Mastering Organizational Knowledge Flow

CHAPTER 2

Getting Started

Q: How do you eat an elephant? A: A bite at a time.

—Traditional joke

 

In this and the next chapter, I discuss the basic components of knowledge flow management. Understanding these additional concepts is a prerequisite for getting started with the right scope in mind. The order in which I discuss these topics is not necessarily prescriptive for the order in which you implement them. What area you might need to focus on most depends on where you are in the life cycle of implementing knowledge flow management in your organization. For somebody who has not started a specific program yet, the concepts discussed in this chapter are the key starting points.

PROJECT VERSUS INITIATIVE

A fundamental decision to make before you even get started with any type of knowledge flow management activity is the general way you want to approach it. Often I hear people talking about a “knowledge management project” they are just about to start. You might have noticed that I usually speak of initiatives, not projects. I believe that there is a difference between an initiative and a project.

A project by definition has a beginning and an end. An initiative—the way I define it—could be short or long term, but in general I see it as an ongoing activity that does not necessarily have a predefined end. As long as an initiative provides value, it could go on year after year, potentially with a modified focus and slightly changing objectives.

Certain subactivities under the umbrella ...