I was watchin that favourite movie of mine - DDLJ - for the nth time last weekend. Caught hold of one philosophical dialogue that I wanna blog.
At every stage in life, you'll find two roads beckonin you - one is an easy and short-cut route and another is the longer and tougher of the two. The easy one might be extremely tempting. But in the long run, it doesn't lead you to anywhere. It can only hurt you. The longer one seems challenging but that is what will take you where you want, that is the 'right' way to go, that is what will satisfy you and leave you with a clear conscience.
This isn't a verbatim thing. My 'small' interpretations and additions included... ;)
Monday, October 18, 2004
Ooooooo
Success - is when you learn something from all your failures. There is no success without failures. Add that to my paradox count.
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Children...! :)
Children are adorable, aren't they? But how many of us believe that they have something beyond just entertainment value! We can learn so much from them! In my view, some things that they are amazing at are -
- creativity : what wonderful ideas they come up with. nothing ever stops them from conjuring up the wildest of ideas and thoughts!
- curiosity and learning: they are always asking questions and some very fundamental and weird and uninhibited ones at that
- forgetting and forgiving : they forget and forgive before one can say 'hey'. Life will be one long joyful journey were we all to forget and forgive our near and dear ones
- playful nature : they are so playful and full of mirth. what we need to make life a song
- cheerful and happy : they are always cheerful and happy and don't recognize the downsides of life
- in the present (no past and no future) : they are mostly in the present and don't bother their little heads about the past or the future
- perseverance : they never ever give up. because they are not aware of the difficulties. they believe that anything can be accomplished provided they go at it doggedly!
life can be enchanting and fabulous were we to adopt a child's attitude! :)
- creativity : what wonderful ideas they come up with. nothing ever stops them from conjuring up the wildest of ideas and thoughts!
- curiosity and learning: they are always asking questions and some very fundamental and weird and uninhibited ones at that
- forgetting and forgiving : they forget and forgive before one can say 'hey'. Life will be one long joyful journey were we all to forget and forgive our near and dear ones
- playful nature : they are so playful and full of mirth. what we need to make life a song
- cheerful and happy : they are always cheerful and happy and don't recognize the downsides of life
- in the present (no past and no future) : they are mostly in the present and don't bother their little heads about the past or the future
- perseverance : they never ever give up. because they are not aware of the difficulties. they believe that anything can be accomplished provided they go at it doggedly!
life can be enchanting and fabulous were we to adopt a child's attitude! :)
Calvin & Hobbes
I can't stop wondering how Bill Watterson gets so creative and cool with his Calvin and Hobbes strips! Man, I'd give my last ruppee to meet up with Calvin & Hobbes! :)
The ideas, the language, the cheek, the truth....everything abt C&H is simply amazing! I hope Bill continues to entertain generations to come!
The ideas, the language, the cheek, the truth....everything abt C&H is simply amazing! I hope Bill continues to entertain generations to come!
Good Quotes
Some good quotes that I came across recently -
The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going...
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step - Lao Tsu
Don't be afraid to take a big step...you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps - David Lloyd George
"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." - Sir Angus Grossart "Everyone who got where he is, had to begin where he was." - Robert Louis Stevenson
"Man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible." - Max Weber
Sometimes the journey is its own reward...
Whatever your dreams...Keep Walking...
The whole world steps aside for the man who knows where he is going...
A journey of a thousand miles must begin with a single step - Lao Tsu
Don't be afraid to take a big step...you can't cross a chasm in two small jumps - David Lloyd George
"I've got a great ambition to die of exhaustion rather than boredom." - Sir Angus Grossart "Everyone who got where he is, had to begin where he was." - Robert Louis Stevenson
"Man would not have attained the possible unless time and again he had reached out for the impossible." - Max Weber
Sometimes the journey is its own reward...
Whatever your dreams...Keep Walking...
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Intranet Blogging
I've started an internal blog on my vertical intranet. Here's what has gone into it this week - my first post!
Innovation through KM: Innovation is something that Wipro believes in and pursues. How can KM help in this pursuit? Practices like Brainstorming, Idea Gathering, Six Thinking Hats and Catchball are typical examples of this. All these practices involve getting people together to think collectively! MIT,USA conducted a study a decade ago and discovered that 80% of the most valuable ideas that come out of organizations are as a result of group-thinking practices! And like Theodore Zeldin (philosopher and thinker) indicated, conversation itself is a process that not just rearranges cards but shuffles them and helps create new cards (read new ideas)!
Innovation through KM: Innovation is something that Wipro believes in and pursues. How can KM help in this pursuit? Practices like Brainstorming, Idea Gathering, Six Thinking Hats and Catchball are typical examples of this. All these practices involve getting people together to think collectively! MIT,USA conducted a study a decade ago and discovered that 80% of the most valuable ideas that come out of organizations are as a result of group-thinking practices! And like Theodore Zeldin (philosopher and thinker) indicated, conversation itself is a process that not just rearranges cards but shuffles them and helps create new cards (read new ideas)!
Uncanny
I seem to have this uncanny knack for spotting all vehicles that don't belong to Karnataka. Most of the registration plates I end up spotting, don't start with KA. It might have helped me were I a traffic cop or maybe a detective! ;)
Monday, October 11, 2004
Idea Management
I had an interesting thought yesterday. Some times, new ideas jostle for space and elbow out one another. The human brain may be an amazing thing, but I don't find myself managing these ideas that well! Here's what I think I should be doing - Use a note book and Post Its and stick up one idea on each page. The empty space on the page in the book will contain details about how to implement the idea, resources, deadline etc. Each time an idea is implemented or passed on or rejected, it can be mentioned on the page with the help of 3 different color pencils/sketches.
I am gonna try this out soon. Will post the experiences as well! ;)
I am gonna try this out soon. Will post the experiences as well! ;)
Monday, October 04, 2004
Nice article that I came across recently:
Barriers to Innovation
There are no easy answers or formulae for creating a creative or innovative organizational climate. There are two ways to approach innovation. One is to understand the 'barriers' to innovation and to look for solutions.
'Fear'
Fear is the number one enemy identified by most CEOs and managers. Fear of failure. Fear of ridicule. Fear of decision-making. Fear of making mistakes. Fear of taking risks. Fear about job security. Fear of change. As one CEO said, "Fear freezes." Interestingly, in many cases 'fear' may not be real and it could be the employee's lack ownership and courage that is the barrier.
'Bureaucracy'
Needless 'red tape' stifles new thinking and fresh approaches. Even in the best of companies 'red tape' lurks about in some form or shape.
'Silos and Turfs'
Individual fiefdoms prevent collaboration and experimentation. This is especially true if it involves new ways of working, unwillingness to share power or responsibility, and rewards.
In this environment empowerment is a mere lip service and there is no intellectual acceptance of the benefits of innovation. Inherently, the CEO does not believe that it will help the company or if it is really needed. In these cases, the CEO says all the right things about need for innovation, but he doesn't do anything about it.
'Unrelenting Pressure to Produce Results'
This type of environment often leads to the tyranny of the 'either or.' Either you can be innovative or you produce results. Here innovation is not relevant unless you can summon it on demand and produce short-term results.
'Right Hand / Left Hand'
In the 'right hand doesn’t know what the left had is doing' environment an idea that works in one area is seldom replicated across the company. The NIH - Not Invented Here - Syndrome is another tough enemy. Size breeds distance. As companies grow they lose touch with customers, employees and people who can give them ideas. They lose the ability to listen.
'Poor Leadership and Commitment to Innovation'
If the CEO does not have time for innovation, you can be sure that nothing will happen. Much depends on how the CEO demonstrates his commitment to innovation. What he says and does in this context will be more powerful than the speeches he makes. How does he respond to new ideas? How does react to ideas that may not have occurred to him? Is he willing to let other people get the recognition and reward for innovation? Is he really passionate about it? Is he willing to change personally to make this happen? Is he willing to put his neck on the block, or put his money where his mouth is to support innovation?
'Breaking the Barriers to Innovation'
Breaking the barriers to innovation is really about changing "what we believe and how we behave." It is not about a few fancy creativity workshops or employee suggestion systems.
It requires a band of believers and evangelists who are determined to make the shift - no matter what happens. It requires people who are willing to challenge old ways and break a few rules in the bargain. Instituting an innovation culture can be senior management's greatest challenge - but it can be done. Unilever's successful approach to creating an innovation culture has been recorded in the book 'To the Desert and Back.'
(Extract of an article by R. Sridhar in 'The Hindu Business Line,' April 1, 2004.
Barriers to Innovation
There are no easy answers or formulae for creating a creative or innovative organizational climate. There are two ways to approach innovation. One is to understand the 'barriers' to innovation and to look for solutions.
'Fear'
Fear is the number one enemy identified by most CEOs and managers. Fear of failure. Fear of ridicule. Fear of decision-making. Fear of making mistakes. Fear of taking risks. Fear about job security. Fear of change. As one CEO said, "Fear freezes." Interestingly, in many cases 'fear' may not be real and it could be the employee's lack ownership and courage that is the barrier.
'Bureaucracy'
Needless 'red tape' stifles new thinking and fresh approaches. Even in the best of companies 'red tape' lurks about in some form or shape.
'Silos and Turfs'
Individual fiefdoms prevent collaboration and experimentation. This is especially true if it involves new ways of working, unwillingness to share power or responsibility, and rewards.
In this environment empowerment is a mere lip service and there is no intellectual acceptance of the benefits of innovation. Inherently, the CEO does not believe that it will help the company or if it is really needed. In these cases, the CEO says all the right things about need for innovation, but he doesn't do anything about it.
'Unrelenting Pressure to Produce Results'
This type of environment often leads to the tyranny of the 'either or.' Either you can be innovative or you produce results. Here innovation is not relevant unless you can summon it on demand and produce short-term results.
'Right Hand / Left Hand'
In the 'right hand doesn’t know what the left had is doing' environment an idea that works in one area is seldom replicated across the company. The NIH - Not Invented Here - Syndrome is another tough enemy. Size breeds distance. As companies grow they lose touch with customers, employees and people who can give them ideas. They lose the ability to listen.
'Poor Leadership and Commitment to Innovation'
If the CEO does not have time for innovation, you can be sure that nothing will happen. Much depends on how the CEO demonstrates his commitment to innovation. What he says and does in this context will be more powerful than the speeches he makes. How does he respond to new ideas? How does react to ideas that may not have occurred to him? Is he willing to let other people get the recognition and reward for innovation? Is he really passionate about it? Is he willing to change personally to make this happen? Is he willing to put his neck on the block, or put his money where his mouth is to support innovation?
'Breaking the Barriers to Innovation'
Breaking the barriers to innovation is really about changing "what we believe and how we behave." It is not about a few fancy creativity workshops or employee suggestion systems.
It requires a band of believers and evangelists who are determined to make the shift - no matter what happens. It requires people who are willing to challenge old ways and break a few rules in the bargain. Instituting an innovation culture can be senior management's greatest challenge - but it can be done. Unilever's successful approach to creating an innovation culture has been recorded in the book 'To the Desert and Back.'
(Extract of an article by R. Sridhar in 'The Hindu Business Line,' April 1, 2004.
Monday, September 27, 2004
Birds
I went surfing into the Google blogosphere and discovered that there is a website called www.indiabirds.com that has some cool pictures of Indian birds! They look fabulous. I have always had a fascination for birds and have wanted to be an ornithologist, but never got anywhere close to being one except for the little bit of bird-watching in my garden. :(
The pictures on the website makes for a painful realization of what I am missing. Inspires me to chuck my job and go bird-watching. Shall I?
The pictures on the website makes for a painful realization of what I am missing. Inspires me to chuck my job and go bird-watching. Shall I?
Bloggers Galore
I decided to view my Blog profile and see if I could get creative and change it just to get the kicks...and I discovered that all Bloggers with the same books as their favourites, with the same music as their favourites, residing in the same city et al are linked and connected by Google!
I clicked on one of the links and then another and then another and then another.........whew! I got lost as one might expect, but boy o boy...did I mind it? I discovered some amazing Blogs. There are so many interesting people out there! People with amazing talents...photography, writing, techie wizkids....! There was one particular Blog that caught my attention like an insect in a spider's web. The pictures were awesome. The ramblings and musings were mystic. That one smacked of solitude, an eye for nature and the like. I stood still and read the blog without taking my eyes away or without breathing hard....as if the Blog would be blown away were I to do so....
Amazing. It would be excellent to know such mystic and 'thinking' people. But would they really express those amazing thoughts in person? Or are they meant just for their Blogs? I certainly have some reserved just for my Blog!
But that's not what I am getting at. The more you see of the world, the more you realize how much more there is to learn and how much more is still a mystery to you!
I clicked on one of the links and then another and then another and then another.........whew! I got lost as one might expect, but boy o boy...did I mind it? I discovered some amazing Blogs. There are so many interesting people out there! People with amazing talents...photography, writing, techie wizkids....! There was one particular Blog that caught my attention like an insect in a spider's web. The pictures were awesome. The ramblings and musings were mystic. That one smacked of solitude, an eye for nature and the like. I stood still and read the blog without taking my eyes away or without breathing hard....as if the Blog would be blown away were I to do so....
Amazing. It would be excellent to know such mystic and 'thinking' people. But would they really express those amazing thoughts in person? Or are they meant just for their Blogs? I certainly have some reserved just for my Blog!
But that's not what I am getting at. The more you see of the world, the more you realize how much more there is to learn and how much more is still a mystery to you!
Friday, September 24, 2004
Blogging - Business
What are the possible business objectives/HR objectives wherein Blogging could help?
- Ramp up/Learning (Hand-holding freshers)
- Innovation and Community-Building
- Leadership
- Succession Planning (?) and Job-match (?)
Some questions that can be asked prior to trying out Blogging in a team:
- Does everyone in the group get equal opportunities to voice their thoughts and ideas?
- Are all individual’s ideas and thought-processes captured for later use?
- Is everyone equally aware of the latest happenings in the DSP-Multimedia domain?
- Are there some unique areas like debugging and error-handling that are well-handled by some but not by all?
- Is there a perfect knowledge sharing environment in the project teams?
- How good are employees at managing their personal knowledge? What kind of tools do they use?
- How many of the group members know their leader and know/understand the latter’s thoughts and ideas?
- How familiar are employees with customer-relationships, project management etc?
Blogging can be part of the solution for such challenges.
- Ramp up/Learning (Hand-holding freshers)
- Innovation and Community-Building
- Leadership
- Succession Planning (?) and Job-match (?)
Some questions that can be asked prior to trying out Blogging in a team:
- Does everyone in the group get equal opportunities to voice their thoughts and ideas?
- Are all individual’s ideas and thought-processes captured for later use?
- Is everyone equally aware of the latest happenings in the DSP-Multimedia domain?
- Are there some unique areas like debugging and error-handling that are well-handled by some but not by all?
- Is there a perfect knowledge sharing environment in the project teams?
- How good are employees at managing their personal knowledge? What kind of tools do they use?
- How many of the group members know their leader and know/understand the latter’s thoughts and ideas?
