Stammer, Splutter, Twitter

I was thinking it would be good for me to regularly capture some of those random but worthwhile - personal & introspective - Twitter moments on the blog. Twitter does not have a good memory. Some of these moments are rare meaningful flashes that are hard to recover mentally as well. It would be good to come back to this list and recharge myself if I find myself in a situation that demands sanity - such situations do exist, what? ;-)

Rattling off......it's safe to take off the seat belts.

I guess the commitment to settle for nothing but the best may be a journey of incremental progress, at the risk of others not noticing it

There's a thin line of difference between patience and obsession. They're actually two sides of the same coin. #somewhat_paradoxical

I got a confirmation of something yet again. Many people with organizations believe they are working solely for the latter's profit & good

Ideas are great but executing them takes a herculean effort. You need so many people who're equally true to it. Takes superhuman leadership

Some articles have no summary. Summarizing them would be like inviting you to a buffet & giving you just the starter, drink & the dessert

Transition from Adolescence to Adulthood: I suspect we don't really get rid of our silliness. We just move on from one silliness to another

As long as everyone puts peace & goodness above & ego below everything else most problems are not likely to occur at all...or will be solved

If you want to get interested in a topic and/or understand it better, agree to make a presentation on it

Perseverance gets us there. But we've got to recognize occasions when Letting Go is better, at least, temporarily

An idea that is worth it can both rob you of your sleep & appear sweeter than sleep. Robbery when it eludes you & sweetness when you near it        

The world may have completely lost the ability to think of something without thinking about its potential or actual material cost or value

The dance between Thinking and Doing is a tough one to choreograph. The 'music' is sometimes deafening & sometimes too soft to be heard... 

Doctor or Statistician?

Dazzled by the ability of a Doctor to present a statistical story in the most compelling manner I've ever seen!  Hans Rosling's talk on when India and China will become the superpowers in terms of health and per capita income.

Toyota's KM Problem

Came across this interesting post (by Jack) on the recent Toyota Recall and the associated knowledge management 'problem'. It got my mind running on what could be the potential approaches to deal with such a situation especially because I've been thinking hard about some of these mechanisms for a few months now. 
Extracts from Jack's blog:

The recent Toyota recall and particularly the reporting of the U.S. congressional hearings on the subject turned up at least one tidbit related to knowledge management.  Today's article in the International Herald Tribune isn't published online yet, U.S. official takes heat at Toyota hearing by Micheline Maynard, who seems to be a key reporter on this topic for the NY Times.

The KM connection?  It turns out information and concerns about the sticking accelerator was known and fixed in Europe at least a year before it became a problem in the U.S.

Mr. Inaba ... acknowledged that Toyota had been aware of issues with sticking pedals in Europe for over a year before accidents were reported in the United States.

What happened?  Toyota is regarded as an advanced company with practices in manufacturing and continuous improvement that have made it one of the biggest automobile manufacturers in the world.  The Toyota Production System has been the subject of books and education around the world.  Toyota are even regarded as a Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise.

This is what happened.

Mr. Inaba said the information had been contained in a company database but that it could have been found only if a staff member had known where to look.

To my mind, two simple ways in which such a situation could possibly be approached are:

1. Processes that suggest problems & solutions from an appropriate database at the time of project documentation or any other appropriate project registration activity

2. Smart Enterprise 2.0 mechanisms that automatically retrieve relevant content or even just pointers based on attributes and tags related to domain, technical challenge, expertise area, region etc  


Not sure if what I am imagining in my mind's eye is obvious to the reader but I think it's time we stopped expecting people to consciously look/locate/scout for information - and know exactly where to look - every time they do something that is knowledge-intensive (which could be 'always'). I don't think it is feasible as people may not necessarily be able to predict problems more than anything else. But on the other hand, a smart Enterprise 2.0 based portal that proactively digs into various knowledge sources (as mentioned in #2 above) and floats up relevant content and pointers to content on an employee-specific or project-specific page may make a significant difference. The prerequisite, of course, is that problems encountered elsewhere must be documented or at least mentioned in some form or the other.   

Tom & Jerry: An Ode to Today's Organizations

It is only once in a rare while that you come across articles that resonate with you and your values, put hope in your heart, a smile on your face and positive thoughts in your mind. On the particular topic of organizations and business, the last time I remember feeling this way was when I read an article by Peter Senge. I hung on to every word. This article by Gary Hamel gives me a sense of deja vu - of hanging on to every word and indulging in a musical chord-striking experience or whatever. Thanks to @rajwaghray for leading me to this article via his blog post. I am going to do what Raj has done, put out some extracts of the article here because I am so fascinated by it. 

