Inexpensive, self-managed knowledge management that works

Knowledge Management needs a new name, for the best KM is spontaneous and self-managing. Next-generation KM provides the seeds that enable workers to co-create and grow relevant knowledge for themselves. Gone are the days when staff groups pumped out the “knowledge” they thought workers would find useful.

Most corporations remain dubious about the value of employee blogs. Sun Microsystems is not among them. Four thousand Sun employee bloggers have posted more than 90,000 blog entries and received more than 90,000 comments. Famously, CEO Jonathan Schwartz blogs about Sun’s vision and his reaction to on-going events.

Often, the best way to appreciate something like this is to see it in the flesh. Go to blogs.sun.com. You’ll find open-kimono stories galore. “Welcome to Blogs.sun.com! This space is accessible to any Sun employee to write about anything.”

If your organization is considering experimenting with employee blogs, please note these aspects of Sun’s blog site:

• a search engine (that keeps things findable)

• a tag cloud (that lets you see what’s under discussion and provides a starting point for researching a topic)

• a list of most popular blogs (what’s popular among the community rather than what management or marketing think you should read)

• a common-sense policy on disclosure and use:

  Many of us at Sun are doing work that could change the world. We need to do a better job of telling the world. As of now, you are encouraged to tell the world about your work, without asking permission first (but please do read and follow the advice in this note). Blogging is a good way to do this.

This is a natural development for Sun, which has been telling us “The network is the computer” for decades. Nonetheless, I dare say that Sun probably spent less time getting this whole effort together than your management will spend wringing its hands about whether to take this tiny step into the world of enterprise 2.0.

What are you waiting for?

The Cluetrain is leaving the station.

Related:
T.J. Wilson’s The Nonsense of Knowledge Management (2002)
Five year summary and links on KM at Internet Time Group
Designing a Web-Based Learning Ecology
The Future of Knowledge (2003)
Corporate Learning Portals (1999!)

Please comment
Do you find these links to related posts worthwhile? Should I keep doing this?