- How familiar are employees with customer-relationships, project management etc?
Blogging can be part of the solution for such challenges.
Thoughts
Call it 'paradoxiphilia', 'paradox madness', 'paradox passion' , or just 'paradox thinking'....or whatever! I am getting overwhelmed by paradoxes day by day. Blame it on Derm Barrett's influential skills. ;) I heard something this morning that sounded like an interesting paradox.
"God gave Man the ability to think to evolve himself and his surroundings, but he uses the very same ability to think to make life miserable". (Positive Vs Negative Thinking)
"God gave Man the ability to think to evolve himself and his surroundings, but he uses the very same ability to think to make life miserable". (Positive Vs Negative Thinking)
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
PLUM
I owe a lot to Plum (PG Wodehouse)! His books have changed my life. His sense of humor, his mastery of the English language, and his outlook towards life as reflected in his books are amazing! The first time I laughed while reading a book was when I was reading his book! Probably, the only other books/comics that have made me laugh are Calvin & Hobbes, Asterix & Obelix and Dilbert (sometimes).
Wonder what gave him his attitude and talent! I am not one for Hero Worship even though I admire a lot of intelligent and great people. But Plum is different. I might almost worship the ground he walked on...!
Wonder what gave him his attitude and talent! I am not one for Hero Worship even though I admire a lot of intelligent and great people. But Plum is different. I might almost worship the ground he walked on...!
Three Questions (Another Poem)
Another of my (silly) poems...
What's the secret of success?
Is a question that I have asked myself...
Can one ever have all that one needs and nothing less?
Is another question that troubles self...
Why do you have to have sorrow with joy? Why the mess?
Has been a question that has been bothering me no less.
I went looking for the answers in every nook and corner.
But no...nothing was I able to garner.
I wrote it down in that lovely pocket book of mine.
Maybe I would find the answers when things were fine!
It was a beautiful morning in the month of may.
The sun was shining down and looked like it had something to say.
I looked up and asked it to wait.
Then, i hopped up to the terrace hoping that it wasn't a bait.
I pulled out the pocket book and asked the first question.
The smile that the Sun gave me in return was a revelation.
"Enthusiasm!" I snapped my fingers and almost screamed aloud.
"That's my secret" the Sun said shining through a dark cloud.
I had the answer to my first question! But what about the next?
I read it out to the Sun continuing my quest!
To this, the Sun replied "Wrong one, my friend. Think again!"
There was something about the Sun that day...and so with my brain!
It all came to me. "We have all that we need! We just have to use it!"
Said the Sun "There you go! You have uderstood every bit!"
Out came the third question to which this is what the Sun had to say.
"Sleep on this. Why do you have to have both night and day?".
I came down wiser and wrote down the answers (in my pocket book).
.....and in my blog! :)
What's the secret of success?
Is a question that I have asked myself...
Can one ever have all that one needs and nothing less?
Is another question that troubles self...
Why do you have to have sorrow with joy? Why the mess?
Has been a question that has been bothering me no less.
I went looking for the answers in every nook and corner.
But no...nothing was I able to garner.
I wrote it down in that lovely pocket book of mine.
Maybe I would find the answers when things were fine!
It was a beautiful morning in the month of may.
The sun was shining down and looked like it had something to say.
I looked up and asked it to wait.
Then, i hopped up to the terrace hoping that it wasn't a bait.
I pulled out the pocket book and asked the first question.
The smile that the Sun gave me in return was a revelation.
"Enthusiasm!" I snapped my fingers and almost screamed aloud.
"That's my secret" the Sun said shining through a dark cloud.
I had the answer to my first question! But what about the next?
I read it out to the Sun continuing my quest!
To this, the Sun replied "Wrong one, my friend. Think again!"
There was something about the Sun that day...and so with my brain!
It all came to me. "We have all that we need! We just have to use it!"
Said the Sun "There you go! You have uderstood every bit!"
Out came the third question to which this is what the Sun had to say.
"Sleep on this. Why do you have to have both night and day?".
I came down wiser and wrote down the answers (in my pocket book).
.....and in my blog! :)
Thinking Aloud...(A Poem)
Something I wrote long before I started blogging. Wanted to blog it....
Life is but an illusion
That promotes many a delusion
If there is a lot of confusion
Then this is precisely the reason
Between head and heart there is no fusion!
What is it that people run after?
Is it only money or fame or something softer?
How many can really understand life?
And pull through any illusory strife?
How many do they teach?
And their knowledge preach?
When will there be true freedom?
Is there such a thing as martyrdom?
One moment seems like the best ever!
And the very next seems like gloom forever.
What is eternal, if there is anything so?
Aren't all things here only to go?
People only seem to add to the chaos.
The state of affairs definitely shows.
Okay, putting all that aside.
Is there something by which the world abides?
What will happen 500 years from now?
Will civilization die out or better evolve?
Will GOD come to the forefront?
Or will people claim to be the GOD after the hunt?
Will the soul still stick around?
Or will it disappear, by the body bound?
Will it be the same problems that hound?
Will peace and job be forever found?
Will the blue sky become the new ground?
Will knowledge be more sound?
Will the earth continue to be round?
And no...I am not trying to be jocund.
Life is but an illusion
That promotes many a delusion
If there is a lot of confusion
Then this is precisely the reason
Between head and heart there is no fusion!
What is it that people run after?
Is it only money or fame or something softer?
How many can really understand life?
And pull through any illusory strife?
How many do they teach?
And their knowledge preach?
When will there be true freedom?
Is there such a thing as martyrdom?
One moment seems like the best ever!
And the very next seems like gloom forever.
What is eternal, if there is anything so?
Aren't all things here only to go?
People only seem to add to the chaos.
The state of affairs definitely shows.
Okay, putting all that aside.
Is there something by which the world abides?
What will happen 500 years from now?
Will civilization die out or better evolve?
Will GOD come to the forefront?
Or will people claim to be the GOD after the hunt?
Will the soul still stick around?
Or will it disappear, by the body bound?
Will it be the same problems that hound?
Will peace and job be forever found?
Will the blue sky become the new ground?
Will knowledge be more sound?
Will the earth continue to be round?
And no...I am not trying to be jocund.
Measuring KM
As far as I know, though KMers have been trying to measure the benefits of KM, there is still a large amount of ambiguity and vagueness involved in the exercise. Is anybody questioning the necessity? Maybe. Maybe not.
The benefits of the existence of the HR function isn't measured...is it? The ROI as in the work that managers do (they don't work but get things done) isn't measured...is it? They why is it that KM needs an ROI. It should be fine to measure the # documents, # hits on the intranet, # queries posted to experts, # ideas from communities etc. But is it possible to get an ROI? Even if we can, can it really be attributed to KM? We might be cheating ourselves by saying that the ROI or cost/effort saving due to KM is $ 12345... Do we want this despite the fact that we are aware of the ambiguity and difficulty in attribution? Is it worthwhile to pursue this effort?
The process is as important if not more important than the end. If one were to listen to music for the joy it gives one, it is ridiculous to measure the benefit or say that it gave us 4 1/2 minutes of joy. It is ridiculous to bring up one's kid with the ROI in mind. The kid might take care of its parents in their old-age but that's not the reason why parents bring up their kids. They enjoy the process, see the need and responsibility that lies on their shoulders, understand the implications, and love it per se.
Einstein said it well: "All the counts cannot be counted and all that is counted does not count!"
The benefits of the existence of the HR function isn't measured...is it? The ROI as in the work that managers do (they don't work but get things done) isn't measured...is it? They why is it that KM needs an ROI. It should be fine to measure the # documents, # hits on the intranet, # queries posted to experts, # ideas from communities etc. But is it possible to get an ROI? Even if we can, can it really be attributed to KM? We might be cheating ourselves by saying that the ROI or cost/effort saving due to KM is $ 12345... Do we want this despite the fact that we are aware of the ambiguity and difficulty in attribution? Is it worthwhile to pursue this effort?
The process is as important if not more important than the end. If one were to listen to music for the joy it gives one, it is ridiculous to measure the benefit or say that it gave us 4 1/2 minutes of joy. It is ridiculous to bring up one's kid with the ROI in mind. The kid might take care of its parents in their old-age but that's not the reason why parents bring up their kids. They enjoy the process, see the need and responsibility that lies on their shoulders, understand the implications, and love it per se.
Einstein said it well: "All the counts cannot be counted and all that is counted does not count!"
Monday, September 20, 2004
KM Challenges
David Skyrme again. He says the challenges that KM will face in the next few years are (not in the same order):
1. Integration with Business Strategy
2. Embedding in the org. processes
3. Measuring the benefits
4. Information overload
5. Collaborative technologies that work with humans
6. Harnessing networks/communities
7. Openness and Trust - ? (not sure about the exact message here)
Except the ambiguity in the last point, I couldn't agree more with him. But I have a few points to add....
8. 'Threat' from other functions or disharmony between KM and other functions/departments like training, information systems and e-learning because of the overlap in objectives.
9. Customer confidentiality clauses getting in the way of seamless KM and collaboration
10. Threat of hackers into KM systems
1. Integration with Business Strategy
2. Embedding in the org. processes
3. Measuring the benefits
4. Information overload
5. Collaborative technologies that work with humans
6. Harnessing networks/communities
7. Openness and Trust - ? (not sure about the exact message here)
Except the ambiguity in the last point, I couldn't agree more with him. But I have a few points to add....
8. 'Threat' from other functions or disharmony between KM and other functions/departments like training, information systems and e-learning because of the overlap in objectives.
9. Customer confidentiality clauses getting in the way of seamless KM and collaboration
10. Threat of hackers into KM systems
Why KM is Important!
Today is Blogging Day! I read something on David Skyrme's Blog and I wanted to reiterate that to myself and combine it with my own thoughts and blog it! So, here goes...
He says:
He says:
- Learning is the result of electrical signals crossing neurons to create pathways.
As actions are repeated the pathways become stronger and the actions are more automatic.
Imagination can create and strengthen pathways.
It's one thing to fill the brain with facts; quite another to recall them. (Don't we know it!). Recall is about triggering the pathways.
If some pathways are broken, then other routes are usually available.
We can remember without realizing it. Our subconscious memory (intuition) plays a larger role than many of us recognize.
Innovation is often the result of new combinations of thoughts; an example cited was combining the notion of a hand-held axe with that of a wooden shaft to create a more powerful axe with a handle.
LG's foray into Non-Durable Consumer Goods
LG now has a set of non-durable consumer products like soaps, toothpaste, powder et al. I caught their advt. for these products a couple of times on TV. Did not get to observe it very closely though. But one thing was clear. They weren't advertising for their products separately and independantly a la' HLL/P&G. The LG brand was louder than the product's brand. The name of the soap/toothpaste/powder wasn't obvious, even if heard. And in fact, it was one advt. that spoke about all their non-durable consumer products! Interesting! Maybe this is just a temporary tactic - and a part of their long-term advertisement strategy. Maybe now, this advt. is only out to show that LG is into non-durable consumer goods apart from their regular durable consumer wares. Down the line, it could be a separate advt. a la' HLL/P&G! What LG?
Advertisements and Truth
Fond that I am of branding and advertising, I can't help but comment on the 'nexus' between advertisements and truth! The layman would tend to believe that advertisements are rarely truthful and that their only objective is to SELL! There are some advertisements that of course have created history for being utterly truthful. Who can forget the Avis "We are #2. We try harder"? against Hertz? Coming down to some advertisements that I've observed (but they might not have made news like the Avis advt.) are Aditya Birla Cement: "Perhaps the best cement in the country!". Interesting, eh? The perhaps smacks of honesty and effort to admit the truth. But does it sell? I am not aware...anyone knows?
The other is probably an advt. that only rural India will have seen. An ad for a soap bar. The anchor says "It doesn't matter which soap you use as long as you have your bath!" :) And then the soap bar for which the advt. was made is shown. :0 Different! Does it work?
The other is probably an advt. that only rural India will have seen. An ad for a soap bar. The anchor says "It doesn't matter which soap you use as long as you have your bath!" :) And then the soap bar for which the advt. was made is shown. :0 Different! Does it work?
The Best Things in Life!
Yes!
Failure, suffering, challenges, and problems are the best things in life! They improve/contribute to...
Failure, suffering, challenges, and problems are the best things in life! They improve/contribute to...
- character,
- perseverance,
- emotional quotient,
- learning, knowledge, wisdom
- tolerance,
- understanding, and
- a feeling of kindness
Perfection Vs Excellence
I was watching Kamalhassan's interview yesterday and came to appreciate somethings he said. "There is no perfection, only excellence!" His logic was convincing...
Nobody looks for perfection. Perfection is unachievable. What is seemingly perfect today might seem mediocre tomorrow. Excellence is what people look for. It is sufficient if one does one's best. Perfection is not essential.
Another thing that he said was that one can believe in oneself and GOD. Not Luck. Someone who believes in luck is half atheist. You either believe in GOD or in luck. And you believe in yourself. True. Some people would say that luck is another name for GOD. True. But why not refer to it as GOD... all the time?
Nobody looks for perfection. Perfection is unachievable. What is seemingly perfect today might seem mediocre tomorrow. Excellence is what people look for. It is sufficient if one does one's best. Perfection is not essential.
Another thing that he said was that one can believe in oneself and GOD. Not Luck. Someone who believes in luck is half atheist. You either believe in GOD or in luck. And you believe in yourself. True. Some people would say that luck is another name for GOD. True. But why not refer to it as GOD... all the time?
Friday, September 17, 2004
At the Manager's Mercy
It is a known fact, especially among the HR circles, that the single-most reason why a person leaves his organization is because of his immediate manager. It is also said that a person joins an org. Because of what he perceives the org. To be like. So...What happens after he joins and before he leaves?
When a person joins an org. He has some expectations from the org. This is based on the org's brand image, it's leaders, press releases, advertisement claims, etc. The expectations could be w.r.t its values, culture, job opportunities, career growth, learning opportunities, freedom to be creative, job rotation, etc. Once a person joins the org, he is left to the mercy of his immediate manager more than anyone else. The HR folks typically move away after the person gets in and more often than not, cannot keep a tab on how each person fares, his problems, challenges et al. Mentoring practices, if any, more often than not, point to the immediate manager once again. If the immediate manager is one who isn't responsible enough (which seems to be the case all the time! ;) ), there goes the chance of retaining an employee....!
The new employee begins to see EVERYTHING through the manager's eyes. He forms his opinion about the org. based on the manager's behaviour. Of course, peers and other associates do contribute to a large extent, but it is the manager's behaviour that creates a lasting impression and impacts the new employee the most! For example - If the manager refuses (unfairly) to approve the employee's request to attend important training programmes, there goes the employee's perception of the learning opportunities in the Org. If the manager doesn't appreciate the employee's efforts, there goes the employee's perception of the org. culture, the same happens if the manager does not trust the employee, admonishes him for failure or blames him for no fault of his etc.
