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What Can We Learn from Operation Warp Speed?
Operation Warp Speed (OWS), the race to create and distribute vaccines against COVID-19 in months instead of years, is a breathtaking example of cutting through red tape. OWS is a public-private partnership between the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Pentagon and seven private sector…
KM Communities Are Classic, and Classics Never Fade Away
Despite our relentless preoccupation with every new tech trend, KM at its core is about connecting people. And in 25 years, KM has found no better way to connect people than through communities of practice. Communities bring together employees to share knowledge around a discipline, shared…
What is At-risk Knowledge?
At-risk knowledge is unique knowledge and skills that might be lost due to changes in workforce demographics, projects, and/or technologies. When most people think about at-risk knowledge, they think employees that are up for retirement. Retirement is a huge driver of knowledge loss, and…
KM Efficiency Matters More Now and It’s Not Easy
I think that the entire 21st century has been preparing us for “what’s next”. Right before the turn of the century in 1999, Y2K helped us see the unorganized state of our data, records, and information. Even with lacking technology, organizations met the task and transitioned to the next…
How KM Gets Experts to Transfer Their Knowledge
No matter what business you’re in, subject matter experts are likely in high demand. Your organization needs people with deep know-how and extensive experience to lead, innovate, and solve tough problems. But experts can’t just be islands unto themselves. You also need them to replicate and spread…
What is Critical Knowledge?
Critical knowledge is knowledge that is valuable and durable enough to offer a sustainable, competitive advantage that justifies the cost of retaining it and transferring it from employee to employee. What critical knowledge looks like is different for every organization, and that’s a big reason…
KM Advice for Setting Virtual Collaboration Norms
Last fall, when in-person gatherings were still a thing, I was hanging out at a vendor showcase for virtual collaboration and workflow tools. A speaker from a big-name cloud collaboration service was waxing poetic about all the ways his company’s software boosted workforce productivity. Someone…
Better Content Management Demands the Hard Work of Behavior Change
Nearly every organization has a content management problem—and most are looking for a quick fix. The impulse to throw technology at the mess is understandable, especially with so many overeager vendors touting plug-and-play solutions. A good platform can give you a head start when it comes to…
Enterprise Search in the Digital Workplace
Any knowledge-intensive organization of significant size either has a digital workplace or is scrambling to establish one. As Gartner so clearly stated back in 2017, the goal of the digital workplace as a business strategy is to boost employee engagement and agility through a more “consumerized”…
How KM Can Benefit from a SWOT Analysis in 2020
It feels like the world has changed overnight, and knowledge management programs must take a hard look at what they’re doing to ensure KM priorities match organizational realities. APQC has many best practices and tools to help you with your KM strategy, but for a quick-and-dirty way to recalibrate…