This Sunday is National Read a Roadmap Day in the United States—an unofficial holiday that encourages people to pull out an old-school paper map, plot a route, and go on a little adventure. Applying this idea to a business context, I thought it would be a good moment to share APQC’s Interactive Knowledge Management Framework, which provides a roadmap for anyone looking to start, improve, or sustain a KM effort in their organization.
The framework acts as a step-by-step guide to develop a knowledge management program, from figuring out the problem you’re trying to solve and articulating a strategy through piloting, scaling up, and embedding knowledge sharing in the organizational culture. This interactive version lets you click on each chevron to get a full description of that step along with best practices, tools, and templates that can help you execute it.
Like any good roadmap, the framework helps you find the best way from Point A to Point B, which may not be intuitive if you haven’t traveled this exact route before. For example, a lot of organizations want to start “doing KM” by investing in a shiny new software suite. While technology is undeniably part of the equation, the framework forces you to clarify your goals and define a business case before jumping to specific tools, approaches, and solutions. That’s the only way to make sure you end up with the right techniques and solutions for your unique audience, KM needs, and culture.
The framework is available to anyone (you don’t even need to log into our website), though you’ll need to be an APQC member to access some of the recommended best practices and tools linked to each step. I hope you check it out, figure out your organization’s current location on the map, and start planning your next KM journey today.