KM will Happen ... KM or no KM

I have been thinking about this for some time ... and then, I came across this post by Luis Suarez. What got me thinking about this is the back-to-basics kind of thought process that Luis seems to be coming up with. Luis also refers to a post by Dave Pollard which I think I will take some time to read, and digest. Something to nibble on, and digest in a leisurely manner, I would say.

To bring in my perspective ... Over a period of time, I have been meeting folks practising KM in some form or the other ... and, coming up with an interesting conclusion. Something that I have summed up in the title of the post ... KM will happen ... KM or not KM. Even if there is no formalized KM mechanism, KM does happen. Take an example ... I was talking with some folks from the metals industry ... They have been fostering KM in a largely offline mode. Social computing somehow becomes more of the social rather than the computing part. Which got me thinking ... Back in the 90s, with the emphasis on TQM, the whole idea of Quality Circles was much the rage ... And, I am now trying to figure out ... How were these different from communities? There have been a number of replies I have got, but bottomline ... These are a group of people interested in a particular topic, coming together, with an aim in mind, to share their thoughts.

Which is something that happens even without formal KM ... And, has been happening for quite some time now ... a few centuries, maybe? People come together, communities are created without giving them the name ... And, there is quite a healthy exchange of thoughts. More and more, communities are becoming transient ... People come together, perform some things, and the community disappears ... But, this is to be expected, considering the changing nature of human interactions.

So, where am I headed? Simple ... I am talking about bringing the human aspect of KM more into the focus ... Somewhere along the way, KM became more and more about technology ... Actually, it started that way, and just that the nature of the technology changed over a period of time, from databases to web 2.0 ... But, the focus has to be on the people ... A lot of people have said it, but not many who have followed. Which is where the entire conundrum of adoption comes in. Any KM initiative is as effective as its adoption by people. Something I have written about earlier ... And, something which needs to be pushed ... As you would find in the writings of a lot of thinkers of KM, its about how many folks are actually going to use it.

Particular State of Reality ...

This might sound like a cliched one, and quite a few would think I am jumping to conclusions ... Take this as science fiction ... Maybe it is, but then, maybe it isnt ... I came across this article which talks in a simple way about parallel universes. Quite an interesting read ...

Now, I am not the types who has Quantum Mechanics equations for Breakfast ... Which is why this article kind of was readable ... Especially the last part ...

According to quantum mechanics, unobserved particles are described by "wave functions" representing a set of multiple "probable" states. When an observer makes a measurement, the particle then settles down into one of these multiple options.

Hmmmmm ... What this implies in simpler language (one which even I can understand ...), is that there are multiple probable current states of things. So, if I am sitting, thats only one possible state ... Another could be that I am jogging (horror of horrors!), or having a vacation by the beach at Gopalpur! :-) Or, maybe at Banaras! OK ... So, I got that pic from an Australian website, but then, Australia is the flavour of the winter, while Banaras is the eternal flavour!

But, we wander ... The point is, what I can conclude from here ... Does this mean there is nothing unique about reality? That what we see is only one possible state? That there are, simultaneously, other states which occur from the same event. The implication ... everything is transient. Everything an illusion! You catch an electron today, it has an "up" spin, you catch it tomorrow, it has a "down"spin ... So, wheres the guy spinning? Hmmmmm ... Interesting!

Storytelling ...

The ToI ran an interview with Yasuno Yuushi ... A quick search on google turns up photo results. The topic is Kamishibai ... the Japanese art of story-telling. And, how the advent of television led to the decline of the art ...

Kamishibai is the art of story-telling ... story-tellers would typically roam from one town to another on bicycles, and tell stories anchored by pictures ... These stories run in episodes ... Today, you hav e an episode which follows from the previous one ... much like the television serials. Similar art forms are to be found n India as well ... Whether it be the Ram Lila that is performed in Delhi ... in the walled city of Delhi ... where the Ramlila is performed in the form of episodes. You can find a sample program here. Or, whether it be the Nautanki.

The point I am trying to make here ... there are usually important lessons that comefrom these stories ... the way these stories are performed (not told, but rather, performed, which gets the audience to connect at multiple levels with the story being told, the most valuable being the emotional connection), lends to them an aura of reality, which enables people to connect with them.