In short, the behaviour and characteristics of the manager has a clear and direct impact on the perception of the org. culture, values and opportunities in the eyes of the employee. If the org. does not have a system that can keep such managers in check, then it obviously leads to the employee getting frustrated. In many cases, even 'brave' employees don't have the guts and the time to bring such things to the higher officials'/HR's notice as it may either not result in any action or in fact may backfire and make things tougher for the employee. Appraisals and pay hikes may become the convenient 'tool' for the manager to 'get back' at the employee. Anyways, what does it cost? Even if the employee spends time to build a case against the manager, it will have an impact on his work as he will not be in a position to spend all his time and energy in accomplishing his work. It will more often than not, be a long fight to the finish. And well, to add insult to the injury, the finish might not be as expected! Meanwhile, all through the process, the employee is still under the same manager and will be subjected to the latter's reactions. Whew!
Leaving the org. definitely sounds like the easiest way out! Doesn't it? No, wonder so many people leave because of their managers.
What's the way out for the org.? It certainly is a huge cost for the org. if people leave. To name a few, cost of replacement, cost of training the new employee, opportunity cost in terms of what the previous employee could have accomplished in the meantime, and not to forget, the cost of the beating that the reputation of the org. takes because of the old employee spreading the 'bad' word. Way out?
1. Recruitment Processes - Recruitment standards have to be extremely stringent. Only people with the attitude should be recruited. Intellectual assessment should not be the only criteria. Projects and cash flow/revenue should not be put above the quality of the people that it needs.
2. Selection of Managers - Managers should be selected based on their ability to handle people, their EQ, their organizational perspectives, their understanding of the big picture, their ability to follow even as they lead, their ability to nurture the younger generation etc. Succession planning practices should be extremely strong.
3. Mentoring - Mentoring must be a norm. Mentors should not be the immediate manager. They should be people from other streams/teams etc. They should be highly responsible people.
4. HR Processes - HR processes should accomodate for individual follow-up and support.
5. System - The system should be designed in such a way that Managers who get through despite the above-mentioned precautions, are caught sooner than later and 'put in their place'. At the same time, the person who brings it to the notice of the 'system' should be 'protected'.
What do you think?
************************
When a person joins an org. He has some expectations from the org. This is based on the org's brand image, it's leaders, press releases, advertisement claims, etc. The expectations could be w.r.t its values, culture, job opportunities, career growth, learning opportunities, freedom to be creative, job rotation, etc. Once a person joins the org, he is left to the mercy of his immediate manager more than anyone else. The HR folks typically move away after the person gets in and more often than not, cannot keep a tab on how each person fares, his problems, challenges et al. Mentoring practices, if any, more often than not, point to the immediate manager once again. If the immediate manager is one who isn't responsible enough (which seems to be the case all the time! ;) ), there goes the chance of retaining an employee....!
The new employee begins to see EVERYTHING through the manager's eyes. He forms his opinion about the org. based on the manager's behaviour. Of course, peers and other associates do contribute to a large extent, but it is the manager's behaviour that creates a lasting impression and impacts the new employee the most! For example - If the manager refuses (unfairly) to approve the employee's request to attend important training programmes, there goes the employee's perception of the learning opportunities in the Org. If the manager doesn't appreciate the employee's efforts, there goes the employee's perception of the org. culture, the same happens if the manager does not trust the employee, admonishes him for failure or blames him for no fault of his etc.
In short, the behaviour and characteristics of the manager has a clear and direct impact on the perception of the org. culture, values and opportunities in the eyes of the employee. If the org. does not have a system that can keep such managers in check, then it obviously leads to the employee getting frustrated. In many cases, even 'brave' employees don't have the guts and the time to bring such things to the higher officials'/HR's notice as it may either not result in any action or in fact may backfire and make things tougher for the employee. Appraisals and pay hikes may become the convenient 'tool' for the manager to 'get back' at the employee. Anyways, what does it cost? Even if the employee spends time to build a case against the manager, it will have an impact on his work as he will not be in a position to spend all his time and energy in accomplishing his work. It will more often than not, be a long fight to the finish. And well, to add insult to the injury, the finish might not be as expected! Meanwhile, all through the process, the employee is still under the same manager and will be subjected to the latter's reactions. Whew!
Leaving the org. definitely sounds like the easiest way out! Doesn't it? No, wonder so many people leave because of their managers.
What's the way out for the org.? It certainly is a huge cost for the org. if people leave. To name a few, cost of replacement, cost of training the new employee, opportunity cost in terms of what the previous employee could have accomplished in the meantime, and not to forget, the cost of the beating that the reputation of the org. takes because of the old employee spreading the 'bad' word. Way out?
1. Recruitment Processes - Recruitment standards have to be extremely stringent. Only people with the attitude should be recruited. Intellectual assessment should not be the only criteria. Projects and cash flow/revenue should not be put above the quality of the people that it needs.
2. Selection of Managers - Managers should be selected based on their ability to handle people, their EQ, their organizational perspectives, their understanding of the big picture, their ability to follow even as they lead, their ability to nurture the younger generation etc. Succession planning practices should be extremely strong.
3. Mentoring - Mentoring must be a norm. Mentors should not be the immediate manager. They should be people from other streams/teams etc. They should be highly responsible people.
4. HR Processes - HR processes should accomodate for individual follow-up and support.
5. System - The system should be designed in such a way that Managers who get through despite the above-mentioned precautions, are caught sooner than later and 'put in their place'. At the same time, the person who brings it to the notice of the 'system' should be 'protected'.
What do you think?
************************
Thursday, September 16, 2004
What does it take to be a KMer? (Dave Snowden)
I found this in my inbox. Stashed away in a long-lost folder. How convenient that I ca put everything in my Blog now! :)
This is a piece by Dave Snowden on what it takes to be a KMer:
1. Conceptual thinking - developing the big picture; understanding the wider knowledge context and the organization's strategy within it
2. Advocacy - they must articulate the knowledge agenda and actively promote it, and justify it, sometimes against cynicism or even open hostility.
3. Project and people management - they have to oversee a variety of activities, and therefore need to pay attention to detail and motivate the people carry out these tasks
4. Communications - they must be excellent nonworkers, communicating clearly the knowledge agenda, have good listening skills and be sensitive to organizational opportunities and obstacles
5. Other generic general management characteristics required are leadership, teamworking, influencing, and interpersonal skills. A combination of all these skills equips them as excellent agents of change.
*********
This is a piece by Dave Snowden on what it takes to be a KMer:
1. Conceptual thinking - developing the big picture; understanding the wider knowledge context and the organization's strategy within it
2. Advocacy - they must articulate the knowledge agenda and actively promote it, and justify it, sometimes against cynicism or even open hostility.
3. Project and people management - they have to oversee a variety of activities, and therefore need to pay attention to detail and motivate the people carry out these tasks
4. Communications - they must be excellent nonworkers, communicating clearly the knowledge agenda, have good listening skills and be sensitive to organizational opportunities and obstacles
5. Other generic general management characteristics required are leadership, teamworking, influencing, and interpersonal skills. A combination of all these skills equips them as excellent agents of change.
*********
Friday, September 10, 2004
Are Software Upgrades The Only Way?
Organizations don't seem to think twice about upgrading from one version of a software to the next. Partly because the vendor/supplier leaves no choice what with the claim that 'old' bugs that were paining us to death are now themselves dead and that there are plenty of new and fascinating features that must be leveraged upon. Anyways, now that the org. is bound to the product, what's with spending a few extra bucks and going up the product ladder? Is it all so simple?
We recently decided to upgrade from ABC 1.0 to ABC 2.0. And wow, the difficulties that we face is better not elaborated upon! To be honest, part of the problem lies in the process and the people, but well, the product itself cannot have thrown more suprises at us! Notwithstanding the fact that the product is from one of the most popular companies ever. The problems take us back to one block behind Square 1 - Square 0.
It goes a long way to prove that we can't really take software upgrades for granted. We need to evaluate every feature, check out if all the old features are still intact (forget betterment), do some regression thinking and checking, see if the new product fits into our existing processes - that were built around the old product, see if the new features are really what we need and whether we can live without them, get an exclusive expert responsible for the detailed evaluation Vis a Vis the old system, prototype it, pilot it in a few projects and them go for the final implementation! One thing that strikes me really hard is why did we not think of piloting? We went for the big bang implementation right away. It's not that we are dead now (along with some of the old bugs) but we could have avoided so many of those relationship-killing and demotivating incidents that arose because of the inefficiency in the processes and the product....! Lesson Learned!
We recently decided to upgrade from ABC 1.0 to ABC 2.0. And wow, the difficulties that we face is better not elaborated upon! To be honest, part of the problem lies in the process and the people, but well, the product itself cannot have thrown more suprises at us! Notwithstanding the fact that the product is from one of the most popular companies ever. The problems take us back to one block behind Square 1 - Square 0.
It goes a long way to prove that we can't really take software upgrades for granted. We need to evaluate every feature, check out if all the old features are still intact (forget betterment), do some regression thinking and checking, see if the new product fits into our existing processes - that were built around the old product, see if the new features are really what we need and whether we can live without them, get an exclusive expert responsible for the detailed evaluation Vis a Vis the old system, prototype it, pilot it in a few projects and them go for the final implementation! One thing that strikes me really hard is why did we not think of piloting? We went for the big bang implementation right away. It's not that we are dead now (along with some of the old bugs) but we could have avoided so many of those relationship-killing and demotivating incidents that arose because of the inefficiency in the processes and the product....! Lesson Learned!
Thursday, September 09, 2004
The World...as I see it...
Caveat Emptor: This blog might sound like crap because of its tone. I myself did not feel like writing this one, but my heart gave in to my mind.
Sometimes, I feel that I live in my own world. I don't probably understand the world as much as I think I do. :( I seem to assume that...
- it is easy to inspire people
- everyone wants and loves peace
- everyone will live and let others live
- everyone will strive for togetherness and harmony and will help prevent fights
- everyone is passionate or at least loves what he/she does (work)
- everyone thinks from the organizational perspective and not just about himself/his team alone
- It is possible to help people understand why they should admit mistakes and not blame others for the wrong that they committed
- It is possible to help everyone (or at least many people) understand other perspectives
No! Not that I am perfect. I am definitely not. But I try to be. I think that will make all the difference. Maybe what life has given me so far is what has made me what I am.
I can never stop wondering why some people can't stand genuine people! They can only think that they are acting smart or putting on a mask! It even seems like arrogance and dominance for some! But going back to the core question - Is it better to live in your own world and not bother about the way the rest of the world works? (you might say that it is my perception and not the truth...but I've failed in understanding the logic behind certain people's behaviour time and again). Is it wrong to think that the world should be ideal? Should one move along with the rest of the world and behave the same way?
This whole thing comes to the forefront only because I am trying to change the culture in the organization. Can I? Some people believe that you must be showing off if you try and tell them why they should change. Esp. if they are more experienced and believe that they know more than you. Esp. if they believe that you are trying to lead and thereby are encroaching into their arena.
Okay...this blog might sound like crap. I generally don't like to complain, but this was something I wanted to write down given what I encountered in the past few days. People who weren't ready to take a challenge, people who were running away, people who don't care about innovation and improvement but only about doing the day's regular chores, people who think that you should not be enthusiastic about everything.
Methinks - Enthusiasm is appreciated only by people who perceive a benefit in it for them.
Sometimes, I feel that I live in my own world. I don't probably understand the world as much as I think I do. :( I seem to assume that...
- it is easy to inspire people
- everyone wants and loves peace
- everyone will live and let others live
- everyone will strive for togetherness and harmony and will help prevent fights
- everyone is passionate or at least loves what he/she does (work)
- everyone thinks from the organizational perspective and not just about himself/his team alone
- It is possible to help people understand why they should admit mistakes and not blame others for the wrong that they committed
- It is possible to help everyone (or at least many people) understand other perspectives
No! Not that I am perfect. I am definitely not. But I try to be. I think that will make all the difference. Maybe what life has given me so far is what has made me what I am.
I can never stop wondering why some people can't stand genuine people! They can only think that they are acting smart or putting on a mask! It even seems like arrogance and dominance for some! But going back to the core question - Is it better to live in your own world and not bother about the way the rest of the world works? (you might say that it is my perception and not the truth...but I've failed in understanding the logic behind certain people's behaviour time and again). Is it wrong to think that the world should be ideal? Should one move along with the rest of the world and behave the same way?
This whole thing comes to the forefront only because I am trying to change the culture in the organization. Can I? Some people believe that you must be showing off if you try and tell them why they should change. Esp. if they are more experienced and believe that they know more than you. Esp. if they believe that you are trying to lead and thereby are encroaching into their arena.
Okay...this blog might sound like crap. I generally don't like to complain, but this was something I wanted to write down given what I encountered in the past few days. People who weren't ready to take a challenge, people who were running away, people who don't care about innovation and improvement but only about doing the day's regular chores, people who think that you should not be enthusiastic about everything.
Methinks - Enthusiasm is appreciated only by people who perceive a benefit in it for them.
Monday, September 06, 2004
Dreamzzz...!
One of my friends was talking about pursuing dreams................and achieving them; however far-fetched they might sound.
Isn't it a pity that few of us dream and even if we do, they are all materialistic in nature? Sometimes, we dare to dream a 'big' n 'noble' dream but then we give up even before we start coz we think it is foolish and impractical? Would India have achieved independance if Gandhi and the other freedom-fighters hadn't dreamt of it? Would we have gone to the Moon if Kennedy hadn't dreamt of it? Would we have been able to fly across seas if the Wright Brothers hadn't dreamt of it? Would we have survived diseases if doctors hadn't dreamt of curing them?
One can go on on these lines for ever...every significant thing that has been achieved in this world is because some one decided to dare to dream. And pursue it in the face of severe challenges. Sometimes at the cost of oneself! Sometimes at the cost of having to face brickbats from the rest of the world. Sometimes at the cost of a whole lifetime. The satisfaction that one gets when a cherished dream is realized is mind-boggling. That one moment of joy can erase a life-time of suffering...!
Or you could look at it from another angle to which I subscribe - The process is more fulfilling than the end. True happiness is in enjoying the process rather than focusing on the end-result. That's the ultimate path to true happiness.
Isn't it a pity that few of us dream and even if we do, they are all materialistic in nature? Sometimes, we dare to dream a 'big' n 'noble' dream but then we give up even before we start coz we think it is foolish and impractical? Would India have achieved independance if Gandhi and the other freedom-fighters hadn't dreamt of it? Would we have gone to the Moon if Kennedy hadn't dreamt of it? Would we have been able to fly across seas if the Wright Brothers hadn't dreamt of it? Would we have survived diseases if doctors hadn't dreamt of curing them?
One can go on on these lines for ever...every significant thing that has been achieved in this world is because some one decided to dare to dream. And pursue it in the face of severe challenges. Sometimes at the cost of oneself! Sometimes at the cost of having to face brickbats from the rest of the world. Sometimes at the cost of a whole lifetime. The satisfaction that one gets when a cherished dream is realized is mind-boggling. That one moment of joy can erase a life-time of suffering...!
Or you could look at it from another angle to which I subscribe - The process is more fulfilling than the end. True happiness is in enjoying the process rather than focusing on the end-result. That's the ultimate path to true happiness.