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Here’s an experiment for you. Pull together your company’s latest annual report, its mission statement, and your CEOs last few blog posts. Read through these documents and note the key phrases. Make a list of oft-repeated words. Now do a little content analysis. What are the goals and ideas that get a lot of airtime in your company? It’s probably notions like superiority, advantage, leadership, differentiation, value, focus, discipline, accountability, and efficiency. Nothing wrong with this, but do these goals quicken your pulse? Do they speak to your heart? Are they “good” in any cosmic sense?

Now think about Michelangelo, Galileo, Jefferson, Gandhi, William Wilberforce. Martin Luther King and Mother Theresa. What were the ideals that inspired these individuals to acts of greatness? Was it anything on your list of commercial values? Probably not. Remarkable contributions are typically spawned by a passionate commitment to transcendent values such as beauty, truth, wisdom, justice, charity, fidelity, joy, courage and honor.

.........A noble purpose inspires sacrifice, stimulates innovation and encourages perseverance. In so doing, it transforms great talent into exceptional accomplishment. That’s a fact—and it leaves me wondering: Why are words like “love,” “devotion” and “honor” so seldom heard within the halls of corporate-dom? Why are the ideals that matter most to human beings the ones that are most notably absent in managerial discourse?

...........The next time you’re stuck in a corporate staff meeting, wait until everyone’s eyes have begun to glaze over from PowerPoint fatigue and then get up and announce that what your company really needs is a lot more luuuuuv. When addressing a large group of managers, I often challenge them to stand up for love (or beauty or justice or truth) in just this way. “When you get back to work, tell your boss your company has a love deficit.” This suggestions invariably provokes a wave of nervous laughter, which has always struck me as a bit strange. Why is it that managers are so willing to acknowledge the idea of a company dedicated to timeless human values and yet so unwilling to become practical advocates for those values within their own organizations? I have a hunch. I think corporate life is so manifestly inhuman—so mechanical, mundane and materialistic—that any attempt to inject a spiritual note into the overtly secular proceedings just feels wildly out of place—the workplace equivalent of reading a Bible in a brothel.

............Viktor Frankl, the Austrian neurologist, held a similar view, which he expressed forcefully in “Man’s Search for Meaning:” “For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended consequence of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself . . .."

So, dear reader, a couple of questions for you: Why do you believe the language of beauty, love, justice and service is so notably absent in the corporate realm? And what would you do to remedy that fact?

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My immediate response to Gary's post went something like this:

I relished this article. Thanks so much for such a wonderful post. It also reminds me of some of Peter Senge's wonderful thoughts. I wish more people like you would instill such values in the corporate world. Well, I am no expert in collective human behaviour but I guess it all boils down to the fact that there will always be a set of people who listen to their minds and bodies rather than their souls and also the fact that many of us have been conditioned gradually since ages to focus on money/profits/efficiency etc. Like some of the comments indicate, most senior managers with a severe focus on profits would ask you to cut the article short or just go back to work and stop being so impractical and idealistic. *wry smile* It is up to the small set of people who listen to their souls to do whatever they can to make a difference and then leave the rest to nature! :-|

Another thing is that people are ruled by fear. Fear of not making enough money to indulge in their silly needs. If they don't toe the line and bring in the moolah, they are not going to get their monthly paycheck. They need to be appreciated and recognized as someone who toes the line and accomplishes the goal in order to survive and thrive. So why unnecessarily take the trouble to think of and advocate things that don't fit in? Just keep running in the said direction becomes the motto.

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Additionally, there's one another - to my mind - related story that I want to share. It's an interesting coincidence that this happened just a few hours after I read Gary's post. When I went back home and the door was opened to let me in (by a person who was perhaps muttering 'Why Me?') I froze on my tracks and did not even take the trouble to put down my heavy laptop bag, for in front of me was something delightful - A rollicking episode of Tom and Jerry on TV. Now, being a person who does not watch a lot of TV and for some crazy reason it having been ages since I had watched Tom and Jerry, this was like Manna from Heaven. I picked up a yummy-looking bun that was lying nearby (without caring about who it was actually meant for) and plunked into the sofa to munch on and roar with laughter at Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse (Just making sure you got the names right). Now, catch this and see it in juxtaposition with Gary's article. Shut the jaw. You'll see what I mean. 

Tom exhibits extreme laziness and does not care to bring Jerry's naughtiness to a halt, much to the chagrin of the house lady. So, the house lady decides to order for a cat-machine (that looks exactly like a cat) whose vendors claim that it can catch mice come what may. Stop me if you've already seen this episode. So...the cat-machine with no soul arrives. It knows just one thing - its only goal is to catch any mice that may be around. The cat-machine is extraordinarily innovative in its methods and seems to know a way out of every difficulty. 