Should this be something the art of story-telling in the organization adopt? We know there are story-telling gurus, and there are concerted efforts at knowledge-sharing using story-telling. What I am trying to understand here is how we can incorporate the human touch to stories. This, at times, seems to be missing ... and, folk art forms may contain some answers.

At another level, the art of story-telling can have huge implications for training as well ... in a lot of scenarios, training is conducted using ppt (pictures?), but the fun of the story is missing. And, this is the one major disconnect between the way stories are told, and the way the connect is missing in trainings.

Parallel Universes ...

This is an interesting one ... More and people are coming up with the idea that there are, pribably, a number of parallel universes, which are replicating each other. They are telling us, that just as I am writing this at this moment, similarly my replica (alter-ego) is also writing something on similar lines ... or, just as you are reading this, your alter-ego is doing the same. The ToI ran a story on this ... Wikipedia has a number of entries on parallel universes.

Not going into the Mathematics of Many World Interpretations (MWI) for the simple reason that I couldnt understand any of them ... One statement caught my eye ... since every possible outcome to every event defines or exists in its own history or world.

From me understanding of the English language, this sounds like this ... the outcome of an event exists in the event itself. Which means that here we have scientific proof of the "reap as you sow" saying. The only thing that makes me uncomfortable about this is the assumed linear cause-effect relationship. While linear relationships gel well with the western world-view, i believe they are quite contrary to the eastern world-view ... to us, the world is more a cycle, a web of things and events, rather than a straight line. I am not quite sure how this pans out, so you can expect more on this to follow ...

In the meantime, interesting to note ... something which was considered absurd science fiction less than a century back, is now mainstream science, with scientists talking about the possibility ... Which is why I would say ... Lets keep an open mind ...

Happy New Year

Its been a while, but here I am ... wish you a very Happy New Year ...

There ... Thats done. Now, to what I was writing about ... Andrew McAfee has written a nice one about Getting Facebook Ready for Work ... Quite an interesting read. And, this talks about an interesting piece ... Facebook for the enterprise. Something I have commented about earlier.

This was something which was waiting to happen, and I would think it was a matter of time before it happened. And, something which opens huge vistas for the adoption of social computing in the enterprise. This could bring the entire idea of social networking within the enterprise, though of course, there would still be the security concerns. But, security concerns notwithstanding, this, I would think, would be something thats here to stay. After all, these security concerns havent stopped organizations from hooking onto the network.

And, as we have seen to a certain extent ... this has the potential of moving the entire idea of sharing a few ntches up the corporate ladder, bringing it more into the centrestage.

e-learning Adoption

There was a question in linkedin ... about the reason which holds back e-learning. Why is it that adoption of a tool like e-learning is not high. And, even in companies where e-learning has been deployed, it is only in skeletal way, more like an item on a check-list. For a tool, the value proposition of e-learning is immense ... People can learn at a place and time they choose ... So, learning doesnt have to interfere with their day to day work, and they can have learning complement profession. That its not necessary that learning happens at the expense of work. This should be music to the HR folks, but somehow, its not.

While e-learning should play a much larger role than it does, i dont think it would really achieve what has been promised as its potential ... this is for one simple reason ... and that is, we are still human beings, and learning, in large part, is a social activity, much more than it is an intellectual activity.

Which means that the primary challenge to bring the social part into learning. The solutions which are found today address the intellectual part well, but ... I guess this is why you would find that e-learning works ok when you have experienced people upgrading their skills, but if you have to learn something new, e-learning doesnt really replace face-to-face learning. Some of this can be addressed by the rich context of virtual worlds, and the way they enable creation of a social environment, which enables us to learn with co-learners, while at the same time, maintaining some of the benefits of e-learning.

Social Networking ...

Might this lead to another round of writings about the problems with social networking? There was the orkut connection to the murder of a teenager in Mumbai, there was the orkut connection to terrorist bombings, and now, there are the Facebook, MySpace, and Youtube connections to the murder of the young British student in Italy. ToI has written an article about this.

The important point to note here, however, would be that we cant blame the tool for its usage. It would be folly to think the concept of social networking is all bad. We need to understand that the concept is an immature concept yet, and there are points in social networks which are prone to misuse. This definitely doesnt mean the tool itself is to be blamed.

On the contrary ...