The Car Game!
We recently had a workshop that aimed to help our team work together for the best results. It was a team-building exercise as it were. There was one game that we played that I thought was interesting and cool! The CAR Game! What's it all about?
The team gets together, draws a dream car, thinks of all possible parts, accessories & fittings for the car that it would want the car to have. But there's a small catch here. The parts, accessories & fittings would necessarily have to be those that can be related to a team. For eg: Wipers - The team ought to have a wiper that can provide the team with clarity of view on a 'rainy' day. This wiper can be a team member, or rather a practice/activity that the team takes up to ensure clarity of view. Another example - Stereo/Radio - Communication. The team has to ensure that it gets together, makes use of tools and processes to communicate clearly and regulary with each other.
Boy, did we had fun! We identified 20+ such parts, accessories et al and related each of them to a team-characteristic. And then decided, for example, if we already had Wipers or had to do something to get them.... :)
Try this out with your team. Good one to do, easy one to relate to, interesting to implement and follow as well! :)
The team gets together, draws a dream car, thinks of all possible parts, accessories & fittings for the car that it would want the car to have. But there's a small catch here. The parts, accessories & fittings would necessarily have to be those that can be related to a team. For eg: Wipers - The team ought to have a wiper that can provide the team with clarity of view on a 'rainy' day. This wiper can be a team member, or rather a practice/activity that the team takes up to ensure clarity of view. Another example - Stereo/Radio - Communication. The team has to ensure that it gets together, makes use of tools and processes to communicate clearly and regulary with each other.
Boy, did we had fun! We identified 20+ such parts, accessories et al and related each of them to a team-characteristic. And then decided, for example, if we already had Wipers or had to do something to get them.... :)
Try this out with your team. Good one to do, easy one to relate to, interesting to implement and follow as well! :)
Music...My Oxygen
I can't simply imagine what I'd do in this world if it weren't for music. I wouldn't be breathing! I can't live a single day wothout music. I love the morning trip to office and the evening trip back home primarily because of the music that I get to listen to during the journey. (The other reason being the time I get to simply relax and think creatively). It helps me chill out. It helps me forget the big bad world.
I don't listen to all kinds of music simply because I've not tried out everything. But my favourites are Ilayaraja (Divine), R.D Burman, Old Hindi Film Music, Instrumental, Spiritual, Fusion and melodious classical English music. What would I have done without these Music Composers! I dread to think... :0
Music is a wonderful thing. What you can do with a good voice and some nice instruments! Magic! Spiritual healing!
I'd have loved to be a singer. But do I have the voice? Although I hate to say this, I feel it's a little too late now. But in my next birth I shall be a fantastic singer. I shall realize the meaning of life as a musician. I say this with confidence. Coz you are what you think. (Then why is it that I can't think I am a musician in this life? well...errrr....hmmm... excuse me... :))
(As an aside remark, in fact, one of my colleagues said that when he discovered that he had high BP all he did was listen to his kind of music for 3 days and voila - the BP was no more high. :) Wow!)
I don't listen to all kinds of music simply because I've not tried out everything. But my favourites are Ilayaraja (Divine), R.D Burman, Old Hindi Film Music, Instrumental, Spiritual, Fusion and melodious classical English music. What would I have done without these Music Composers! I dread to think... :0
Music is a wonderful thing. What you can do with a good voice and some nice instruments! Magic! Spiritual healing!
I'd have loved to be a singer. But do I have the voice? Although I hate to say this, I feel it's a little too late now. But in my next birth I shall be a fantastic singer. I shall realize the meaning of life as a musician. I say this with confidence. Coz you are what you think. (Then why is it that I can't think I am a musician in this life? well...errrr....hmmm... excuse me... :))
(As an aside remark, in fact, one of my colleagues said that when he discovered that he had high BP all he did was listen to his kind of music for 3 days and voila - the BP was no more high. :) Wow!)
Friday, September 03, 2004
KM - The Job - Pointers
Some things that I need to apply @ work... I found these documented in one of my folders. (It was no less than a discovery...sheesh...Am I so badly organized or is there so much happening?) I don't know when I did this...but if I can recall at least some thing, this is probably what came out of my discussions with a senior Quality Manager... (mentoring!)
- Learn to identify the people who matter most. Get things done through them.
- Delegate, Not having someone to delegate things to can hamper your thinking abilities
- For PPAs (project postmortem analysis), apply a thumb rule and identify projects that matter most. Longer duration projects will generate more documents and experts. Focus on them. Don’t try to put your hands into every project closure/initiation. Check with the Software Quality Analyst for more information on the projects.
- Don’t compare groups (within a unit) when the situation is that the momentum is yet to be built completely. Wait for at least a few groups to settle down.
- Build in the measurement criteria and tracking mechanisms slowly. Don’t rush them.
- Communicating to a large audience requires different tactics and strategies. Written, informal, through champions, meetings, discussions, task forces, committees et al
- You can’t have one KM strategy for the entire vertical. You need to tailor the plan.
Some of these - I already have taken care of. Some others...I should be...
- Learn to identify the people who matter most. Get things done through them.
- Delegate, Not having someone to delegate things to can hamper your thinking abilities
- For PPAs (project postmortem analysis), apply a thumb rule and identify projects that matter most. Longer duration projects will generate more documents and experts. Focus on them. Don’t try to put your hands into every project closure/initiation. Check with the Software Quality Analyst for more information on the projects.
- Don’t compare groups (within a unit) when the situation is that the momentum is yet to be built completely. Wait for at least a few groups to settle down.
- Build in the measurement criteria and tracking mechanisms slowly. Don’t rush them.
- Communicating to a large audience requires different tactics and strategies. Written, informal, through champions, meetings, discussions, task forces, committees et al
- You can’t have one KM strategy for the entire vertical. You need to tailor the plan.
Some of these - I already have taken care of. Some others...I should be...
Learnings
Somethings that run around in my mind...
• You tend to go by what is familiar to you
Is that why there is so much of bias and resistance to change?
• You tend to stick to status quo and change very little
• You tend to go by the historic database and try to justify past actions
I don't relate to this - Innovation is what I live for!
• At work, people normally suppress their fear through anger. Anger becomes a mask.
Hmmmmm. Human behaviour...tcchhh tchhhh
• Processes sometime stifle innovation.
Absolutely! But I love both processes as well as innovation. Come to think of it, the paradox (there I go again!) is that processes are results of incremental improvement/innovation! Processes are what happens when incremental innovation gets ingrained and hard-coded!
• You tend to go by what is familiar to you
Is that why there is so much of bias and resistance to change?
• You tend to stick to status quo and change very little
• You tend to go by the historic database and try to justify past actions
I don't relate to this - Innovation is what I live for!
• At work, people normally suppress their fear through anger. Anger becomes a mask.
Hmmmmm. Human behaviour...tcchhh tchhhh
• Processes sometime stifle innovation.
Absolutely! But I love both processes as well as innovation. Come to think of it, the paradox (there I go again!) is that processes are results of incremental improvement/innovation! Processes are what happens when incremental innovation gets ingrained and hard-coded!
Tagore's POEM!
In one of the training programmes that I attended a few months ago, the instructor spoke like a true Bengali and read out this poem and said it inspired him no end! I love it too! :)
Where the Mind is Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Wow! I wanna write something like this too...some day in life! And...no, I am not targeting the Nobel Prize for Literature! Don't these things make you feel that you've to have inborn talent for many a thing - Not everything can be learned. Life gives you a set of things/situations/people et al and the way you react/respond to it defines what you become!
Where the Mind is Without Fear
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection:
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is lead forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action--Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
Wow! I wanna write something like this too...some day in life! And...no, I am not targeting the Nobel Prize for Literature! Don't these things make you feel that you've to have inborn talent for many a thing - Not everything can be learned. Life gives you a set of things/situations/people et al and the way you react/respond to it defines what you become!
Definition of KM - Standards Australia
Another definition of KM: From Standards Australia
'Knowledge management is a multi-disciplined approach to achieving organisational objectives by making the best use of knowledge. It involves the design, review and implementation of both social and technological processess to improve the application of knowledge, in the collective interest of stakeholders' (Standards Australia 2003, p.3)
'Knowledge management is a multi-disciplined approach to achieving organisational objectives by making the best use of knowledge. It involves the design, review and implementation of both social and technological processess to improve the application of knowledge, in the collective interest of stakeholders' (Standards Australia 2003, p.3)
Search Engines
I don't know if I'll get beaten into pulp for hosting this on a Google Blog...but well, I don't really mind taking the risk! ;)
Some search engines that one of my colleagues pointed out to me...
www.webbrain.com
www.groxis.com
www.kartoo.com
www.vivismo.com
Try it out!
Some search engines that one of my colleagues pointed out to me...
www.webbrain.com
www.groxis.com
www.kartoo.com
www.vivismo.com
Try it out!
2 More Quotes (Lou Gerstner and APJAK)
2 more quotes that are cool. Don't know if I've posted these in the earlier list...why take a change anyway? Reiteration helps...
The age-old levers of competition - labour, capital and land - are being supplemented by knowledge, and the most successful companies in the future will be those that learn how to exploit knowledge (about customer behaviour, markets, economics and technology) to...renew the way they define themselves, think and operate. - Former IBM chairman Lou Gerstner
APJ Abdul Kalam - The ability to create and maintain the knowledge infrastructure, develop knowledge workers and enhance their productivity through creation, and nurturing and exploitation of new knowledge will be the key factors in a nation becoming a knowledge superpower. - Igniting India's Mind - Vision 2020 - The Week (December 2003)
The age-old levers of competition - labour, capital and land - are being supplemented by knowledge, and the most successful companies in the future will be those that learn how to exploit knowledge (about customer behaviour, markets, economics and technology) to...renew the way they define themselves, think and operate. - Former IBM chairman Lou Gerstner
APJ Abdul Kalam - The ability to create and maintain the knowledge infrastructure, develop knowledge workers and enhance their productivity through creation, and nurturing and exploitation of new knowledge will be the key factors in a nation becoming a knowledge superpower. - Igniting India's Mind - Vision 2020 - The Week (December 2003)
Googlers/Googlys/Googlians ?
Top 10 reasons to work for Google
Yours sincerely was catching up with Gautam's Blog when the former came across something on Google! Those eyes (the former's) widened (was it the tea or was the very mention of Google sufficient?) and the finger clicked the hyperlink. (Had it been the latter whose eyes widened; you can be sure it must be year 3000 [or would 2010 be good enough?] where the Blogger can continuously 'webcast' himself on his Blog by attaching a camera around his head to come up in front of the face like a dentist's headlight ;) )
Okay, enough of that crap? Imagination ain't bad sonny! Imagination is more important than knowledge said good old Albert (Einstein) :)
Top 10 reasons to work for Google!
1. Lend a helping hand.
2. Life is beautiful.
3. Appreciation is the best motivation
4. Work and play are not mutually exclusive.
5. We love our employees, and we want them to know it.
6. Innovation is our bloodline.
7. Good company everywhere you look.
8. Uniting the world, one user at a time.
9. Boldly go where no one has gone before.
10. There is such a thing as a free lunch after all.
Wow, would I love to belong here? Hush! What if my colleagues in office see this one? ;)
I can't help wanting to be a part of this Googler crowd...what with Appreciation, Love, Innovation and last but not the least - Free Lunch! ;) Hee Hee....
Yours sincerely was catching up with Gautam's Blog when the former came across something on Google! Those eyes (the former's) widened (was it the tea or was the very mention of Google sufficient?) and the finger clicked the hyperlink. (Had it been the latter whose eyes widened; you can be sure it must be year 3000 [or would 2010 be good enough?] where the Blogger can continuously 'webcast' himself on his Blog by attaching a camera around his head to come up in front of the face like a dentist's headlight ;) )
Okay, enough of that crap? Imagination ain't bad sonny! Imagination is more important than knowledge said good old Albert (Einstein) :)
Top 10 reasons to work for Google!
1. Lend a helping hand.
2. Life is beautiful.
3. Appreciation is the best motivation
4. Work and play are not mutually exclusive.
5. We love our employees, and we want them to know it.
6. Innovation is our bloodline.
7. Good company everywhere you look.
8. Uniting the world, one user at a time.
9. Boldly go where no one has gone before.
10. There is such a thing as a free lunch after all.
Wow, would I love to belong here? Hush! What if my colleagues in office see this one? ;)
I can't help wanting to be a part of this Googler crowd...what with Appreciation, Love, Innovation and last but not the least - Free Lunch! ;) Hee Hee....
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Solitude
I am reading this book called "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" by Robin Sharma. Robin talks about Rituals of Living and therein talks about the Ritual of Solitude, Ritual of Personal Reflection. Both of these, I find, have a strong connection with Blogging. The Ritual of Solitude is about spending at least 15 minutes of one's time in solitude everyday. He says this will connect one to a limitless source of creativity and imagination. The Ritual of Personal Reflection is also to spend some time everyday to do some internal contemplation. This should be used to look at what went right and wrong everyday and expand on the positives and eliminate the negatives. He says its even better to write them down. What more can I say? Blogging is of course a great tool to reflect and also spend some time with oneself! Ain't it? :)
I gotta do some personal contemplation and awaken some sleeping thoughts, ideas and talents everyday. I gotta see the positives and negatives and think hard and long about them. This ought to make a difference in as less as a month's time! Let's see! Chow...
I gotta do some personal contemplation and awaken some sleeping thoughts, ideas and talents everyday. I gotta see the positives and negatives and think hard and long about them. This ought to make a difference in as less as a month's time! Let's see! Chow...
Wednesday, August 25, 2004
Horlicks
I love the world of advertising and branding. The latest advertisement from Horlicks (cold milk shakes) makes me wonder... The message is that we are all split personalities. There's a different face we have once we step outside the home. Well, the advt. shows only school kids and teenagers. So, I don't know if they consciously wanted to indicate that the split personalities are only amongst the younger generation. Girls and boys change their names, their attire, their style when they step out... And then the ad. goes on to induce everyone to 'go outside' and be an 'outside' person! What a metamorphasis of sorts for the brand itslef! From being a strength and stamina drink in its basic and original avatar of Horlicks Milk Powder to a 'new generation split personality outgoing' cool drink! CHANGE makes one do it all!
Students Blog
There's so much happening in the IT world. Computers, Internet, Computer Applications and Systems are changing the way the world lives and works. It would be extremely critical for the new generation to catch up with the latest. Well, I beg your pardon - they should ideally be racing against time and inventing newer things and designing the applications of the future. But how many schools are on to it? I read about a school called Pathways where each student has to mandatorily have a laptop. The school itself is Wi-Fi enabled and teachers can log into each of the students' laptops and 'watch' what they are doing! Now, that's wonderful! Ain't it? If all schools were to have such facilities, one doesn't have to worry about the future! But is there a time lag between what happens in the world of work and world of studies? Ideally, that ought not to be the case. Even if there are schools like Pathways, what about all the other schools? What percentage of the student population gets to go to such schools? What is needed here? Mediators who bridge the gap between the 2 worlds? Our nation has to look into it. The education ministry needs to apply thought! I'll have to google this and find out if anything's already happening! ...hmmm...