But Jerry gets smart a little later and introduces plenty of mechanical mice (mice-machines) into the house in order to fight the cat-machine. The cat-machine now has many mice to catch and goes about maniacally and ends up destroying the house in order to trap all the mice! Jerry watches on in glee while Tom watches in bewilderment from outside (he gets sent off after the arrival of the cat-machine). And then the lady of the house realizes her folly and decides to call Tom back. Meanwhile, ironically, our cat-machine ends up almost destroying itself as well in its relentless, err, shall we say, rat race? ;-) The one last piece of machine that perhaps represents the mouse sensor in the cat-machine is all that remains and it accidentally slips into Tom's throat! Even as the house lady tells Tom to go about things in his own way and that she wants peace and quiet in the house, Tom starts behaving like the cat-machine because of the mouse-sensor in his tummy! The episode ends as Tom speeds toward Jerry in a cat-machine-like manner and the house lady screams in exasperation. 

Now, this, to my mind, is a very metaphorical example (no soul, rat race, human-machines, destruction and what not!) of the situation in today's organizations as explained by Gary. Let's just hope that we don't fully replicate the Tom and Jerry episode and realize, before it is too late, that there is in us - especially as a member in a ruthless commercial organization - an artificial and mechanical object that needs to be removed. I don't believe this is a case of adding an ingredient to ourselves. I dare say it is a pure case of removing from our minds, a foreign ingredient that is beginning to condition our souls!

The Need for KM+Collaboration

Came across some compelling but, however, old evidence that clearly reiterates the need for KM and Collaboration and want to capture (and share) it here.

Tacit sponsored a Harris Poll in 2003 which HBR ran amongst 536 knowledge workers at various levels and discovered the following:

• 67% of those polled said some people in their organization could help them do better on their job (performance) - and 39% did not know how to find these people
• 54% said opportunities to innovate are being missed because the right people were not working together
• 51% said wrong decisions were being taken regularly because employees' knowledge weren't being efficiently tapped
• 60% felt that often work was duplicated because people were unaware of each others' work

Luck

Thanks to Mary for sharing this wonderful piece of 'research'! It sounds vaguely familiar - I must have surely read it before, but this time I'm capturing it in this post.

"My research revealed that lucky people generate good fortune via four basic principles. They are skilled at creating and noticing chance opportunities, make lucky decisions by listening to their intuition, create self-fulfilling prophesies via positive expectations, and adopt a resilient attitude that transforms bad luck into good." - Richard Wiseman describing the attributes of lucky people

Ideas....! Ideal or Idle?

An idea that is worth it can both rob you of your sleep & appear sweeter than sleep. Robbery when it eludes you & sweetness when you near it...(does that resonate?)

Here is a weak attempt to put this thought into a clumsy graph! :-)

Infinite Inspiration

This could easily be one of the most inspiring things you'll ever read in your life. At least, for me, it definitely is. Period.

Source: This website

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Dr. Mani Sivasubramanian

 

Dr. Mani is a heart surgeon, an internet entrepreneur and a founder of the Children's Heart Foundation, which saves the lives of underprivileged kids.

A dream fueled by purpose, fired by passion and followed with persistence will definitely change the world. ~Dr Mani Sivasubramanian

If today were my last day on Earth and I could share 500 words of brilliance with the world, here are the important things I'd want to pass along to others...If I had five minutes to tell my daughter what I believe to be the success of living happily, this is what it would be...

Have a dream. It may be lofty or small - but it should be yours. And it must do two things. It should make you happy. And it should be of value to others.

Live your dream with passion. Passion is the energy that fires the spark of your desire, fans it into a glorious flame, and shows off your radiant brilliance.

Pursue your dream with determination. Believe with all your heart that it will come true, no matter how remote or difficult or impossible it may seem at the moment.

Dare to be different. Throw off the shackles of what is 'regular' or 'conventional' or 'accepted' - and follow your heart. Yes, it is often scary, unnerving and terrifying to give up the familiar and the secure to follow your dreams. It takes a lot of courage. Find it.

Feel gratitude. Wake up every morning feeling thankful for all the things you have - even the ones that, until now, you've taken for granted. Think about those who do not have those things.

Also, be a little crazy. Have a little fun. Let that little child within you come out and enjoy itself every now and then. Have a personal philosophy that directs all that you do. Mine is a simple four-word mantra... "Be Kind. Help Others."

And in the end, have no regrets. We are all human, and therefore imperfect. We will always make mistakes. And that's ok. Yes, things could have been better. But they also could have been worse.

The only question you must ask yourself is this: "Did I do my best?"
I hope your answer will be "Yes, I did."
That's all that matters.

The Wisdom Gadget

Another thoughtful moment....

The dance between Thinking and Doing is a tough one to choreograph. The 'music' is sometimes deafening & sometimes too soft to be heard...


We need to have our own personalized "gadgets" to filter the noise, reduce the volume or amplify the input signals. And that is the wisdom gadget. Order one for me, please. 

In a Nut Shell...

Sigh. Twitter is deadly. Not to mention, dangerous as well. Take my word for it. Unless you're extremely careful and maintain a dreadful silence in which case you'd rather not be using it in the first place, IMO.


