Why Knowledge Management?

Fairwell to RedDot Content Management System

Thanks to my weekly CMSWire email, I was alerted to the end of the RedDot CMS era. It was a bit nostalgic for me, as in my early days of blogging, I did a review of RedDot.

The RedDot Content Management System brand had been around since the mid 1990s, and my review was done when I was looking for a CMS for my company back in 2005. Though my review was favorable, we selected a different CMS. Several RedDot users who visited my blog, though, were less than complimentary.

Regardless of that, the RedDot brand may be gone, but the software continues to be delivered by publisher Open Text under their Web Solutions family of products.

This brand evolution has been a couple of years in the making, and the interview with Open Text’s SVP for Corporate Strategy, Daniel Kraft, provides the details.

The Evolution of Communities of Practice

I think it was expected that the methodology of and enablers for and the individual's innovative uses would evolve Communities of Practice as time went on and people focused more and more on the right way to service the individual and community.

In the 90s, research was conducted and concluded that in order for a Community of Practice to thrive quickly, it was best to begin with a face-to-face meeting of the members in order to create and build trust, after which a community of remote users could move forward successfully. When this sort of launch did not occur, communities (in general) took longer to build that trust and get the community rolling (or - of course - many failed).

These current thoughts about CoPs was brought about by John Tropea at socialmediatoday, who blogged this past week about How relevant are communities of practice in a network age?

His focus is on "cross-functional group spaces to learn about a topic (*usually* comprised of people across different teams). I'm not referring to teams using CoP-like social software like Basecamp as a group space to coordiate and communicate tasks/project."  I'm not so sure the evolution does not include both - long term.

It is very noticeable - you not only have your twitter network as your CoP, but other tools as well...like my weekly LinkedIn email notifying me of my network's changes and any questions posted and/or answered. You learn a lot about your network by the question asked and even more by the answers supplied.

Additionally, my college alumni site has started the same practice of sending me a weekly email showing posted questions/answers, comments, advice and general thoughts with the author of those messages.

The way in which people are using the tools available is evolving. The stated purpose of twitter is to post show comments related to what you are doing at that moment...and yet - it becomes a community of not just thoughts but the posing and answering of questions.

Well, as John Tropea points out, the focus is moving toward the individual and what they get out of the community and what they can contribute. You can be sure of more creative solutions coming.

Gen-Y Knowledgeworkers

As I typically do, I save some valuable emails for later review, and I awoke this morning to coffee and a read of my Gurteen Knowledge-Newsletter.......December 2008 (well, at least it was 2008...I have older emails saved for a rainy day).

I have been trying to get my focus back on the knowledgeworker, and away from technology, and so his link to Chris Brogen's blog of an article by Teresa Wu caught my attention: Generation Y in the Workplace Explained.  It sounded like something that would be useful.

It's a brief article, so I don't want to pilfer too much of her content, but it highlights 5 key attributes of the Gen-Y knowledgeworker.  These are observations that I think most of us have seen, but not clearly delineated, and I think this adds some insight into today's (and particularly tomorrow's) workforce. So here's what I got out of it. 

They pursue unconventional paths. This is described in two ways: The most easily seen is that the new generation seems to have multiple jobs, or at least aspirations to work for a business during the day and have their own business going at night (or are at least thinking about it, imaging it). Or, in recessionary times (shrinking job market), they are still willing to explore other options.

They value company culture. Gen-Y is looking for bosses who are mentors, and co-workers who are friends, and a place to enjoy working. 

They are not afraid to ask. This one has made me cringe more than once - but also admire. Gen-Yers ask for what they want and often asks difficult and probing questions that makes a boomer like me uncomfortable. That said, it's a desirable trait, and marries nicely with the next attribute.

They embrace transparency. This is an interesting one. Organizationally, transparency is obviously the best policy. What Teresa Wu points out is that the Gen Y knowledgeworker embraces transparency fully, including in their personal lives, indicating that the youth of today will grow up with their entire lives documented online through blogs, twitter, Facebook, My Space, etc. She boldly states, "employers must learn to judge job applicants not by their past but by what they can bring to the company." As someone who has hired hundreds of employees, managers and executives, I certainly agree with that in concept...I've Googled some people, done authorized background checks, but have not yet done a MySpace and Facebook checks. This one, I think, will be hotly debated in HR circles.

They just want to do what we love. Gen-Y wants their dream job...who can blame them. There's enough reports available to support that if you do what you love, you'll do it better and faster. But Wu notes, "as long as our careers provide both the opportunities and rewards we thirst for, we'll be more than willing to invest serious time and energy into our work. If you can give us that, we'll be star performers."

When I consider my years of HR management experience and being a devote and practitioner of some aspects of KM, this is a thought provoking view of the emerging workforce worthy of further understanding.