BTW, I started off by thinking what would happen if every student in school were to blog her/his thoughts everyday. Wouldn't that create a revolution in education? Food for thought! Schools need to experiment and innovate. They are responsible for so much - they are responsible for the nation's future!
BTW, I started off by thinking what would happen if every student in school were to blog her/his thoughts everyday. Wouldn't that create a revolution in education? Food for thought! Schools need to experiment and innovate. They are responsible for so much - they are responsible for the nation's future!
Monday, August 23, 2004
Zig's Steps to Success/Achievement
1. Identify the goal.
2. List the benefits
3. Identify the mountains needed to climb and obstacles to overcome.
4. List any skills/knowledge you need to complete the goal.
5. List people and organizations and resources that will contribute to your attaining this goal.
6. Draw up an Action Plan.
7. Set a deadline to reach the goal.
These are the 7 steps that Zig says one has to take to achieve something. get to a goal. good!
2. List the benefits
3. Identify the mountains needed to climb and obstacles to overcome.
4. List any skills/knowledge you need to complete the goal.
5. List people and organizations and resources that will contribute to your attaining this goal.
6. Draw up an Action Plan.
7. Set a deadline to reach the goal.
These are the 7 steps that Zig says one has to take to achieve something. get to a goal. good!
Paradoxes
Some paradoxes that come to my mind...
- You have the potential to become a better person when you go through bad/hard times
- You chase money and it might not come. You chase something else like passion and excellence and money comes
- You sometimes love people who hate you and hate people who love you (This is a paradox that one should escape at all costs)
- You get only when you give
- You respect others and don't consider others to be below you and you are considered to be above others
- You have the potential to become a better person when you go through bad/hard times
- You chase money and it might not come. You chase something else like passion and excellence and money comes
- You sometimes love people who hate you and hate people who love you (This is a paradox that one should escape at all costs)
- You get only when you give
- You respect others and don't consider others to be below you and you are considered to be above others
Leaders
I pinged my mind on leadership and got a few responses which I thought I should blog.
- A leader should know the art of being a good follower as well. (Isn't this again a paradox!!)
- In fact, what would probably be the most difficult for a leader to do would be to know when to follow and do so.
- Following doesn't mean giving up or giving in but leading from behind.
- Leaders should be ready to give others a chance to lead. (I read a story about geese and how they take turns leading a group)
- Socitey demands that Leaders be super-natural beings, ones that are beyond the natural negative emotions like jealousy, selfishness, anger, revenge, hatred, et al. But they still need to be kind, understanding, forgiving, jovial et al.
- Leaders cannot lead but by leading by example ('Best' example that comes to my mind - Mahatma Gandhi)
- I read something about creativity and a reference to Mahatma Gandhi being a creative leader. That was a revelation in terms of the newness of the perspective (to me)! I never thought of Gandhi as a creative man! I thought only of altruism, leadership, bravery, determination, perseverance, simplicity and truth when I thought of Gandhi! The author of the article says he was creative because of the fact that he approached problems from a completely unconventional angle. He thought of non-violence when every soul could only react violently. My addition to that - He responded while others reacted. :-) Please note - Zig Ziglair. :-) (Zig Ziglair was the one who introduced me to the concept - "Don't react. Respond" )
- The world has very few leaders...How can one expect to work under the best of leaders right in the beginning of one's career. You need to be lucky to get into a leader's fold! :(
- A leader should know the art of being a good follower as well. (Isn't this again a paradox!!)
- In fact, what would probably be the most difficult for a leader to do would be to know when to follow and do so.
- Following doesn't mean giving up or giving in but leading from behind.
- Leaders should be ready to give others a chance to lead. (I read a story about geese and how they take turns leading a group)
- Socitey demands that Leaders be super-natural beings, ones that are beyond the natural negative emotions like jealousy, selfishness, anger, revenge, hatred, et al. But they still need to be kind, understanding, forgiving, jovial et al.
- Leaders cannot lead but by leading by example ('Best' example that comes to my mind - Mahatma Gandhi)
- I read something about creativity and a reference to Mahatma Gandhi being a creative leader. That was a revelation in terms of the newness of the perspective (to me)! I never thought of Gandhi as a creative man! I thought only of altruism, leadership, bravery, determination, perseverance, simplicity and truth when I thought of Gandhi! The author of the article says he was creative because of the fact that he approached problems from a completely unconventional angle. He thought of non-violence when every soul could only react violently. My addition to that - He responded while others reacted. :-) Please note - Zig Ziglair. :-) (Zig Ziglair was the one who introduced me to the concept - "Don't react. Respond" )
- The world has very few leaders...How can one expect to work under the best of leaders right in the beginning of one's career. You need to be lucky to get into a leader's fold! :(
Friday, August 20, 2004
Explicit and Tacit Knowledge
Someone asked me: Can u give examples of tacit and explicit knowledge capture in real life situations...
And I responded...
Tacit knowledge - Something that takes a long time to learn and excel at. Something that does not comprise 'objective' knowledge that everyone is good at. Something that has a lot of intricate details that cannot possibly be explained overnight. Something that cannot be seen easily but something that can only be felt. Intuition-based knowledge. Eg: Cooking, Surgery, Interpretation of a person's behaviour, Team/Project Management etc. It cannot be captured on paper. It can probably be captured in Video/Audio but you still can't 'SEE' the knowledge being transferred/shared...
Explicit knowledge - Something that can be expressed easily or with some amount of effort. Something that can be documented and communicated without any major difficulty. Eg: Directions to a particular place, Sequence of things to be done as in a physical process that refers to tangible and visible objects. All said and done, there are very few knowledge objects that are completely explicit in nature! It can be captured in the form of procedures, processes, forms, checklists, templates, papers, articles etc
And I responded...
Tacit knowledge - Something that takes a long time to learn and excel at. Something that does not comprise 'objective' knowledge that everyone is good at. Something that has a lot of intricate details that cannot possibly be explained overnight. Something that cannot be seen easily but something that can only be felt. Intuition-based knowledge. Eg: Cooking, Surgery, Interpretation of a person's behaviour, Team/Project Management etc. It cannot be captured on paper. It can probably be captured in Video/Audio but you still can't 'SEE' the knowledge being transferred/shared...
Explicit knowledge - Something that can be expressed easily or with some amount of effort. Something that can be documented and communicated without any major difficulty. Eg: Directions to a particular place, Sequence of things to be done as in a physical process that refers to tangible and visible objects. All said and done, there are very few knowledge objects that are completely explicit in nature! It can be captured in the form of procedures, processes, forms, checklists, templates, papers, articles etc
Learning
I caught myself thinking hard about 'learning' today.
It is unfortunate that very few of us want to learn! We don't see the need to learn either because we are happy just making money for a living - by hook or crook or because we think we have nothing more to learn or because we just don't want to look like we are 'still learning' (a mega myth), or because we just don't have that urge to learn!
Those who want to learn are ridiculed and branded as 'not knowledgeable'... Given this attitude to learning, is there a question of people going back to the basics and fundamental stuff just to re-think and re-orient themselves? What do we stand to lose if this is the rule rather than the exception? Will the mind's wheel move at all or will it rust right there...where it stands.
And what are the methods by which one can learn?
- Reading books
- Interacting with people
- Practical experimentation and action itself
- Introspection and questioning
- Observation and curiosity
- Formal training programmes and seminars
- Mentoring and submission to gurus
- Listening skills
- Knowledge sharing per se
Learning is probably one of the major differentiating factors between people. Organizations that pick up the cream of the lot that is willing to learn continuously has invested in a gold-mine. From here is where innovation starts!
It is unfortunate that very few of us want to learn! We don't see the need to learn either because we are happy just making money for a living - by hook or crook or because we think we have nothing more to learn or because we just don't want to look like we are 'still learning' (a mega myth), or because we just don't have that urge to learn!
Those who want to learn are ridiculed and branded as 'not knowledgeable'... Given this attitude to learning, is there a question of people going back to the basics and fundamental stuff just to re-think and re-orient themselves? What do we stand to lose if this is the rule rather than the exception? Will the mind's wheel move at all or will it rust right there...where it stands.
And what are the methods by which one can learn?
- Reading books
- Interacting with people
- Practical experimentation and action itself
- Introspection and questioning
- Observation and curiosity
- Formal training programmes and seminars
- Mentoring and submission to gurus
- Listening skills
- Knowledge sharing per se
Learning is probably one of the major differentiating factors between people. Organizations that pick up the cream of the lot that is willing to learn continuously has invested in a gold-mine. From here is where innovation starts!
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
The Paradox of Processes
Viewpoint of an Entrepreneur - A Business Intelligence Software Blog - IT War Stories - Process Kills. Without Process You are Dead.
This is a very interesting Blog (By Nari Kannan - IT Toolbox) indeed. I simply had to Blog this Blog. ;)
Having been into Paradoxes for some time now and also given the fact that I have a soft corner for processes, this one was irressitable. How true it is that startups cannot afford to spend too much time on establishing processes because they are in a market that is moving at break-neck speed and they have something to prove as in in competition with the stalwarts. Too much of a focus on processes would de-motivate people who want to be fast and and want to have the freedom to set things right right away and want to change things on the fly! On the other hand, allowing them to have their own way and not emphasizing on any process will take its toll in the long-term. It becomes that much more difficult to learn things from the past and to go up the value chain and maturity levels. Not to speak of the fact that they are competing in a market that demands for process compliance and certifications.
The old-timers have already set their processes in stone and are looking at improving them incrementally if not radically. But herein the employees are getting frustrated about the rigidity and inflexibility that comes with we--established and mature processes. And then, there might too much of an emphasis on processes which might in turn kill innovation and speed at times.
But what I want to look at is actually the people/culture and softer aspects out here. Of course, the primary question is whether we know when to draw the line and decide to ignore processes (read the traditional way of doing things) and go the ad-hoc way. But the secondary question and probably the more important of the two is to do with the egos of the stakeholders. Will the quality manager give in and ask the project manager to go his own way and not stick to processes when he sees that the occasion calls for the same? Will the project manager give in and agree to follow the process to the T when he knows that the situation calls for the same? Will both of them compromise in situations that call for a balanced approach? Will the management understand and encourage the 2 stakeholders when they complement each other or will it be perceived as a battle of egos?
Interesting paradox indeed! Everything is a paradox....!
Jumping from just processes to something bigger....Ultimately, life seems to be nothing but the management of paradoxes! If one can't live with paradoxes, then life is no rose-bed...!
This is a very interesting Blog (By Nari Kannan - IT Toolbox) indeed. I simply had to Blog this Blog. ;)
Having been into Paradoxes for some time now and also given the fact that I have a soft corner for processes, this one was irressitable. How true it is that startups cannot afford to spend too much time on establishing processes because they are in a market that is moving at break-neck speed and they have something to prove as in in competition with the stalwarts. Too much of a focus on processes would de-motivate people who want to be fast and and want to have the freedom to set things right right away and want to change things on the fly! On the other hand, allowing them to have their own way and not emphasizing on any process will take its toll in the long-term. It becomes that much more difficult to learn things from the past and to go up the value chain and maturity levels. Not to speak of the fact that they are competing in a market that demands for process compliance and certifications.
The old-timers have already set their processes in stone and are looking at improving them incrementally if not radically. But herein the employees are getting frustrated about the rigidity and inflexibility that comes with we--established and mature processes. And then, there might too much of an emphasis on processes which might in turn kill innovation and speed at times.
But what I want to look at is actually the people/culture and softer aspects out here. Of course, the primary question is whether we know when to draw the line and decide to ignore processes (read the traditional way of doing things) and go the ad-hoc way. But the secondary question and probably the more important of the two is to do with the egos of the stakeholders. Will the quality manager give in and ask the project manager to go his own way and not stick to processes when he sees that the occasion calls for the same? Will the project manager give in and agree to follow the process to the T when he knows that the situation calls for the same? Will both of them compromise in situations that call for a balanced approach? Will the management understand and encourage the 2 stakeholders when they complement each other or will it be perceived as a battle of egos?
Interesting paradox indeed! Everything is a paradox....!
Jumping from just processes to something bigger....Ultimately, life seems to be nothing but the management of paradoxes! If one can't live with paradoxes, then life is no rose-bed...!
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Blogging from the Inbox!
Blogging from the Inbox!
If this works, it’s going to be cool and easy to blog indeed!
Tons of KM Quotes
§All men by nature desire to know – Aristotle
§If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange these ideas, then each of us will have two ideas - G.B.Shaw
§Anyone who stops learning is old, whether twenty or eighty. Anyone who keeps learning today is young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young - Henry Ford
§Charles V. said that a man who knew four languages was worth four men; and Alexander the Great so valued learning, that he used to say he was more indebted to Aristotle for giving him knowledge that, than his father Philip for giving him life - Lord MaCaulay
§If nobody said anything unless he knew what he was talking about, a ghastly hush would descend upon the earth - Sir Alan Herbert
§If you have knowledge, let others light their candles at it - Margaret Fuller
§It is written that he, who governs well, leads the blind; But that he, who teaches, gives them eyes - David O.McKay
§The value of any network increases in proportion to the square of the number of people using it, so a network with five hundred people attached to it is a hundred times as useful as one with only fifty people attached - Robert Metcalfe, founder of 3com
§Coming together is a beginning; keeping together is progress; working together is success
- Henry Ford
§Knowledge is not simply another commodity. On the contrary, knowledge is never used up. It increases by diffusion and grows by dispersion - Daniel Joseph Boorstin
§The restriction of knowledge to an elite group destroys the spirit of the society and leads to its intellectual impoverishment - Albert Einstein
§By sharing knowledge you empower [others] to act on their own. Shared knowledge enables people to take a risk to expand an idea and to venture to a new horizon - Sheila M. Bethel
§By learning you will teach, by teaching you will learn - Latin Proverb
§To teach is to understand. To learn is wisdom. To learn together is understanding wisdom
- Sid Mendenhall
§The beginning of knowledge is the discovery of something we do not understand - Frank Herbert
§The best-educated people are those who are always learning, always absorbing knowledge from every possible source and at every opportunity
§Have you ever been so busy driving, that you had no time to take gas - Stephen Covey
§Knowledge is not a passion from without the mind, but an active exertion of the inward strength, vigor and power of the mind, displaying itself from within - Ralph J. Cudworth
§If you want to be remembered for ever, share your knowledge – Chinese Proverb
§A nation is advanced in proportion to the education and intelligence spread among the masses
– Swami Vivekananda
§An investment in knowledge pays the best interest -Benjamin Franklin
§Knowledge is Action -The Bhagavad Gita
§We know accurately only when we know little. With knowledge, doubt increases
- Goethe
§To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step towards knowledge – Benjamin Disraeli
§If little knowledge is dangerous, where is a man who has so much as to be out of danger?