Many weeks back, I made the mistake of saying I was inspired by the Groundnut Avataars of a friend on Twitter (He puts up pictures of tiny groundnuts sleeping, thinking, reading etc and you know my weakness for cartoons of any sort) and a huge gang (comprising no less than two people in all) of Mumbaikars got together and threatened me into writing something on groundnuts or getting ready to face the consequences of a mortal life. So, here's my timid and weird essay on groundnuts. Not open to criticism of any sort, mind you. If you want, you can go write a better article on groundnuts or any other nut you  may prefer to write about. I've been dilly dallying on this task for too long. Finally seem to be in a mood to talk some groundnut-nonsense. Nevertheless, I am not inclined to put up with any nonsensical comments.  


Being a KMer, the first thing I am going to do is to point out what Wikipedia has to say about groundnuts. Here you go - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanut


First things first. Groundnuts have a lot of alternative names. Let me help you get this straight, lest you let this article go unnoticed because you've always been referring to groundnuts as something else like Goober Peas or for that matter Arachis Hypogaea. Groundnuts are referred to as Peanuts in the western parts of the world. They are also, amusingly enough, known as monkey nuts and pig nuts. Not sure if that's because monkeys and pigs love them. I, personally, know a lot of nice people who are not monkeys or pigs but who love them. If you don't happen to like any of these names, you can exercise your tongue and refer to groundnuts as Arachis Hypogaea.  


Groundnuts have quite hard shells if you've not seen one so far, like that of a fragile Tortoise, I presume. But the pods are relatively softer. Groundnuts can be consumed as is, fried, boiled, sprayed with spices and salts, mixed with nuts from other families, mixed with some Indian rice-based dishes etc. And there's also the popular peanut butter that people in the US seem to be very fond of. This includes a US-based niece of mine. (This niece once even attempted to teach me how to make peanut butter and had her narrative going pretty well when she started off by saying "you need to take one peanut and put it in the grinder - which you can in turn buy from a shop". But then she abruptly stopped on seeing me and a few others giggle. To this day, I regret it and wonder whether I unwittingly crushed a champion chef in her growing years)


Peanut oil and flour are also used in cooking. The top three producers of groundnuts are China, India and USA. Peanuts are known for their nutritious (protein) quality and are even prescribed for children suffering from malnutrition. If you ever happen to think that your body needs niacin, folate, fiber, magnesium, vitamin E, manganese and phosphorus, please pop in a few peanuts. Peanuts are considered high in fat, but according to the Wikipedia, these are good or unsaturated fats. The US is the biggest exporter of peanuts. India and China produce lots of them but eat most of it themselves. Sounds somewhat selfish, what?


Here are some other tidbits that are, I guarantee, of absolutely no value to you. 


1. Peanuts remind some people of the number eight. If you don't know how to write the number eight, derive inspiration from peanuts. This also means that peanuts can easily take on a human form. Peanut art is also common in some rural areas. You can do lots with the shells like use it in paintings etc. 


2. If you're paid a very meager amount of money for something you sold or services you provided, it may be said that you were paid peanuts. My intelligent guess is that this alludes to the fact that peanuts come real cheap. 


3. If you act a little goofy or silly or unintelligent, people may accuse you of being nuts or exhibiting nutty behaviour. These phrases, however, are not attributable only to groundnuts. There are a lot of other nuts that could be held responsible for such behaviour.


4. Groundnuts are sold everywhere - in India. Trains, bus stations, beaches, roads etc. Surprisingly enough, you can buy groundnuts even if all you happen to have in your wallet is Rs.2. Isn't that amazing? 


Righto! We're done folks. In a nut shell, groundnuts are a funny, nutritious and time-pass snack (time-pass: Indian term that refers to "killing time"). Hold a few groundnuts in your palm, sit in an undisturbed or busy spot (beach, park etc) and pop in one nut after another on auto-pilot, let your mind wander and be enlightened! 

Pic Courtesy: Wikipedia

PS: This is the first ever time I've spent so much time and energy thinking and collecting information about groundnuts since the time I suddenly developed groundnut allergy 3 years back - when I consumed some suspicious-looking fat and sweetened groundnuts in the UK and had itchy skin for a while. Thanks to Wikipedia. Wait, not for the allergy but for the knowledge on groundnuts. For me, this has been a curious journey - from unexpected allergies to hidden Twitter allegories!

Truly Badly Madly

A thoughtful moment from my Twitter Timeline:

Pic Courtesy: Asterix, Obelix and Dogmatix - Google Images

I'm inclined to believe that 'real' knowledge & insight come to you only when you truly badly madly want them. Like everything else in life?

