I signed up for two workshops, part of the pre-conference program of KM World 2010. The first one was titled "Experience Maps: KM & Visual Thinking". Although it was an interesting presentation, it wasn't what I expected, nor from the title nor from the description. Actually, the workshop (by Peter Morville) should have had the word "Information Architecture" somewhere, preferably in the title. Because that's what it was about: information architecture (IA) and the use of visualisation or visual maps. I think we were too much triggered by the word "visual" when we selected the workshop (it was a democratic process). There were some interesting examples though and for example the video "A Dinosaur Family explains Information Architecture" was very funny. I could have left after the break but I wanted to give the presenter the chance to talk about KM and experience maps, because that's what the title said. The second part, however, was a bit too quick to completely follow the presentation and when each group had to talk about a few questions, my group was mainly confused. Maybe I see the usefulness later, of what I can do with this in my work (sometimes it takes a while to see the links), but right now at best it was a collection of visual examples.
The second workshop was more directed at the work and situation I'm in: it dealt with developing a KM strategy and implementation plan. Presenter was Art Murray, and not, as the program said Judi Sandrock. We didn't get the promised book, which was a disappointment but that was the only disappointment (and I can't blame the presenter for this). This session was highly interactive, so if I didn't know what strategic objectives of my company are (as an example), there was someone else in the group who could tell about it and we could learn from this example. Basically, we went down from company vision, mission to key process areas and key enablers. Not easy to write down for me, so I think this could be a nice exercise to do in a group session. Next, identify the gaps and find the root cause (by asking as many why questions as possible). Usually the root cause is related to one step in the knolwedge life cycle: capture, share and apply knowledge. Then, create a KM strategy (people, process, technology) and a plan to implement. This sounds all very simple and it's a short summary of course, but I can already see that it won't be easy to carry out. Not on my own at least (in my little group), or without the necessary support from higher up.
Tonight (or, in a few minutes) the opening reception and networking event starts, so I'll head back to the conference hotel!
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