-Thomas Henry Huxley
§The great end of knowledge is not knowledge, but action. - Thomas Henry Huxley
§Knowledge is of two kinds; we know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it - Samuel Johnson
§Knowledge is like money: To be of value it must circulate, and in circulating it can increase in quantity and, hopefully, in value - Louis L’Amour
§Knowledge will forever govern ignorance – James Madison
§I collaborate. Therefore I know – KM Magazine
§Sharing knowledge is not about giving people something, or getting something from them. That is only valid for information sharing. Sharing knowledge occurs when people are genuinely interested in helping one another develop new capacities for action; it is about creating learning processes – Peter Senge
§Knowledge is commonly socially constructed, through collaborative efforts towards shared objectives or by dialogues and challenges brought about by different persons' perspectives
- G. Salomon
§Shall I tell you what knowledge is? It is to know what one knows and what one does not know
- Confucius
The value of a man resides in what he gives and not in what he is capable of receiving
- Albert Einstein
The age-old levers of competition - labour, capital and land - are being supplemented by knowledge, and the most successful companies in the future will be those that learn how to exploit knowledge (about customer behaviour, markets, economics and technology) to...renew the way they define themselves, think and operate. - Former IBM chairman Lou Gerstner
Jack Welch, former Chairman and CEO of GE stated, "You need to gather the knowledge of individuals, share those ideas and celebrate the sharing. That, in the end, is how a company becomes great."
“Great discoveries and improvements invariably involve the co-operation of many minds"- Alexander Graham Bell
IDEO - Innovation is only through teams...
APJ Abdul Kalam - The ability to create and maintain the knowledge infrastructure, develop knowledge workers and enhance their productivity through creation, and nurturing and exploitation of new knowledge will be the key factors in a nation becoming a knowledge superpower. - Igniting India's Mind - Vision 2020 - The Week (December 2003)
The age-old levers of competition - labour, capital and land - are being supplemented by knowledge, and the most successful companies in the future will be those that learn how to exploit knowledge (about customer behaviour, markets, economics and technology) to...renew the way they define themselves, think and operate. - Former IBM chairman, Lou Gerstner
If you are still hungry for thought-provoking 'food', I'll be back with more as and when I get them!!! :)
Some questions on KM...
Here are some questions that a KM student asked me. And here's also what I had to say in response...
2. Please describe what KM is, and any benefits that can result from it.
Knowledge Management in my view is a combination of policies, processes and practices that help the organization learn together, work together and innovate. The primary benefits are efficiency, and innovation. It helps in the sharing of best practices, locating experts, learning from past mistakes, reuse of software tools and components, and collaborative tasks. It helps avoid reinvent the wheel thus saving effort, money and time. It helps in the process of learning together and sharing thus leading to innovation.
3. What is your perspective on issues relating to the management of tacit knowledge?
Tacit knowledge cannot be managed in its truest sense. Tacit knowledge can be transferred though. Soft processes (one that are dependant primarily on people participation and have a cultural impact) can be established to transfer tacit knowledge. But having said this, it is true that most of the knowledge that needs to be transferred is tacit in nature rather than the explicit. What this means is that there needs to be more emphasis on cultural change and soft practices rather than repositories and hi-fi collaborative tools that may collect 'dust'.
4. How are the most successful KM systems managing tacit knowledge?
As pointed out in response to the question above, it needs to be 'managed' by addressing the cultural aspects and by establishing soft practices like knowledge sharing sessions, mentoring etc.
5. What do you think some of the critical success factors of KM are?
1. The team in charge of KM
2. The culture of the organization
3. The top management drive and support for the KM initiative
4. The quality and all-encompassing nature of the enabler-tools
6. What are the main challenges of KM ?
1. Organizational culture
2. Lack of management support in a profit-centered organization
7. Do you feel that any part (or all) of Knowledge Management is a fad?
No
8. In your opinion, will Knowledge Management use computers more or less in the future?
Not likely. Knowledge will continue to be captured in the digital format.
9. In how many years will we be able to successfully manage tacit knowledge only through the use of technology?
I do not believe that it is possible to successfully capture tacit knowledge through technology.
2. Please describe what KM is, and any benefits that can result from it.
Knowledge Management in my view is a combination of policies, processes and practices that help the organization learn together, work together and innovate. The primary benefits are efficiency, and innovation. It helps in the sharing of best practices, locating experts, learning from past mistakes, reuse of software tools and components, and collaborative tasks. It helps avoid reinvent the wheel thus saving effort, money and time. It helps in the process of learning together and sharing thus leading to innovation.
3. What is your perspective on issues relating to the management of tacit knowledge?
Tacit knowledge cannot be managed in its truest sense. Tacit knowledge can be transferred though. Soft processes (one that are dependant primarily on people participation and have a cultural impact) can be established to transfer tacit knowledge. But having said this, it is true that most of the knowledge that needs to be transferred is tacit in nature rather than the explicit. What this means is that there needs to be more emphasis on cultural change and soft practices rather than repositories and hi-fi collaborative tools that may collect 'dust'.
4. How are the most successful KM systems managing tacit knowledge?
As pointed out in response to the question above, it needs to be 'managed' by addressing the cultural aspects and by establishing soft practices like knowledge sharing sessions, mentoring etc.
5. What do you think some of the critical success factors of KM are?
1. The team in charge of KM
2. The culture of the organization
3. The top management drive and support for the KM initiative
4. The quality and all-encompassing nature of the enabler-tools
6. What are the main challenges of KM ?
1. Organizational culture
2. Lack of management support in a profit-centered organization
7. Do you feel that any part (or all) of Knowledge Management is a fad?
No
8. In your opinion, will Knowledge Management use computers more or less in the future?
Not likely. Knowledge will continue to be captured in the digital format.
9. In how many years will we be able to successfully manage tacit knowledge only through the use of technology?
I do not believe that it is possible to successfully capture tacit knowledge through technology.
What it takes to be a KM!
My thoughts on what it takes to be a KM!
In my humble opinion, for KM, one needs to be a people's person. An introspective, psychology respecting, people-understanding, convincing, influencing, persuasive, inspiring person would be a cool fit. One should have panache for data, information and knowledge and be attracted to the ways in which it is generated, categorized, disseminated and captured. Exposure to information systems would be good. Also, ability to analyze processes and break them up/put them together will be very useful. Finally, at least an overall understanding of modern technology for knowledge capture, storage, dissemination, creativity, and collaboration will be perfect.
An MBA background might be excellent as it will help one understand the business perspectives and drive the KM initiative from there. A clear understanding of project management will turn out to be a clear advantage.
In my humble opinion, for KM, one needs to be a people's person. An introspective, psychology respecting, people-understanding, convincing, influencing, persuasive, inspiring person would be a cool fit. One should have panache for data, information and knowledge and be attracted to the ways in which it is generated, categorized, disseminated and captured. Exposure to information systems would be good. Also, ability to analyze processes and break them up/put them together will be very useful. Finally, at least an overall understanding of modern technology for knowledge capture, storage, dissemination, creativity, and collaboration will be perfect.
An MBA background might be excellent as it will help one understand the business perspectives and drive the KM initiative from there. A clear understanding of project management will turn out to be a clear advantage.
Talent Management
Talent acquisition, transformation and retention: Some thoughts I have as in the task force that I participated in some time ago...
Acquisition: the selection processes - we need to conduct a 'hand in glove' test - it should involve a rigorous technical and behavioral skills test - it should test programming, aptitude, attitude, including willingness to learn, and the person's cultural fit. when it comes to laterals, the technical test might not be essential, but the behavioral and cultural fit test is essential. in the absence of some of these requirements, the candidate should at least have willingness to learn!
Transformation: mentoring - this would make a world of difference. a set of mentors pool should be identified and available in the organization @ any given point in time. every person who enters the organization should be associated with a mentor who is not the person's immediate supervisor. the criteria could be the connectivity b/w the mentor and the candidate, the similarity in environment and work. mentors who do an excellent job should be recognized, and rewarded. mentoring performance should also be tracked in appraisals and contribute to pay hike/band movement/promotion and the like. aspiring mentors should clear a test that assesses their people skills and knowledge of the organization. they should also be trained by super-mentors.
Retention: career growth planning should be paid utmost attention and mapped to the individual's needs & organizational needs; regular anonymous surveys should be conducted and exhaustively analyzed to find out traces of the emerging problems; these should be addressed immediately. exit interview analysis should also be used to address existing/potential problems; the 'wiproite saver' - this could be a communication line that promises secrecy, confidentiality and anonymity (where applicable) - it could be used by people who are contemplating quitting the organization but are willing to give it a second thought if provided with support and solutions. this could comprise senior officials who'd be able to solve the problem of the wiproite and prevent him/her from quitting.
Acquisition: the selection processes - we need to conduct a 'hand in glove' test - it should involve a rigorous technical and behavioral skills test - it should test programming, aptitude, attitude, including willingness to learn, and the person's cultural fit. when it comes to laterals, the technical test might not be essential, but the behavioral and cultural fit test is essential. in the absence of some of these requirements, the candidate should at least have willingness to learn!
Transformation: mentoring - this would make a world of difference. a set of mentors pool should be identified and available in the organization @ any given point in time. every person who enters the organization should be associated with a mentor who is not the person's immediate supervisor. the criteria could be the connectivity b/w the mentor and the candidate, the similarity in environment and work. mentors who do an excellent job should be recognized, and rewarded. mentoring performance should also be tracked in appraisals and contribute to pay hike/band movement/promotion and the like. aspiring mentors should clear a test that assesses their people skills and knowledge of the organization. they should also be trained by super-mentors.
Retention: career growth planning should be paid utmost attention and mapped to the individual's needs & organizational needs; regular anonymous surveys should be conducted and exhaustively analyzed to find out traces of the emerging problems; these should be addressed immediately. exit interview analysis should also be used to address existing/potential problems; the 'wiproite saver' - this could be a communication line that promises secrecy, confidentiality and anonymity (where applicable) - it could be used by people who are contemplating quitting the organization but are willing to give it a second thought if provided with support and solutions. this could comprise senior officials who'd be able to solve the problem of the wiproite and prevent him/her from quitting.
'What' am I?
How does this sound like? :)
Music is the oxygen that I breathe, KM is my heart-beat and the blood that flows through my body is all the people that I care about...
Music is the oxygen that I breathe, KM is my heart-beat and the blood that flows through my body is all the people that I care about...
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Cost cutting and innovation?
Do cost cutting and innovation go together? I always believed that cost cutting meant a negative impact on innovation. Somebody recently gave me another perspective - costs cut are ploughed back into innovation in the next cycle...! What?
Thursday, July 15, 2004
The Sydney Experience - Part II
For those of you who still aren't bored with all this talk, let me continue from where I left earlier....
Read Part I
**************
So, hmmm, yes, I learned about the differences between Indian cities and Sydney. The next day was a day that left me gasping for breath and pining for rest. The legs felt like they were being pulled by iron ropes.The day started pretty early and the folks at my friend's home were fortunately relaxed and not hurrying away to office because it was a Sunday. My friend - Blessy - became my guide and made me first take a walk in her neighbourhood. It was amazing. I put my camera to work right away. Click. Click. The roads, a few lovely houses including my friend's, the lake, and traces of a new bridge over the lake...
Off we went to the railway station from there. The automatic ticketing system was an interesting thing to study. Blessy did something special in the railway station. She decided to show me 2 trains, one an old one and another the most modern. The old one was called Tingara...or was it Tongara? oops....call it T----ara. Something unexpected happened. While she was showing me an old train that was parked, the train's driver saw us snooping around and came up to us and invited us into the engine-room! We clicked a few snaps and saw the train move and got off at the next station. We then went straight to the you know where place in Sydney - the Harbour Bridge & the Opera House junction - The Circular Quay! It was awesome. I loved the bridge more than the opera house, to be frank. The water was lovely. Then we went off to the botanical garden, spent a few hurried minutes and left for the next spot. The next spot was the underwater world. That was a cool experience. Then it was the skytrain ride and something to eat. We went and got some vegetarian burgers at Hungry Jacks. BTW, I survived the trip because of the Indian food that I got at Blessy's place! Not because I would never try Australian food, but because I was a vegetarian and there was nothing other than fruits and veg. burgers to satisfy my hunger out there! Okay, so....we then went to a shopping complex - Woolworths - and I was amused to see the variety of fruits and vegetables lined up! It was then a walk around the city (some of the roads - Pitts Street, Brad Street, et al). It was evening and I was for one dead tired. We decided to call it a day after a ferry ride to the beach on the other side of Circular Quay. It was getting dark and the last ferry back was at 7.30 PM. When we landed on the other side it was almost 7 PM. And well, the ferry ride was simply great. I loved the view both the bridge and the opera house from the other side! :) But when we landed I was too tired to be ready to walk down to the beach and be back in 30 minutes to catch the last ferry back to town. :( So we settled for a coffee at one of those famous coffee shops there (i forget the name). and went back on the next ferry. From there it was back home by train. That was the gist of my first day at Sydney! :)
The second day was hectic and not really worth a story. My whole body was aching and I needed to rest badly. So, I was off to the hotel. My friend dropped me at the hotel and was off to her office. I had to anyways prepare for the presentation on Tuesday. I managed to walk up to Circular Quay once again from the hotel and spent a few minutes admiring the bridge and the opera house...and the still water between the two marvels.
The next two days were all about the conference. And well, I did have a diffculty in understanding the accent. So, maybe I did not pick up as much 'knowledge' as I could have...
The conference was frankly not as exciting as the city (maybe because I was tired, new to the culture, new to the city, and new to the accent) but I got the feeling that I was at last seeing the world and getting exposed to different cultures. Some of the folks at the conference were extremely friendly... :) .... I made my share of friends from other parts of Australia, Singapore, HK, and Britian. The dinner at the end of day one of the conference was cool...having been a part of the discussion board on KM in Asia earlier in the day, it was easy for me to build a rapport with some of the others in the audience. BTW, for those of you who know Sydney, the venue of the conference was the Taronga Zoo. So, I got to see a few Kangaroos, an Emu, and a few Kaolas during the lunch break! :) Coming back to the dinner experience, I got to sit next to none else but one of the founding fathers of KM - Karl Erik Sveiby - and he had a word of advice for me. "You ought to know politics to promote KM!" was what it was. On the other side was a KM expert from UK - Neil - and he too had a few tips for me!
The view from the dinner balcony was breath-taking! The bridge and the opera house shone in the darkness and the water was glistening. The distance from the other shore was just right for some one to be overawed by the view. It was getting beyond 8.30 PM and I was trying to figure out how I would get to the hotel, when destiny introduced me to a lady in the conference that was from the same hotel! She was more than willing to accompany me on my way back...in fact, she was the one who escorted me (no, I wasn't drunk... :)) because I knew the place as much as I did the moon. ;)
My presentation was comin' up the next day and I had to prepare for it at least a little before hitting the bed. I did prepare but not to my complete satisfaction. The next day, the presentation was happening in 2 rooms simultaneously and I had to decide which one I would be attending at the beginning of each slot. So, I went up and down between the 2 venues till it was my chance to talk. The presentation went off pretty well and I managed to throw in a bit of humour here and there. There were 3 Ks associated with my presentation and I decided to ask the audience to guess what they were and one man got it right - Bingo - Knowledge (as in KM), Kangaroos and Kaolas! ;)
After the presentation, it was a little disappointing to leave the place because I had had a good time talking to such friendly people from across the world. There was this particular friend, Kersti, who made me feel at home by talking to me and making me laugh with her sense of humour. There was this other polite lady from HK, Patrick from Singapore, Stuart from Sydney, and many more other folks that I enjoyed talking to...