Life and a Couple of C&H Cartoons

Pic 1: Cartoonist: Bill Watterson (Source: Google Images) 

The last three days have been pretty busy and focused. Been staring at presentations, doing online training programs, creating and juggling slides, testing applications, thinking hard (you'd better believe me), reading up on and learning about some new topics and following up with elusive people etc. So, time for a silly, relaxed, prolonged and deliberate smile. Plus a bloggy breather like this one. 

Pic 2: Cartoonist: Bill Watterson (Source: Google Images)

Closely observe Pic 1 and Pic 2 above (by the world's best cartoonist ever). Do you see what I see? The clue is obvious in Pic 2. Give up? Hold your breath. Let me reveal my stunning, mind-blowing and overwhelming discovery. If you let your eyes swing between these two pictures, you ought to have these words popping up in your mind as you move from Pic 1 to Pic 2.


These pictures are a perfect reflection of life as a function of time.



January --------------------------------------- December
Monday --------------------------------------- Friday
AM -------------------------------------------- PM



Now that I am done with my quota of both the silly smile and the silly bloggy breather, allow me to lead you to Bill Watterson's first ever interview since 1989. Should have been a much longer one given his silence and reclusion all these years...!

Innovation and Communities

Discovered this interesting website on Collective Intelligence/Communities and read this article on "Innovation and Communities of Practice" today. I thoroughly enjoyed the article (it actually happens to be an extract/chapter from a book) and found myself highlighting and underlining quite a few thoughts/statements in it. 


Here are some extracts:


* People with talents in multiple disciplines are better poised to see and connect the dots of breakthrough possibilities
* Managers whose discussion networks more often spanned structural holes were more likely to express their ideas, less likely to have their ideas dismissed by senior management, and more likely to have their ideas evaluated as valuable
* Horizontal mobility is, no doubt, one of the ways to cultivate multidisciplinary performers, among which there is a higher concentration of disruptive innovators than among people with only professional identity 
* The fastest way to get smarter in any domain is to join its community of practice, and this is a trend likely to expand its reach to all industries
* The future belongs to organizations that learned to truly unleash the creative powers of self-organizing project communities, knowledge networks, open source teams, and other new ways of work and learning, based on free associations of people who are passionate about what they do together. Communities of practice are in the center of this widening innovation movement
* We nourish life with our generative relationships, as well as with value creation and exchange. Communities of practice are the “sweet spot” of those two dimensions
* The vitality of knowledge ecology--the rainforest of ideas, insights and inspirations - and innovation ecology depends on the same as the vitality of natural ecosystems: their diversity
* Innovation frequently recombines facts and assessments in existing knowledge and the relationships between them. Therefore, how well those community-based knowledge assets are organized and validated is a substantive factor of the organization’s innovation capacity
* When coordination is lubricated by trustful relationship amongst the players, then there is less friction, its transaction cost is lower and results are better
* The meta-capability of collaboration is the No. 1 competitive advantage in the innovation ecology
* Customer communities of practice are particularly essential to accelerate the adoption of an innovation if it is highly complex
* Radical innovation needs people who are members in multiple communities, and play a role of “cultural translators” between them
* Shift in deeply seated mental models, the mutual inspiration and push-back necessary to radical innovation, are most likely to occur in high-trust relationships fostered by the communities
* People freely associating with another, combining their talents, and sharing their learning edges to complete projects or upgrade their skills and invent new ones, are the most generative source of permanent innovation

Social Awakening....Jaago Re Campaign

A representative of the Tata Tea Jaago Re initiative left a comment on one of my blog posts about the movement. Thought I'd share it with you. Meanwhile, I visited the jaagore website and thought it was well-designed, bright and inspiring. Actually the website's colours are so bright that it can wake you up! :-) A perfect platform for India's youth to get together and change the country for the better.


If you're an Indian, I guess you would have surely spotted the cool Tata Tea commercials on Voting and Corruption. Here is a chance to take another step forward, register on the website, share and discuss thoughts on various topics like Voting, Education, Corruption, Children's Rights, Women's Rights, Global Warming and Health. Go ahead, wake up, grab a cuppa, join the community, see what beckons you and explore how you could potentially help India become a happier country! Three cheers to Tata Tea for stepping beyond their commercial objectives and contributing to social change in such an innovative and meaningful manner! Kudos to their CSR team and whoever else is behind this movement.


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The Jaago Re campaign was initiated in the year 2007 and the objective of this campaign was to initiate social awakening amongst Indians. The Jaago Re campaign made a great impact with the ‘One Billion Votes’ campaign and are currently targeting corruption with the ‘Khilana Band, Pilana Shuru’ drive.

Recently, Tata Tea has re-launched its flagship website www.jaagore.com. The portal which was, for the last one year, an online hot spot for aspiring voters to register and obtain all information related to Voter Registration, will now stand for social awakening in a broader sense. Jaago Re as a campaign has targeted the youth of the nation, urging them to take a stand on various issues such as voting and corruption and do their bit – thereby encouraging them to 'be the change they want to see’.

