Manufacturer has both tacit (25 plus year employees) and explicit (technical documentation) knowledge then a substantial portion of tacit knowledge is lost due to retirements and voluntary separations.
Boost the utilization of your HCL environment by reevaluating use cases and f...
When Tacit and Explicit Knowledge aren’t Enough
1. Case Study:
When Tacit and Explicit Knowledge aren’t Enough
Steven Wieneke
Wieneke & Wieneke, Inc.
elkawareness.com
February 18, 2014
Wieneke & Wieneke, Inc. / Copyright 2014
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2. When Tacit and Explicit Knowledge aren’t Enough
or
That’s why its called Knowledge Management
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3. Background
Midwest Manufacturer has successful commercial and military
products.
• Manufacturer employees 1400 technical professionals plus
marketing, sales, business support and manufacturing
employees.
• Manufacturer has multiple locations for technical staff and
manufacturing.
• The majority of technical professionals have 25 or more years of
service.
• Groups of technical professionals have unique SharePoint
repositories for their technical information, specifications and
requirements.
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4. Opportunity
• Management decides to co-locate two stand alone
organizations.
• Relocation prompts significant number of retirements and
voluntary separations.
• Significant influx of technical professionals with a variety of
related experience but not necessarily direct experience.
• Significant influx of new (technical) graduates.
• Unique SharePoint repositories are available but not easily
accessed (or even known/found), not readily used/applied
and not trusted sources.
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5. Relocation Outcome…
Before Relocation
25 Years
Years of Experience with Manufacturer
Organization Organization
#1
#2
Culture
Culture
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After Relocation
2 Years
Years of Experience with Manufacturer
Not Yet Assimilated Culture
with a Generation Gap
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6. Knowledge Management State prior to Intervention
• Survey to Harvest Knowledge during Exit Interviews.
• Purchased a Sematic Search Software to Index and Search
Multiple Share Point Repositories.
• Revised Review (Mentoring) Process to Ensure Product
Robustness.
• Sr. Executive Management wants a “Product Technical Memory”
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7. Knowledge Management State prior to Intervention
• Harvesting Knowledge during an Exit Interview
Pros
None
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Cons
Insults Employee
Inappropriate
environment to reflect on
and document one’s
experience
Insufficient time to
reflect on and document
one’s experience
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8. Knowledge Management State prior to Intervention
• Sematic Search Software to Index and Search Multiple Share
Point Repositories
Pros
Cons
Method for Expert/Mentor to
find existing knowledge
Sematic artificial intelligence
expands search
Requires training and continual
use to maintain proficiency
Requires Expert/Mentor to
formulate search and evaluate
relevance of results
Does not integrate with other
software applications
Must know what files to index
Initial indexing is a time
consuming process
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9. Knowledge Management State prior to Intervention
• Revised Review (Mentoring) Process to Ensure Product
Robustness.
Pros
Cons
Process is essential in ensuring
Timing of revised Process
product robustness
training competes for resources
to populate Technical Memory
Process can be easily enhanced Some of the behavior resulting
by implementing active
from this training will likely
knowledge methods with
need to be unlearned once
assessments
assessments are implemented
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10. Intervention Goal – Move to Active Explicit Knowledge
Structured for Assessments and Embedded in Workflow
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11. Intervention – Requires Shifting Several Pervasive
Mental Models
• Shifting from Document Centric (passive) Model
to Assessment Centric Model (active)
• Documenting Corrections to Documenting
Preventions
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12. Intervention – Shifting from Document to Assessment Centric
Document Centric
Knowledge
SEEKER
???
Assessment Centric
Knowledge Packets…
…more like paragraphs
grouped into pages or
chapters called Knowledge
Sets or Assessments
Knowledge
RECEIVER
Knowledge
HOLDER delivers
Knowledge in
Knowledge
RECEIVER’S
workflow
Library Model
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Appraisal Model
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13. Intervention – Shifting from Document to Assessment Centric
Document Centric
“End-of-Life Cycle”
Documents
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Assessment Centric
Dynamic, Living
Virtual Documents
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14. Intervention – Shifting from Document to Assessment Centric
Document Centric Author
Assessment Centric Author
Write down what I can recall
being relevant
Who is the end user of this
assessment?
Free text
What is being assessed?
What is its current state?
Not Structured
What is known (available) at the
time of this assessment?
What is the actionable assessment
continuum (Red, Yellow, Green)?
What is assessment remediation if
not Preferred (Green)?
What is the context (Why’s, When's,
Where's) for the assessment rules?
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15. Intervention – Shifting from Documenting Corrections to
Documenting Preventions
Example…
Write down or store
my cell #…
248.000.0000
Number that Works Infinite
All Numbers that don’t Work Infinity
What “works” goes into Technical Memory
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17. CoP Workshops…
Focus:
• Defining the breadth and
depth of CoP (define topics)
• Exercises to recall what is
known (time to reflect)
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Opportunity:
• Confirm meaning of words
• Build trust through shared
experience
• Valued technical discussions
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18. Roll Out Plan…
Knowledge Asset Manager
• Member of the Technical
Memory Steering Committee
• Responsible for their team’s
planning and implementation
Knowledge Holders
• Responsible for assessment
content and mentoring
End Users
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• Responsible for an “Acceptable”
or “Preferred” assessment
Outcome
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19. Realizing the Value of Active Knowledge
Stamped Part Assessment Challenge
• A live demo was held during the June 2013 Technical Memory
Quarterly Communications Meeting.
• Two volunteers* evaluated a stamped sheet metal panel
• Each Volunteer had 6 Concerns to address, each Concern
required assessing 3-4 stamped panel features
• First volunteer referenced existing documentation
• Second volunteer interacted with new structured practices
*Neither had sheet metal/stamping design experience
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20. Realizing the Value of Active Knowledge
Stamped Part Assessment Challenge after 40 minutes
• First Volunteer (existing Documents) -
Partially completed evaluation of Concern #2 (7 of 20 features)
• Second Volunteer (structured practices) Evaluated all 6 concerns (20 of 20 features)
• Additional observations:
• Second Volunteer had no experience reading prints
• Second Volunteer’s answers were accurate
• First Volunteer’s answers had a number of errors due to
misinterpretations of existing documents
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21. Current Knowledge Management State
• Manufacturer has a interactive Product Technical Memory
• Identified 40 CoPs plus 10 temporary CoP (shared topics across
CoPs)
• 25 Knowledge Asset Managers
• 150 initial Knowledge Responsible People (knowledge holders)
• 1400 End Users
• Quarterly Technical Memory Communication Meetings
• Next Steps:
• Continue Documenting Practices
• Integrate Assessments with Review Process
• Implement Assessment Signoff Process
• Management Use Interactive Report Utility
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22. Questions?
Visit elkawareness.com to learn about our game
changing, knowledge-based business strategies.
Call us 248-535-0427
eMail: swieneke@elkawareness.com
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