–01 Radical Management: Creating a Safe Space for KM: Steve Denning
53. 2010–02 Rethinking Ourselves (KM People) as Technology Stewards: Etienne Wenger, Nancy White, and John Smith
54. 2010–03 Making a Difference: Removing barriers to knowledge flows: Arthur Shelley
55. 2010–04 Knowledge transfer toolkit program: Keith De La Rue
56. 2010–05 Idea Management at State Farm: Carol Csanda
57. 2010–06 Sharing lost know-how — solve thorny problems with the Knowledge Jam: Kate Pugh
58. 2010–07 Knowledge Management and Application Domain: Steve Wieneke and Karla Phlypo
59. 2010–08 Social Learning: Marcia Conner
60. 2010–09 Using Chaos Theory to Enable Real Time Awareness: Thierry Hubert and Bill Ives
61. 2010–10 What intranet innovations can do for KM: James Robertson
62. 2010–11 Results through Collaboration and KM at Cisco: Doug Madgic
63. 2010–12 A Knowledge Agenda: Managing More than Knowledge: Al Simard
64. 2011–01 Net-Centric Approach to Tacit Knowledge Management: Michael Brown
65. 2011–02 Student-centred KM strategies: Steve Cayzer
66. 2011–03 Why do great KM programs fail?: Steve Denning
67. 2011–04 Implementing content rating behind the firewall: Dave Thomas
68. 2011–05 Knowledge is Fluid; Upcycling Knowledge: Steve Wieneke
69. 2011–06 Integrated Knowledge & Learning Organization; Social Task Networks: Karla Phlypo and Stan Rosenschein
70. 2011–07 Culture & Adoption and Content Harvesting: Steve Kaukonen and Stacie Brenkovich of Accenture
71. 2011–08 Being the convener: facilitating tacit knowledge-sharing: Kate Pugh and Roberto Evaristo
72. 2011–09 Knowledge Transfer in a Digital World — The shift is on!: Kent Greenes
73. 2011–10 Social Media in the Enterprise: the future is here — how can we make it work?: Tom Short, Mary Abraham, Peter Hobby, and Kate Pugh
74. 2011–11 Breaking free from the old structures holding back online KM: Ephraim Freed
75. 2012–01 Social networking with text mining and analytics for KM: Ken Martin
76. 2012–02 Aligning People, Process and Technology in KM: Stephanie Barnes
77. 2012–03 Reflections on KM Practice — 15 months into a KM startup: Richard Vines
78. 2012–04 Organizational RQ: Anne Marie Knott
79. 2012–05 From Knowledge Stocks to Knowledge Flows — Opportunity & Challenges: John Hagel
80. 2012–06 Knowledge Manageability: Al Simard
81. 2012–07 Search Analytics: Understanding the Long Tail: Lee Romero
82. 2012–08 Engaging for KM Success: Build, Maintain, Outperform: Jeff Hester
83. 2012–09 Graphic Facilitation: Nancy White
84. 2012–10 Community Leadership: Curtis Conley and Lori Brown
85. 2012–11 Hosted Enterprise Metadata: Russell Manley
86. 2012–12 Too Big to Know: David Weinberger
87. 2013–01 Getting Beyond Simple Social: Thomas Vander Wal
88. 2013–02 Trends in knowledge management: Carla O’Dell and Cindy Hubert of APQC
89. 2013–03 Leading Effective Virtual Teams: Nancy Settle-Murphy
90. 2013–04 Judgment and Practical Wisdom: Larry Prusak
91. 2013–05 Taking Knowledge Flow Management to the Next Level with Social Media: Frank Leistner and Gordon Vala-Webb
92. 2013–06 Knowledge Sharing at ConocoPhillips: Dan Ranta
93. 2013–07 Learning at BAE Systems: John Hovell
94. 2013–08 A win-win: Bridging Theory with Practice via Columbia Capstone project: Linda Hummel
95. 2013–09 Organizational Conversation: David Gurteen
96. 2013–10 KM and Happiness at Work: Alexis Adair
97. 2013–11 Where to Look for Knowledge Management Success: Murray Jennex
98. 2013–12 3 Eras of KM: Where Has it Been and Where is it Going?: Nancy Dixon
99. 2014–01 Building Community: A Conversation on planning, stewardship, and keeping it human: Catherine Shinners
100. 2014–02 When Tacit and Explicit Knowledge aren’t Enough: Steve Wieneke
101. 2014–03 Get in the Game: Driving Exceptional Behaviours Through Gamification: Thomas Hsu and Steve Kaukonen
102. 2014–04 Best Practices for Knowledge Transfer in Mergers & Acquisitions: Thomas Blumer
103. 2014–05 Facilitating ideation with external open collaborative communities: Karla Phlypo
104. 2014–06 Enhancing Knowledge Flows with ESN: Gordon Vala-Webb
105. 2014–07 Losing Your Minds: Capturing, Leveraging & Retaining Organizational Knowledge: Bill Kaplan
106. 2014–08 The Right KM Technologies for Your Enterprise: Tony Byrne
107. 2014–09 Knowledge Management: A Benchmark Study of Contemporary Practices: Marcie Zaharee and Marilyn Kupetz of MITRE
108. 2014–10 Yammer Groups & Business Value: Does size matter?: Lee Romero
109. 2014–11 The Other KM Adoption Challenge: Mary Abraham
110. 2014–12 The Yin and Yang of Knowledge Management: Al Simard
111. 2015–01 Doing More with Less: The Impact of Strategic Capability Mapping on Enterprise Resource Allocation (Sales, R&D, Manufacturing): Roberto Evaristo
112. 2015–02 How Great KMers are Innovation Conveners: Kate Pugh
113. 2015–03 Key cultural practices & dimensions that drive services differentiation: Doug Madgic and Andre Karamanian
114. 2015–04 BAE Systems KM: US & UK perspectives: John Hovell and Andrew Muras
115. 2015–05 What can KM learn from Sports Science?: Cory Banks