What makes www.jaagore.com unique is that it facilitates the flow of information and resources between individuals / groups / organizations – by bringing together, onto a common platform, those who possess information and resources and those who need them. NGOs can list themselves on the site, thereby making their presence felt with individuals who would like to work with them. On the other hand, individuals who wish to do their bit for society can volunteer their services with an organization of their choice.

It would be great if you can help us support us by spreading the word on Jaago Re's initiative through your blog. Hopefully readers of your blog, both NGOs and individuals alike, would be inspired enough to join the initiative.

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A *Formula* for Intellectual Infrastructure

It is amazing how you see links to what you truly believe in and are passionate about in just about everything - which at first seems unrelated - you come across. I took a break from work last week during which I caught up with a book called "Small is Beautiful" by EF Schumacher. I was thrilled to find some material for this blog therein and more importantly food for thought.

Schumacher's book was written in the early 1970s and focuses on the importance of preserving the environment through appropriate economic policies and actions. He questions the then economic policies and wonders if our obsession with economic growth at the cost of the environment and people's real needs (employment, manageable growth rate, development of rural areas) will leave us in dire straits. How true. Today, more than 3 decades later, one of the most critical issues for all governments and human beings on earth is the depletion of natural resources, global warming and unabated industrial growth that comes at severe intangible costs.

In one of the chapters, Schumacher talks about the need for an "intellectual infrastructure" strategy in order to help developing countries. And it has an uncanny resemblance to a typical knowledge management strategy, in my opinion. 

Schumacher's intellectual infrastructure plan reads as follows: (Rephrased Extracts)

1. Communication - To enable workers to know what other workers are doing and to facilitate direct exchange of information

2. Information Brokerage - To assemble and distribute relevant information. The essence being not to hold all the information in one centre but to hold information on information or know-how on know-how

3. Feed-back - Transmission of problems from the field to the groups where the solutions exist

4. Sub-structures - Creation and co-ordination of action groups and teams for assistance (champions) within the field - that is, within the target audience themselves

It takes me back to my reflection that KM strategies need the three Tipping Point Cs - Communication, Champions and Context.

What do you think? Does your KM strategy follow these principles and ideas?

Back in Circulation

Usually, when I am back after a break/vacation, I tend to be slightly jittery for the first few days just thinking about the tons of emails and work that I need to catch up with. Life is brutal to people who go on vacations. Isn't it? Makes me wonder if it is ever possible to 'invent' a vacation on returning from which one has nothing to catch up with. Or perhaps a vacation that one doesn't have to return from....err, I mean to the business of catching up and the like. I am not sure I've made myself crystal clear. So here we go again. What I actually mean is why not have a vacation that's sort of permanent and so enlightening that one either manages to drift along without any catching up to do later on or whatever? If you go on a vacation to recharge your batteries and come back only to let them be drained in no time just seeing the pending pile of emails and other such things, what's the big deal? I'm just making up for not being able to ramble last week. Ignore me.

While on the topic of vacations and catching up, have you noticed? When you come back to see what has changed with the world, you are, more often than not, likely to be staring at a situation wherein every single thing (that you are not so interested in but will however have to catch up with) except what you really, desperately, wanted to see some progress in, has progressed at a phenomenal rate. Sigh. I told you. Life is brutal to people who go on vacations. 

But when one gets to read a hilarious and yet thoughtful cartoon strip by one's favourite cartoonist amidst the tons of other - mostly boring - emails waiting to be read, the act of think-laughing or laugh-thinking (Yikes, the term doesn't sound so creative. Reminds me of something to do with fixing erroneous machines) releases all or most of the tension and puts the ugly smile back in its place. Eh? So, here we are. Ugly. Smiling. And All.

Pic: Gocomics: Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson

Will Knowledge Managers Survive?

I couldn't possibly let this post go unnoticed and uncommented. :-)

My thoughts are mostly in-line with Mary's comments. The KM role the author of the post refers to is not something that is common to all organizations. If all that the KMer does is regulate, validate and oversee the flow of content, he will add no value with the advent of self-regulated Enterprise 2.0 Tools. But, then, I see the role of a KMer to be much more critical and important.  

• She must be responsible for, first of all, strategical decisions reg. the cultural elements, knowledge-intensive processes and the platform/technology. What a KMer did a decade ago (set up an Intranet) no longer sounds complete in today's world. KMers had to understand cultural, technical and operational changes and keep pace with them and accordingly transform their organizational KM system from that of an Intranet to something more "social" after 5-6 years. I am not equipped to comment on what things will be like in another 5 years but I can guarantee you that it will be different from what it is like now....so, it is up to the KMer to keep pace and change her strategy along with the organization and other external factors.  

• Mary's point about KMers being process experts resonates with me but I've, admittedly, had a tough time explaining this to organizations. KMers can have their hands full if they spend time understanding and tweaking processes in order to enable knowledge creation, usage and sharing.  