The media have latched on to the trend. A Youtube video of Finnish schoolboy Pekka-Eric Auvinen showed him brandishing guns before he shot nine people in November. In the Perugia case, images and information taken from these sites has filled the void of verifiable facts.

What this points out to is that we need to watch out for trends in the things which are happening on social networking site. The idea here is somewhat similar to searching for opinions. Today, most of the search is geared towards words or numbers, but not much which is geared towards searching for patterns, whether those be patterns in data, or whether that be patterns in opinions (a la blogosphere). Some of this could be a reliable indicator of things to come?

The Tea-Pot by the Sun

My friend, Mr. Nanawaty mentions in a comment on my post that just because Science cannot disprove the existence of God, one must not blindly believe in God. Having said this, can we not put it this way ... Because Science has not proved the existence of God, we should not blindly disbelieve in God? Logically, one argument is as sound as the other. There is also the Tea-Pot by the Sun ... Of course, if someone just comes up and says that theres a Tea-Pot floating by the Sun, Science cannot go out and try to prove or disprove its existence. Its simply not worth it. I totally agree with Mr. Nanawaty. However, the concept of God is no Tea-Cup. If there is a Tea-Cup which has been haunting humanity ever since we came into existence, one which we have been thinking about for quite some time now (how many centuries?), I would think this is one helluva Tea-Cup. Besides, doesnt all Science begin with the idea of a maverick? Isnt all new scientific thinking maverick in some form or the other?

Look at the Theory of Relativity ... or, the concept of the Space Twins that Albert Einstein talks about ... quite a fanciful concept, I am sure. And, wasnt something which was a pressing need at the time. On the other hand, I would think it was more like the proverbial Tea-Cup ... of not much significance. So was the idea of the automobile ... Nobody ever took them seriously ... Taking two examples, one from pure sciences, and one from engineering, to make the point. But, one never knows where a trail might lead us to. On the other hand, if we are to keep this hypothesis in hibernation till some concrete proof comes up, and if this whole concept is that of the tea-cup floating by the sun, then no concrete proof will ever come up. One way or the other. This, to my mind, is some kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Somewhat like we used to pull fun of our Economics friends ... Assume the can is open, hence the can is open!

The debate has been eternal ... Has been going on for some time, and will continue for quite some more time to come ...

What isn't KM

That would sound like a completely uninteresting topic for the post ... on a blog which revolves more or less around KM. But, this is a question which I am thinking about these days. This comes from a scenario like this ... There is a project team, who are all located at a client site, delivering a project. They have weekly team meetings, where they discuss any specific issues which the consultants are facing, and try to arrive at possible solutions to these. This is in addition to the discission on weekly performance metrics, variation from plan, etc. etc.

My question is ... Would we label this team meeting as KM? Maybe yes, I would think. But, you ask the Consultants or the Project Managers, they would disagree. And, this is the crux of the question ... Let be clear on one thing ... Everything requires human knowledge ... The industrial model of the smart manager who gave orders, and the workers who just followed them, and the machine did the rest was flawed. Even operating a machine, much like driving a car, requires human knowledge. Hence, it can be said that everything that we do depends on knowledge. Hence, KM should, by definition be something which pervades other aspects of management. Because, management itself depends on knowledge, and hence ...

And, this is the question that comes in, in the context of the organization ... That, should KM be a part of another initiative within the organization, or whether KM should be treated as a standalone entity? One way, in fact, could be that KM becomes a loose idea, with the exact delivery of the concepts depending on the context in which they are delivered ... So, KM in the context of Six Sigma could be quite a bit different in form, than KM in the context of CRM. I dont quite agree with this model, but having said that, there has to be this linkage between business objectives and KM. Without this, there is the real danger that we end up looking at KM as an end in itself, which is quite an exercise in futility.

Essential Unity

Sant Kabir had said ... and, it has been said in the Guru Granth Sahib ...

Awwal Allah Noor Upaya, Qudrat ke sab Bande
Ek Noor ke sab Jag Upjeya, Kon Bhale, Ko Mande!

The one, the All-Encompassing Allah, in His Light, from Hid Light, came forth the men of God, from Nature. And, from this very Light of Allah, all the worlds emerged, so who is Good, and who Bad?

Eternal Truth ... Though, do we even think about this? Do we even look at the very truth of this couplet? If we did ... would we not recognize all as part of a single Spirituality?