It was still bright when we all left the conference venue and took a ferry back to Circular Quay. I drank the view in and never blinked my eyes knowing that I might never get to see the place again in my life. Kersti was with me on the ferry and continued to make me laugh while chattering away. We got off, bid goodbye to each other and I also shook hands with some of the other friends who had come along on the ferry. I stood a while near the opera house, called Blessy from there and told her that I would await her in the hotel. I walked up to the hotel and brought a few gifts for my friend and a few others on the way. Blessy arrived at the hotel around 7 PM, helped me pack and both of us left for her place by taxi. I then had a sumptuous dinner at Blessy's place and chatted with her a while and went off to sleep knowing that the next day would see me step out of Sydney. The next day was another routine day for Blessy and her family. Blessy accompanied me on my train ride to the Airport and bid goodbye from inside the train (she continued to travel to her office). I pushed the trolley of luggage into the airport and went up and got my tickets and looked around the airport to spend the rest of time I had till the flight. And then, I was off to Singapore...And well, the Singapore Story deserves another Blog..not this one! :D
Read Part I
**************
So, hmmm, yes, I learned about the differences between Indian cities and Sydney. The next day was a day that left me gasping for breath and pining for rest. The legs felt like they were being pulled by iron ropes.The day started pretty early and the folks at my friend's home were fortunately relaxed and not hurrying away to office because it was a Sunday. My friend - Blessy - became my guide and made me first take a walk in her neighbourhood. It was amazing. I put my camera to work right away. Click. Click. The roads, a few lovely houses including my friend's, the lake, and traces of a new bridge over the lake...
Off we went to the railway station from there. The automatic ticketing system was an interesting thing to study. Blessy did something special in the railway station. She decided to show me 2 trains, one an old one and another the most modern. The old one was called Tingara...or was it Tongara? oops....call it T----ara. Something unexpected happened. While she was showing me an old train that was parked, the train's driver saw us snooping around and came up to us and invited us into the engine-room! We clicked a few snaps and saw the train move and got off at the next station. We then went straight to the you know where place in Sydney - the Harbour Bridge & the Opera House junction - The Circular Quay! It was awesome. I loved the bridge more than the opera house, to be frank. The water was lovely. Then we went off to the botanical garden, spent a few hurried minutes and left for the next spot. The next spot was the underwater world. That was a cool experience. Then it was the skytrain ride and something to eat. We went and got some vegetarian burgers at Hungry Jacks. BTW, I survived the trip because of the Indian food that I got at Blessy's place! Not because I would never try Australian food, but because I was a vegetarian and there was nothing other than fruits and veg. burgers to satisfy my hunger out there! Okay, so....we then went to a shopping complex - Woolworths - and I was amused to see the variety of fruits and vegetables lined up! It was then a walk around the city (some of the roads - Pitts Street, Brad Street, et al). It was evening and I was for one dead tired. We decided to call it a day after a ferry ride to the beach on the other side of Circular Quay. It was getting dark and the last ferry back was at 7.30 PM. When we landed on the other side it was almost 7 PM. And well, the ferry ride was simply great. I loved the view both the bridge and the opera house from the other side! :) But when we landed I was too tired to be ready to walk down to the beach and be back in 30 minutes to catch the last ferry back to town. :( So we settled for a coffee at one of those famous coffee shops there (i forget the name). and went back on the next ferry. From there it was back home by train. That was the gist of my first day at Sydney! :)
The second day was hectic and not really worth a story. My whole body was aching and I needed to rest badly. So, I was off to the hotel. My friend dropped me at the hotel and was off to her office. I had to anyways prepare for the presentation on Tuesday. I managed to walk up to Circular Quay once again from the hotel and spent a few minutes admiring the bridge and the opera house...and the still water between the two marvels.
The next two days were all about the conference. And well, I did have a diffculty in understanding the accent. So, maybe I did not pick up as much 'knowledge' as I could have...
The conference was frankly not as exciting as the city (maybe because I was tired, new to the culture, new to the city, and new to the accent) but I got the feeling that I was at last seeing the world and getting exposed to different cultures. Some of the folks at the conference were extremely friendly... :) .... I made my share of friends from other parts of Australia, Singapore, HK, and Britian. The dinner at the end of day one of the conference was cool...having been a part of the discussion board on KM in Asia earlier in the day, it was easy for me to build a rapport with some of the others in the audience. BTW, for those of you who know Sydney, the venue of the conference was the Taronga Zoo. So, I got to see a few Kangaroos, an Emu, and a few Kaolas during the lunch break! :) Coming back to the dinner experience, I got to sit next to none else but one of the founding fathers of KM - Karl Erik Sveiby - and he had a word of advice for me. "You ought to know politics to promote KM!" was what it was. On the other side was a KM expert from UK - Neil - and he too had a few tips for me!
The view from the dinner balcony was breath-taking! The bridge and the opera house shone in the darkness and the water was glistening. The distance from the other shore was just right for some one to be overawed by the view. It was getting beyond 8.30 PM and I was trying to figure out how I would get to the hotel, when destiny introduced me to a lady in the conference that was from the same hotel! She was more than willing to accompany me on my way back...in fact, she was the one who escorted me (no, I wasn't drunk... :)) because I knew the place as much as I did the moon. ;)
My presentation was comin' up the next day and I had to prepare for it at least a little before hitting the bed. I did prepare but not to my complete satisfaction. The next day, the presentation was happening in 2 rooms simultaneously and I had to decide which one I would be attending at the beginning of each slot. So, I went up and down between the 2 venues till it was my chance to talk. The presentation went off pretty well and I managed to throw in a bit of humour here and there. There were 3 Ks associated with my presentation and I decided to ask the audience to guess what they were and one man got it right - Bingo - Knowledge (as in KM), Kangaroos and Kaolas! ;)
After the presentation, it was a little disappointing to leave the place because I had had a good time talking to such friendly people from across the world. There was this particular friend, Kersti, who made me feel at home by talking to me and making me laugh with her sense of humour. There was this other polite lady from HK, Patrick from Singapore, Stuart from Sydney, and many more other folks that I enjoyed talking to...
It was still bright when we all left the conference venue and took a ferry back to Circular Quay. I drank the view in and never blinked my eyes knowing that I might never get to see the place again in my life. Kersti was with me on the ferry and continued to make me laugh while chattering away. We got off, bid goodbye to each other and I also shook hands with some of the other friends who had come along on the ferry. I stood a while near the opera house, called Blessy from there and told her that I would await her in the hotel. I walked up to the hotel and brought a few gifts for my friend and a few others on the way. Blessy arrived at the hotel around 7 PM, helped me pack and both of us left for her place by taxi. I then had a sumptuous dinner at Blessy's place and chatted with her a while and went off to sleep knowing that the next day would see me step out of Sydney. The next day was another routine day for Blessy and her family. Blessy accompanied me on my train ride to the Airport and bid goodbye from inside the train (she continued to travel to her office). I pushed the trolley of luggage into the airport and went up and got my tickets and looked around the airport to spend the rest of time I had till the flight. And then, I was off to Singapore...And well, the Singapore Story deserves another Blog..not this one! :D
Knowledge Manager
Knowledge Manager
Can I call this a definition of KM? I don't frankly know...but it is a general outpour of my thoughts on 'What is KM?'. It has been derived from my previous post on Defining KM...
**************************************
KM is an organizational and social concept that is manifested in a combination of policies, processes and tools that help employees of an organization learn collectively and think together towards applying their thus formed collective knowledge to achieve the organization's short-term and long-term business objectives. Short-term objectives are achieved through efficient reuse, capture, classification, storage, retreival, dissemination and application of knowledge, primarily for problem-solving purposes. Long-term business objectives are achieved by adding value to the already existing collective knowledge, by following & improving the short-term processes consistently and by ensuring seamless transfer of knowledge through HR processes and utilization of collaborative tools and workspaces for INNOVATION.
Throughout this process KM is to keep an eye fixed on creating a culture in which collaboration, collective thinking, problem-solving, and innovation are embedded. It is to hire or/and create workers who believe in being smart and leveraging upon existing assets to the maximum extent possible.
KM is a concept that helps organizations satisfy the employee as much as its customer. KM is a paradox that facilitates Reuse on the one hand and Innovation on the other. KM is a paradox that can help an employee learn on the one hand and teach another on the other.
**********************************
That's enough....! Comments?
Nirmala
Can I call this a definition of KM? I don't frankly know...but it is a general outpour of my thoughts on 'What is KM?'. It has been derived from my previous post on Defining KM...
**************************************
KM is an organizational and social concept that is manifested in a combination of policies, processes and tools that help employees of an organization learn collectively and think together towards applying their thus formed collective knowledge to achieve the organization's short-term and long-term business objectives. Short-term objectives are achieved through efficient reuse, capture, classification, storage, retreival, dissemination and application of knowledge, primarily for problem-solving purposes. Long-term business objectives are achieved by adding value to the already existing collective knowledge, by following & improving the short-term processes consistently and by ensuring seamless transfer of knowledge through HR processes and utilization of collaborative tools and workspaces for INNOVATION.
Throughout this process KM is to keep an eye fixed on creating a culture in which collaboration, collective thinking, problem-solving, and innovation are embedded. It is to hire or/and create workers who believe in being smart and leveraging upon existing assets to the maximum extent possible.
KM is a concept that helps organizations satisfy the employee as much as its customer. KM is a paradox that facilitates Reuse on the one hand and Innovation on the other. KM is a paradox that can help an employee learn on the one hand and teach another on the other.
**********************************
That's enough....! Comments?
Nirmala
KM - A Crisp Definition
Tuesday, July 06, 2004
The Sydney Experience - Part I
It's been 3 months since I traveled to Sydney and nowhere have I captured my thoughts and feelings about the trip! Better late than never! It was a once-in-a-life-time experience. And I am glad I learned a few things too. But, boy, was it tiring! Just 4 days including the journey. The story of how I got to go there is worth it too!
It was another day at work, or so I thought. Among the many mails that had found their way to my inbox, was one from my boss. It was about a conference called KM Challenge 2004 at Sydney, Australia. My boss wanted to know if any one could meet the challenge of writing a paper on KM and make it there. He added that he saw it as a good opportunity to build the company's brand and esp. its KM programme. I read it and thought to myself that it would be lovely if I could make it. Anyways, writing was my passion, I'd already written and presented a paper before and it wouldn't be difficult to write another given that KM is another passion of mine. But there was a catch - there were just 15 more days to go for the deadline. Never mind, I told myself, there was nothing to lose. I could try my best and the rest would be left to Good old God. :) I decided that I would rack my brains and do my best and would neither be disappointed if it were to not be selected for presntation, nor be thrilled if it were to be. That was the attitude I went with. After all, writing and KM were my passions and I would enjoy the experience of writing on KM irrespective of the results...
The mail had come to me in the middle of the week and I used the remaining few days of the week to simply think of what I would write on. I'd decided the topic by Friday. It would be Collaboration and the creation and exchange of knowledge as associated with it. Come Saturday, I would start writing the paper at home. Saturday indeed came after Friday (very funny!) and I found myself very excited and ready for the task. Sunday evening found me ready with the draft, many headings yet to be filled in, many points and ideas yet to be elaborated. But I had a plan now. The next week was filled with discoveries of what I knew and what I did not know I knew and what I did not realise I did not know....whew! There were a few AHA moments too. Those were amazing! I loved those moments when I thought I had something! Those ideas became my pets and would surely be highlighted and spoken about at length in my paper. But here comes the best! My best AHA moment came when I hit upon the core of my paper - the central theme and what I thought was my best discovery/idea for the paper. The credit for this idea goes entirely to a book that I had read earlier - that was what had clearly inspired me and helped me discover the idea. It was a book called The Paradox Process written by Derm Barrett. Boy, do I thank my stars for leading me to that book! The book will always occupy a special place in my heart. The book was all about paradoxes and it got me interested no end. Reading the book not only left me with an enchanting experience but also got me looking for paradoxes in everything that I saw. So, that was how I came to discover a paradox associated with Collaboration. This was to be the theme of the Collaboration Model that I'd proposed in my paper. Now, I know you'll kill me or curiosity will kill you if I don't mention the paradox that I discovered about collaboration. It was the fact that Collaboration can lead to two 'opposing' things - Innovation and Reuse. (Innovation is looking at things from a completely fresh perspective while Reuse is about using something that has already been used and proven to save time, money, effort etc). So, I finished my paper a little at a time in the next 10 days and sent it across to the conference coordinators. I then let the whole thing rest including my expectations. Honestly, I couldn't even be sure that I would get to go to the conference if my paper were selected. Because my company would have to be ready to sponsor the trip and stay, which I wasn't sure of. Days passed by and I almost forgot the fact that I'd submitted a paper. I then heard from the conference coordinators who wanted me to add some case studies to the paper while being non-commital about whether it was selected or not. I added the case studies, revised the whole paper and sent it again. After another week or so, it came. The paper had been selected but I wasn't very sure if it could be presented to the audience or just published in the proceedings. I did not give up my attitude. I would let God decide whether it should happen or not. Maybe I should add the bit about the fact that it was my dream to write and present least one paper on KM in an international conference. Anyways...
I waited again and well, God had decided! I was asked to pack my bags. Next, it was time for me to wait for the company to decide whether they were in a position to sponsor my trip and stay while the conference coordinators were sponsoring the registration fees. The wait was worth the time in gold. It was approved and I got down to booking the tickets and getting ready for the trip! That's in fact another story altogether. It was a tough test - a test of my patience and resilience. This was the time when my company had initiated a conference of its own. The task was a mammoth one given the size of the company and the expected participation. And guess who was leading the task force? Yours Truly. It was a test that would put a good juggler to shame! Mails were pouring in, the various competitive events that we had launched were 'coming (getting) back' to (at) me. I was left with no time to take a leisurely sip of water. I found that I had no time to prepare for my conference - the KM Challenge conference - I had enough to do handling the company conference activities. I had to yet prepare the presentation (PPT version of my paper), I hadn't rehearsed, I hadn't thought about other things like my luggage, things to buy and what not. And well, let me throw in the fact that this would be my very first international journey! Boy, there were quite a few things I did not know...! (Blllththt)
Even while I struggled with the situation, time passed and I managed to prepare for my trip while juggling the company conference activities amidst a few tight situations, and arguments from people who did not seem to understand.
