Knowledge Management it’s finally a real thing. - Michael Norton

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the APM Knowledge SIG Conference called 4 leaps forward.  And a big thank you to everyone that came along.

4 key elements in the Knowledge Management world have finally come together to make Knowledge Management a recognised profession.  Hopefully, this will make it a bit easier for me in the future to explain what I do.

ISO Knowledge Management Standard

First of all Nick Milton one of the co -author of the ISO Knowledge Management Standard which was released on the 1/11/2018.  Took us through the key elements and myth busted the ISO KM Standard

Nick quickly went about dispelling the myths about the KM Standard and highlighted that

• They don’t define how you run your business
• They’re not only for big business
• They don’t take months to implement
• You don’t need to certify.

The standard can be used as a guide and

• Tells you what’s different about KM
• Tells you some of the principles
• Tells you where to begin
• Tells you what you need to consider
• Tells you what you should have in place
• Helps you avoid the common pitfalls.

Having a standard now make Knowledge Management more recognised and was one of the parts of the puzzle that came into play on the day.

Chartered Knowledge Manager

Up next was Nick Poole from CILIP

CILIP have been working on a great project which is coming to the end of its pilot stage that helps you become a Chartered Knowledge Manager, again making Knowledge Management real. 

The process when released will allow you to

• work through an interactive self-assessment tool to map strengths and development needs
• Be introduced to a mentor who will talk you through the process and help you map your skills and experience
• Submit a portfolio based on your existing experience which demonstrates your skills
• Be recognised as Chartered Knowledge Manager.

This has all be done with a group of recognised experts in the KM field many of them were on the main group or mirror group of the ISO KM standard development.

Black Box thinking

With any event the after-lunch slot is normally the hardest.  But using interesting exercise using some of the great work by Abraham Wald got everyone thinking.  You can read more about it in “Black Box Thinking” by Matthew Syed.

Managing Knowledge in Project Environment

The Third part of the four was Judy Payne’s work on Managing Knowledge in Project Environment who has been working with Steve Simister and Eileen Roden.

You can watch some of what Judy went through in this previous webinar

https://youtu.be/oEx7_pZEsdU

APM’s Body of Knowledge

And lastly, Darren Dalcher took us through the outline of the APM’s new Body of Knowledge book.  Which the APM KSIG have been feeding back on regarding the Knowledge Management side to help it align with the new ISO Km Standard.

So, four key aspects coming together to make KM real.  The ISO Standard, CILIP Chartered KM, Managing Knowledge in Project Environment and the APM Body of knowledge.

The presentations should be available on the APM’s Slideshare channel in the future.

What happens next? 

First of all, sort out my phone camera.  Need to make sure the pictures are better.

Otherwise, I know that I will be trying to find out more about the CILIP Chartered KM and delving deeper into the ISO KM Standard to see if we can go through it.

There also a little group on Knowledge Hub looking at KM in Projects or if you just interested to find out a little bit more or meet a few people working in KM you can also check out the Knowledge and Community Network on Linkedin