Weekly KM Blog Archives Restoration

I recently began restoring the archives of my Weekly KM Blog, which ran from 2006–2008, first on Line56 and then on hp.com. The precursor to the blog was my article Setting up a KM Program: A wealth of resources and guidelines, which was published on February 8, 2006 on Line56. Here is a version with updated links.

Priorities for setting up a KM Program

1. Put a strong KM leader in place, and ensure that the KM team has only strong members.
2. Balance people, process, and technology, with a project leader for each category.
3. Establish a governance and collaboration process to engage all regions and functions, and to formally manage and communicate on all projects — appoint KM leaders in each major country, region, and function.
4. Hold annual worldwide face-to-face meetings to get all KM leaders informed, energized, and collaborating.
5. Communicate regularly through newsletters, training, web sites, and local events.
6. Get the senior executive to communicate regularly about the importance of the program and to inspect progress against goals.
7. Engage with other KM programs, both internal and external, to share ideas and practice what you preach.
8. Focus on delivering tangible business benefits.
9. Deliver regular improvements to make the KM environment effective and easy to use.
10. Focus on three basic goals, and stick to the basics — participate in a community, collaborate using team spaces, and search for and submit reusable content.

KM Strategy (Tips for starting a KM or ESN program)

1. Get all employees to actively participate in knowledge sharing and reuse.
2. Capture key information on all work performed so that everyone will know what others have done and whom to contact for further details.
3. Reuse intellectual capital on each new project.
4. Make it easy for employees to find the information they need to do their jobs.
5. Measure and reward knowledge sharing and reuse.

Goals of Knowledge Management (KM Benefits)

1. Avoid redundant effort.
2. Avoid making the same mistakes twice.
3. Take advantage of existing expertise and experience.
4. Make it easy to find information and resources.
5. Communicate important information widely and quickly.
6. Provide methods, tools, templates, examples, & data to streamline business.
7. Make scarce expertise widely available.
8. Show customers how knowledge is used for their benefit.
9. Stimulate innovation and growth.
10. Make the best problem-solving experiences reusable.

KM Resources

Books

1. Learning to Fly: Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations by Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell
2. Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know by Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak
3. Thinking for a Living: How to Get Better Performances And Results from Knowledge Workers by Thomas H. Davenport
4. The Leader’s Guide to Storytelling: Mastering the Art and Discipline of Business Narrative by Stephen Denning
5. Common Knowledge: How Companies Thrive by Sharing What They Know by Nancy M. Dixon
6. CompanyCommand: Unleashing the Power of the Army Profession by Nancy M. Dixon, Nate Allen, Tony Burgess, Pete Kilner and Steve Schweitzer
7. If Only We Knew What We Know: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice by Carla O’Dell and C. Jackson Grayson
8. Intellectual Capital: The New Wealth of Organizations by Thomas A. Stewart
9. The Wealth of Knowledge: Intellectual Capital and the Twenty-first Century Organization by Thomas A. Stewart
10. Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge by Etienne Wenger, Richard McDermott, & William M. Snyder

Periodicals

1. Ark Group: Inside Knowledge
2. destinationKM
3. Gurteen Knowledge-Letter
4. Journal of Knowledge Management
5. KMWorld
6. KnowledgeBoard Newswires
7. K Street Directions
8. Melcrum KM Review
9. Montague Institute Review
10. Steve Denning’s newsletter about organizational storytelling

Blogs

1. Anecdote
2. Patti Anklam
3. Colabria
4. Steve Denning
5. Denham Grey
6. Joitske Hulsebosch
7. Bill Ives
8. Dave Pollard
9. Jack Vinson
10. David Weinberger

Web Sites

1. AOK
2. APQC
3. Brint KMNetwork and WWW Virtual Library on Knowledge Management
4. Buckman Laboratories: Knowledge Nurture
5. CIO
6. Gurteen
7. International Knowledge Management Institute
8. KmWiki
9. KnowledgeBoard
10. KNOW Network