Posts Tagged knowledge management
a challenge to all those in enterprise security
i’m tired.
i mean it. i’m really fed up.
i can make bank transfers, and pay bills, and shop online from my cell phone. why then can’t i access a file stored on a sharepoint installation from that same device? why can’t i access the latest updates from members of my team on our project from an enterprise 2.0 solution? why can’t i do it all pain free — just as i do my online banking (or my shopping at express)? don’t tell me there are security concerns about accessing proprietary information outside of the corporate firewall. i don’t want to hear it; it’s just an excuse.
i need knowledge when i need it — not where or when you want to allow me access to it. i’m interfacing with clients all the time — hardly ever at my office — and i need to have the right information available to me so that i can help them make informed decisions. i can’t be bothered to jump through hoops just to get that information.
i walk around with an iphone in my pocket all day, and i can hardly use it for more than pulling up a lightsaber, finding waldo, and making fart noises. it’s unacceptable.
if you work in enterprise security, i’m holding you personally accountable. for far too long you have lagged behind the curve when it comes to the rest of the technology world.
it’s time that you finally catch up.
reduce your frustration: stop using email
[i started writing this post as a comment on megan murray's blog post, actually, but it quickly grew into something more.]
i find email to be a burden to my work.
it’s the hammer in the tool box. the problem is, not every situation is a nail. sometimes you need a screwdriver, and other times you need a wrench. but we’re so dependent on email (i blame ms outlook for it) that we all try hammering in screws and bolts — even when we know it doesn’t work.
even though we have instant messaging, and even though we have enterprise 2.0 tools like wikis and blogs and more, we time and time again return to email.
it’s the culture, stupid!
image by syamastro, flickr artist
blog. wiki. ms excel file. ms project plan. ms sharepoint page. basecamp project.
they’re all tools. while people may prefer one tool over another, whichever tool it is will not take hold unless the culture there supports it.
i see a lot of proposed changes to current work streams and business processes fail because — even with support from leadership — the user base rejects those changes. there could be a few reasons why:
- it’s not simple. if the change is convoluted, adding extra steps to the workflow process or time to complete tasks, people are going to reject it – even if they agree in principle that the proposed new method is “right”
- they don’t understand it. if you make a change that people don’t understand the reasoning behind, they will have a hard time accepting and implementing it. #1 sign that you made boo-boos? hearing employees say, “uh.. why are we doing this again?”
- it doesn’t fit. if your changes contradict the way you do business, it’s only going to lead to confusion and frustration, and ultimately it will be abandoned.
if you’ve tried making changes to the way your team or organization does work in the past and failed, check the process again. look at what you’re trying to do, and see what your people think about it. when new tools don’t take hold, don’t discredit their use.
it’s the culture, stupid!
keep the tools and fix the culture.
social media: an evolution in communication
image by oliver widder, creator of geek and poke
people don’t fully understand social media, and part of it is our own fault — the social media mavens. i don’t think we do a well enough job of explaining it to everyone.
most people aren’t very fond of change, because change is unpredictable. am i going to be better, or worse off? will i be able to adapt? can i make the necessary changes in me to succeed in this new environment?
the problem with social media, though, is that it’s really not a change from one thing to this other. in the end, we’re all still communicating. how we communicate — the tools we use — do (as everything) evolve over time, however. but it’s certainly not anything to be frightened over.
we need to find better ways to communicate the benefits of social media to yesterday’s enterprise 1.0 stalwarts. how do you get someone who is so loyal to the old way of doing things to change?
i think it’s in the metaphors.
wanted: information
never assume that information you have is unwanted.
this isn’t a poker game in the wild west. you don’t need to guard your hand from the eyes of everyone else. it only hurts your organization.
just because someone sent you an email, or someone told you in a conversation, or you saw it on the internet — that doesn’t mean that you’re the only one who will find value in that information as well.
in this knowledge based economy the world is growing into, organizations need to manage their information better. knowledge management seeks to answer the questions of who has the information, who needs it, and how do you bring those people together. that’s the premise behind enterprise 2.0: collaboration is key.
at other times, the value is simply in that someone knows that you know it. if you need help in decomposing that sentence, just think of yourself as a project manager or task lead. quite frankly, they probably don’t care about what information you have — but it’s important to managers to know that you at least have information. it’s there. it’s out in the open. it’s available.
i’m not sure why it is, but — much like the card game at the local saloon in the wild west — there is a lot of information guarding that happens in organizations. we get split from our main team into smaller project teams with a specific focus. then, we put our heads down and start working, looking around to share information only when asked for it. but when we do this, we’re leaving out the knowledge, expertise, experience, and diversity of thought and opinion of a large portion of our own team, and an even larger portion of our entire organization.
the person who may be able to help break open the case might not be on your immediate team; they could be halfway across the nation (or the world). but you may never know, because you’ve been guarding your information from the eyes of anyone who hasn’t asked for it.
business isn’t a crazy game of poker; put your cards on the table. why? because it may just surprise you who has the winning hand.
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