Let me now come to my actual trip - is it only now that I am getting to talk about the actual trip? oops...this blog is getting to be a really long one :(. The trip was cool. The journey from Bangalore to Singapore was a short one with a good dinner. The view was amazing. When I landed in Singapore, it was 4 AM. I just couldn't help calling my cousin in Singapore once I landed there. It made me feel much better after having set foot on foreign soil (carpet actually :)). The Changi airport, needless to say, was awesome. I was tired and sleepy, but I managed to see a bit of the airport, have coffee and check my mails. It was time for the Australian leg of the journey and I reached the gates where I would have to take my flight to Sydney....(Ummm....oops...I need to rewind a bit here... ;-).... When I knew for sure that I would be going to Sydney, I wasn't unduly worried about going to a foreign country for the first time and that was only because I had a friend there! Look how God takes care of us! This friend of mine was with me in my previous organization and is known to be a very friendly and helpful person. So, I'd called her, sent her mails and told her that she was in for a shock and that I would be nagging her for a few days. She had graciously accepted to put up with me for the inital 2 days of my stay at Sydney...and how she would repent that :) ). Well, okay...I was here ready to take my next flight to Sydney. It was a breeze and the 7.5 hour journey from Singapore went off without any major incidents as such. It was a little disapponting that I did not get a Window seat and couldn't enjoy the view thru' the journey. But I had to anyways prepare for my presentation and I did that. And...Ahemm...I managed to watch 'The School of Rock' on the way - 1.5 hrs gone there.
When I reached Sydney, my friend was dutifully there to greet me and take me to her home. On the way , she and her brother took me to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House spot and what I saw was breath-taking. It was a dream come true. It was nearly 10 PM, there were very few people, the water was sparkling under the lights, the bridge was smiling down at me, the opera house was sitting there watching people and showing off....wowee. Cool! I had had a taste of the best of Sydney within an hour after setting foot on the Sydney Soil. Jet Lag? What's that? But well, I did not have the question for long. Things changed the minute I left the spot and moved toward home. :) I reached home, had a light dinner and then slept like (a log) I hadn't for 10 days. Now, I knew what Jet Lag was...
The next day was an eye-opener of sorts. I got to know the way Sydney lived, worked and enjoyed life. I got to know the difference between Indian cities and Australian cities. Thanks to my friend....
************************************************************
Hey, I am back to this draft after a gap of 10 days...If you still want to read the rest of it, I'll have to come back for the second part. Let me at least publish this one for now! :)
READ PART II
It was another day at work, or so I thought. Among the many mails that had found their way to my inbox, was one from my boss. It was about a conference called KM Challenge 2004 at Sydney, Australia. My boss wanted to know if any one could meet the challenge of writing a paper on KM and make it there. He added that he saw it as a good opportunity to build the company's brand and esp. its KM programme. I read it and thought to myself that it would be lovely if I could make it. Anyways, writing was my passion, I'd already written and presented a paper before and it wouldn't be difficult to write another given that KM is another passion of mine. But there was a catch - there were just 15 more days to go for the deadline. Never mind, I told myself, there was nothing to lose. I could try my best and the rest would be left to Good old God. :) I decided that I would rack my brains and do my best and would neither be disappointed if it were to not be selected for presntation, nor be thrilled if it were to be. That was the attitude I went with. After all, writing and KM were my passions and I would enjoy the experience of writing on KM irrespective of the results...
The mail had come to me in the middle of the week and I used the remaining few days of the week to simply think of what I would write on. I'd decided the topic by Friday. It would be Collaboration and the creation and exchange of knowledge as associated with it. Come Saturday, I would start writing the paper at home. Saturday indeed came after Friday (very funny!) and I found myself very excited and ready for the task. Sunday evening found me ready with the draft, many headings yet to be filled in, many points and ideas yet to be elaborated. But I had a plan now. The next week was filled with discoveries of what I knew and what I did not know I knew and what I did not realise I did not know....whew! There were a few AHA moments too. Those were amazing! I loved those moments when I thought I had something! Those ideas became my pets and would surely be highlighted and spoken about at length in my paper. But here comes the best! My best AHA moment came when I hit upon the core of my paper - the central theme and what I thought was my best discovery/idea for the paper. The credit for this idea goes entirely to a book that I had read earlier - that was what had clearly inspired me and helped me discover the idea. It was a book called The Paradox Process written by Derm Barrett. Boy, do I thank my stars for leading me to that book! The book will always occupy a special place in my heart. The book was all about paradoxes and it got me interested no end. Reading the book not only left me with an enchanting experience but also got me looking for paradoxes in everything that I saw. So, that was how I came to discover a paradox associated with Collaboration. This was to be the theme of the Collaboration Model that I'd proposed in my paper. Now, I know you'll kill me or curiosity will kill you if I don't mention the paradox that I discovered about collaboration. It was the fact that Collaboration can lead to two 'opposing' things - Innovation and Reuse. (Innovation is looking at things from a completely fresh perspective while Reuse is about using something that has already been used and proven to save time, money, effort etc). So, I finished my paper a little at a time in the next 10 days and sent it across to the conference coordinators. I then let the whole thing rest including my expectations. Honestly, I couldn't even be sure that I would get to go to the conference if my paper were selected. Because my company would have to be ready to sponsor the trip and stay, which I wasn't sure of. Days passed by and I almost forgot the fact that I'd submitted a paper. I then heard from the conference coordinators who wanted me to add some case studies to the paper while being non-commital about whether it was selected or not. I added the case studies, revised the whole paper and sent it again. After another week or so, it came. The paper had been selected but I wasn't very sure if it could be presented to the audience or just published in the proceedings. I did not give up my attitude. I would let God decide whether it should happen or not. Maybe I should add the bit about the fact that it was my dream to write and present least one paper on KM in an international conference. Anyways...
I waited again and well, God had decided! I was asked to pack my bags. Next, it was time for me to wait for the company to decide whether they were in a position to sponsor my trip and stay while the conference coordinators were sponsoring the registration fees. The wait was worth the time in gold. It was approved and I got down to booking the tickets and getting ready for the trip! That's in fact another story altogether. It was a tough test - a test of my patience and resilience. This was the time when my company had initiated a conference of its own. The task was a mammoth one given the size of the company and the expected participation. And guess who was leading the task force? Yours Truly. It was a test that would put a good juggler to shame! Mails were pouring in, the various competitive events that we had launched were 'coming (getting) back' to (at) me. I was left with no time to take a leisurely sip of water. I found that I had no time to prepare for my conference - the KM Challenge conference - I had enough to do handling the company conference activities. I had to yet prepare the presentation (PPT version of my paper), I hadn't rehearsed, I hadn't thought about other things like my luggage, things to buy and what not. And well, let me throw in the fact that this would be my very first international journey! Boy, there were quite a few things I did not know...! (Blllththt)
Even while I struggled with the situation, time passed and I managed to prepare for my trip while juggling the company conference activities amidst a few tight situations, and arguments from people who did not seem to understand.
Let me now come to my actual trip - is it only now that I am getting to talk about the actual trip? oops...this blog is getting to be a really long one :(. The trip was cool. The journey from Bangalore to Singapore was a short one with a good dinner. The view was amazing. When I landed in Singapore, it was 4 AM. I just couldn't help calling my cousin in Singapore once I landed there. It made me feel much better after having set foot on foreign soil (carpet actually :)). The Changi airport, needless to say, was awesome. I was tired and sleepy, but I managed to see a bit of the airport, have coffee and check my mails. It was time for the Australian leg of the journey and I reached the gates where I would have to take my flight to Sydney....(Ummm....oops...I need to rewind a bit here... ;-).... When I knew for sure that I would be going to Sydney, I wasn't unduly worried about going to a foreign country for the first time and that was only because I had a friend there! Look how God takes care of us! This friend of mine was with me in my previous organization and is known to be a very friendly and helpful person. So, I'd called her, sent her mails and told her that she was in for a shock and that I would be nagging her for a few days. She had graciously accepted to put up with me for the inital 2 days of my stay at Sydney...and how she would repent that :) ). Well, okay...I was here ready to take my next flight to Sydney. It was a breeze and the 7.5 hour journey from Singapore went off without any major incidents as such. It was a little disapponting that I did not get a Window seat and couldn't enjoy the view thru' the journey. But I had to anyways prepare for my presentation and I did that. And...Ahemm...I managed to watch 'The School of Rock' on the way - 1.5 hrs gone there.
When I reached Sydney, my friend was dutifully there to greet me and take me to her home. On the way , she and her brother took me to the Harbour Bridge and Opera House spot and what I saw was breath-taking. It was a dream come true. It was nearly 10 PM, there were very few people, the water was sparkling under the lights, the bridge was smiling down at me, the opera house was sitting there watching people and showing off....wowee. Cool! I had had a taste of the best of Sydney within an hour after setting foot on the Sydney Soil. Jet Lag? What's that? But well, I did not have the question for long. Things changed the minute I left the spot and moved toward home. :) I reached home, had a light dinner and then slept like (a log) I hadn't for 10 days. Now, I knew what Jet Lag was...
The next day was an eye-opener of sorts. I got to know the way Sydney lived, worked and enjoyed life. I got to know the difference between Indian cities and Australian cities. Thanks to my friend....
************************************************************
Hey, I am back to this draft after a gap of 10 days...If you still want to read the rest of it, I'll have to come back for the second part. Let me at least publish this one for now! :)
READ PART II
Tuesday, June 29, 2004
Competition Vs Collaboration
Which gives more? Competition or Collaboration? The receivers - not just the individuals involved in the competition or collaboration but also the surrounding society/community. What makes the world a better place to live in? Is it competition or collaboration? People talk of competitive spirits spurring performance and innovation. Has it been compared with the kind of innovation and performance that is driven by collaboration? Competition can also drive destruction/destructive forces. Collaboration does not. An anchor in a programme on Discovery Channel about Modern Machines had this to say while closing the episode, "It is not competition between Boeing and Airbus that will give the world the best of modern machines, it is collaboration between them that will". In other words, anything done out of love will bear sweeter fruits than that done because one wants to beat another. The best of performances are because the performer loves what she is doing and not because she wants to get the better of others in the 'cast'. Competition is short-lived. Collaboration can be forever. Competition causes unnatural deaths. Collaboration brings alive. What would happen if the mother and the father of a family compete to serve the family members? Funny! Ha Ha Ha! :)
Leadership and KM
I caught myself wondering about the link between Leadership and KM. Not exactly the whole of KM but in relation to Knowledge Sharing. Leaders are those that get excited and enthusiastic about a great idea that they have or imbibed from an external source...and have the power to get others equally excited about the same thing! And not just get them excited but also get them to act upon it and reap the rewards/see the results. Any debates here? Well, so what? When does a leader get to influence others to get excited about something that they themselves haven't come up with...that they don't own? Of course, personality, charisma, track-record, fear factor etc cannot be ignored. But the real ownership comes when the leader is able to influence and inspire the masses. Influencing and inspiration happen only when you can tell the masses the why and how of things. Not necessarily the all of the how, but all of the why and a significant portion of the how. If you've guessed my next question, find out if you've got 10/10. It is "What is Knowledge Sharing? Isn't it the Why and How more than anything else?". To go a step further, you don't have to feed someone with fish. Just teach them how to fish, give them the tools and set the environment, pay them for it and you have your organization. Hmmm
Thursday, June 17, 2004
Defining KM!
Passionate that I am about KM, it just dawned upon me that I should be looking at defining it my own way. There is no standard globally accepted definition and there are as many flavours of the KM definition as there are number of interpretations of it. Some folks pin it down to culture, some to processes, some to tools and technology while some call it GOD of All Things. Hmmm, where do I start? I'll start off with what I think are the keywords that should appear in a 'good' KM definition... Maybe my next blog will tie up all the keywords (and probably leave out some) and give the reader a definition. :)
- People
- Collective Thinking
- Learning
- Processes
- Knowledge
- Technology/Tools
- Innovation
- Efficiency
- Reuse
- Collaboration
- Knowledge Capture, Classification, Categorization, Storage, Retreival, Access, Dissemination, Application, Value-Addition, Updation
- Customer
- Business Objectives
- Smart Workers
- Leverage
- Strategy
- Concept/Discipline
- Explicit/Tacit Knowledge
Whew! Okay! Now, it will take me another day to get back to this and frame a nice definition out of it for KM! Till then, hold on! ;)
- People
- Collective Thinking
- Learning
- Processes
- Knowledge
- Technology/Tools
- Innovation
- Efficiency
- Reuse
- Collaboration
- Knowledge Capture, Classification, Categorization, Storage, Retreival, Access, Dissemination, Application, Value-Addition, Updation
- Customer
- Business Objectives
- Smart Workers
- Leverage
- Strategy
- Concept/Discipline
- Explicit/Tacit Knowledge
Whew! Okay! Now, it will take me another day to get back to this and frame a nice definition out of it for KM! Till then, hold on! ;)
Friday, June 04, 2004
Tough nut to crack...
There is a school of thought that believes that relationship management is a core contributor to one's success. Esp in an organizational environment. But what about the role of perception? You might be a great person in terms of attitude towards others, but a few circumstances might dictate to how you are perceived by others. Also, what is relationship management? One can't be rude and curt all the time and never ever think about others. That means one has to be 'nice'! But if one is a little too 'nice' all the time, others tend to take advantage...don't they? Seems like blowing hot and cold is the only option...! :-) That reminds me of a calvin and hobbes strip that got me smiling for quite some time! -
Calvin : I am at peace with the world, I'm completely serene. I've discovered my purpose in life. I know why I was put here and why everything exists.
Hobbes: Oh, really?
Calvin: Yes, I am here so everybody can do what I want.
Hobbes: It's nice to have that cleared up.
Calvin: Once everyone accepts it, they'll be serene too!
Enjoy! :)))
Calvin : I am at peace with the world, I'm completely serene. I've discovered my purpose in life. I know why I was put here and why everything exists.
Hobbes: Oh, really?
Calvin: Yes, I am here so everybody can do what I want.
Hobbes: It's nice to have that cleared up.
Calvin: Once everyone accepts it, they'll be serene too!
Enjoy! :)))
Wednesday, June 02, 2004
Man's Search for Meaning...
Reading the book 'Man's Search for Meaning' by Viktor Frankl. Just crossed 80 pages...maybe 50% more to go...! Makes interesting reading...for those of you into human behaviour and life. The man sure had a zest for life what with being in a concentration camp and coming out 'victorious' with this kind of a book...
Await a better capsule on the book once I am done with it! But here's something great that he starts off with - Happiness and Success can't be pursued...They happen to you if you just do what you're doing well enough and love it enough! :) Boy, do I agree!!!
Await a better capsule on the book once I am done with it! But here's something great that he starts off with - Happiness and Success can't be pursued...They happen to you if you just do what you're doing well enough and love it enough! :) Boy, do I agree!!!
Live and Let Live!
One of my 'friend's' recent behaviour got me thinking about something... Why is it that people find it so difficult to simply live and let live? Why is it most of us are always trying to get the best for ourselves and don't mind crushing down others in the process? Is living well but without treading into anyone else's area so very difficult? Won't the world be a much better place to live in if everyone were to have the philosophy of Living and Letting Live? Don't know if I sound like a philosopher...but just can't help it! Is it KM that makes me think so much about human behaviour? Very likely!
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