• Even when it comes to technology, KMers must identify, purchase, customize, adapt and evangelize or identify, design, build, implement and evangelize. Even before they know it, once they are through with one phase, they will most likely be forced to embark on another phase of technological changes.  

• Cultural acceptance is something that is not a one-time effort. KMers have to continue talking to people, making them aware, inspiring them, facilitating and supporting them when it comes to certain portions of the overall KM system. Take a look at the number of articles, guidelines, and tips on Twitter and you'll know what I am talking about. A simple tool in many ways but the ideas that come out of it are many! Thanks to the post, made me think/express somethings that I've always wanted to. ;-)

Human Evolution

Another mesmerizing article shared by @Kirti.
I'm taking a print out and putting it along with my most treasured books in my book-shelf!


Not providing you with extracts as yet. Plan to re-read it a few times.
You must read the entire article to experience the knowledge.


Goes a long way to prove the impact of parenting and environment on children and human development as a whole!

Science. Knowledge. Ignorance. Failure. Conversations.

One of the best articles I've read in recent times. Fascinating.  Hat tip to @Kirti

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Excerpts:

(Twentieth-century science philosopher Thomas Kuhn, for instance, defined normal science as the kind of research in which “everything but the most esoteric detail of the result is known in advance.”)

The lesson is that not all data is created equal in our mind’s eye: When it comes to interpreting our experiments, we see what we want to see and disregard the rest.

Too often, we assume that a failed experiment is a wasted effort. But not all anomalies are useless. Here’s how to make the most of them. —J.L.

1. Check Your Assumptions: Ask yourself why this result feels like a failure. What theory does it contradict? Maybe the hypothesis failed, not the experiment.
2. Seek Out the Ignorant: Talk to people who are unfamiliar with your experiment. Explaining your work in simple terms may help you see it in a new light.
3. Encourage Diversity: If everyone working on a problem speaks the same language, then everyone has the same set of assumptions.
4. Beware of Failure-Blindness: It’s normal to filter out information that contradicts our preconceptions. The only way to avoid that bias is to be aware of it.

Modern science is populated by expert insiders, schooled in narrow disciplines. Researchers have all studied the same thick textbooks, which make the world of fact seem settled. This led Kuhn, the philosopher of science, to argue that the only scientists capable of acknowledging the anomalies — and thus shifting paradigms and starting revolutions — are “either very young or very new to the field.” In other words, they are classic outsiders, naive and untenured. They aren’t inhibited from noticing the failures that point toward new possibilities.

While the scientific process is typically seen as a lonely pursuit — researchers solve problems by themselves — Dunbar found that most new scientific ideas emerged from lab meetings, those weekly sessions in which people publicly present their data. Interestingly, the most important element of the lab meeting wasn’t the presentation — it was the debate that followed. Dunbar observed that the skeptical (and sometimes heated) questions asked during a group session frequently triggered breakthroughs, as the scientists were forced to reconsider data they’d previously ignored. The new theory was a product of spontaneous conversation, not solitude; a single bracing query was enough to turn scientists into temporary outsiders, able to look anew at their own work

But not every lab meeting was equally effective. Dunbar tells the story of two labs that both ran into the same experimental problem: The proteins they were trying to measure were sticking to a filter, making it impossible to analyze the data. “One of the labs was full of people from different backgrounds,” Dunbar says. “They had biochemists and molecular biologists and geneticists and students in medical school.” The other lab, in contrast, was made up of E. coli experts. “They knew more about E. coli than anyone else, but that was what they knew,” he says. Dunbar watched how each of these labs dealt with their protein problem. The E. coli group took a brute-force approach, spending several weeks methodically testing various fixes. “It was extremely inefficient,” Dunbar says. “They eventually solved it, but they wasted a lot of valuable time.”

The diverse lab, in contrast, mulled the problem at a group meeting. None of the scientists were protein experts, so they began a wide-ranging discussion of possible solutions. At first, the conversation seemed rather useless. But then, as the chemists traded ideas with the biologists and the biologists bounced ideas off the med students, potential answers began to emerge. “After another 10 minutes of talking, the protein problem was solved,” Dunbar says. “They made it look easy.”

When Dunbar reviewed the transcripts of the meeting, he found that the intellectual mix generated a distinct type of interaction in which the scientists were forced to rely on metaphors and analogies to express themselves. (That’s because, unlike the E. coli group, the second lab lacked a specialized language that everyone could understand.) These abstractions proved essential for problem-solving, as they encouraged the scientists to reconsider their assumptions. Having to explain the problem to someone else forced them to think, if only for a moment, like an intellectual on the margins, filled with self-skepticism.

Vibrations - Energy - Life

I find this fascinating. One of those mystical and universal things about life. Vibrations. Sound. Music. This is where the concept of Energy begins. Positive energy. People we get along with. Good things. Success. Happiness. Almost everything.

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From DailyOm.com

Good Vibrations
Sound Healing

Everything in the universe is in a constant state of vibration, including our bodies. Sound is vibration that can be translated by the delicate structures of our inner ear, but it moves more than just those tiny receptors. It is part of the spectrum of energy vibrations that affect us on the mental, physical, and spiritual levels. Long ago shamans recognized the power of sound when they first used chants and drumming to heal people. In ancient Egypt, Greece, and India, the use of sound and music for healing was a highly developed sacred science. Sonic vibration has been one way of experiencing the energy of the universe for much of humanity’s history.

When the vibrations of our physical and spiritual bodies are out of harmony it can cause disease. Sound healing gently massages the molecules back into the right places, clearing blockages and restoring harmony. Ancient healing systems such as Chinese medicine and Indian Ayurveda associate specific musical notes with subtle-energy systems of the body, such as in yoga where particular notes of music correspond to each of the seven chakras. In Tibet, priests have long used bells and bowls over and around the body to tune and clear the energy centers. Chimes and tuning forks are other tools that have been used to heal not only the body but the energy in a room as well.

Knowing that sound has the power to heal, we should also try to remember that sounds from modern life can have a negative affect. Choosing silence over discord may help us maintain a state of equilibrium. As we seek soothing and harmonizing sounds to surround us, we may be doing more than creating a balm for the noise of the world. We may actually be performing an act of self-healing that connects us with one of the most basic vibrations of the universe.

No Problem!

I'd like to give myself (and, potentially, some of the readers as well) a bubbly and positive start to 2010 by spending some time on the "what" and "how" of problem-solving. Just a few simple thoughts on the process and philosophy of problem-solving. I know. It's been done before by many a brilliant mind but, well, what's the harm in doing a bit of free-style thinking (not consciously influenced by anything else) on my own?

This isn't an attempt to teach readers how to solve problems...I don't plan to write a self-help book. :-) It is purely an introspective post, written more for my own benefit. I'd like to come back to this post when I find myself losing my way when amidst a dense problem or when I feel like scooting off into the sky when faced with a particularly blistering problem. I am just thinking aloud like I do when I write most of the posts on this blog.


It is intriguing - Though it is true that we are likely to learn a lot from personal experience, we are more capable of objectively analyzing situations when someone else - at an observable distance - is going through a challenge. This way, more often than not, we are not biased and are capable of detaching ourselves from the problem and its consequences.

So, what do we do when we come face to face with a dense or blistering problem that stares at us in a wicked way?

Pic: Google Images

1. Stare back at it. Face the problem. Accept that it is there and acknowledge its existence 

2. Resolve to find your way through it successfully. Tell yourself you were born to conquer that problem. Come what may. Never give up. Stay positive. Pull yourself up every time you slip

3. Stay calm and composed. It is easy when you trust yourself or believe there is an opportunity in every difficulty. You could even try assuming the role of a cartoonist and spot some hidden 'humor' in the situation to retain your sanity 

4. Get creative. Try unconventional ways to get your head around the problem. Pat yourself when you think of something fresh and new, even if it doesn't work

5. Defocus. Take time off. If you feel tired, step off the track and rest a while 

6. Consulting others vs independence. This is a tricky one for me. Introspection is a must. Self-help is a must. But getting others' opinions can surely help. What is dicey is how do you decide who are the 'right' people to consult. You must connect with positive, creative, helpful, and mature people for support. You have to be careful not to be misled or - at the other extreme - get over dependent on the adviser

7. Stick to your values when thinking of solutions. Stay honest, shun violence, consider the potential impact of your actions on others around you etc Don't cheat yourself by adopting methods that you don't agree with 

8. Work on your negotiation skills, consider compromising on certain things and settling for a less than perfect solution....

9. Know all your facts. Look at and understand the situation from multiple angles. Do your homework 

10. Take your own - final - decision and the responsibility for the consequences. If you think you've made a mistake, go to the heart of this process at #5, defocus, cut your losses and be prepared to start over again with renewed energy and determination

Om. Tada!

Not My Job! :-)

A friend just forwarded this photo with the caption "Not My Job". Hilarious, eh?
Methinks:

1. People who draw the line straight despite the branch being there would be those who do it despite all the odds but are not so ‘smart’.
2. People who push the branch aside and then draw it would be those who go the extra mile or are sincere to their job
3. People who call the forest department to take the branch off would be those who obey the rules
4. People who leave that part of the line blank would be those who couldn’t care less about what isn't "their" problem
   
5. People who draw nothing and come back and complain about the branch are those whom the world simply doesn't need! ;-)
   

Infinity & Simplicity

"Because God is infinitely simple, God can only appear to the finite mind as infinitely complex"- Thomas Aquinas


What say? Just a play of words or something with infinite depth? :-)