Excited Utterances: Why Knowledge Management Isn't Enough
In Why Knowledge Management Isn't Enough, Stephen Mayson, consultant and Director for the Centre for Law Firm Management at Nottingham Law School, distinguishes "knowledge" ("recorded know-how")$(Oi.(Be., "recorded bits of paper on which deals and advice have been recorded"$(Ofr(Bom "know-how" in law firms: "Real know-how resides in people's heads: . . . their accumulated knowledge, experience and skills."
While one could quibble about the definition of knowledge, this separation between what is recorded / documented / explicit and that which is known / implicit is important to make again. We can only record and track so much, but the way in which I work is more critical because it is me doing the work, not some automated robot with access to the entire recorded works of man (a la Star Trek).
From the summary in original article by Mayson:
Understanding the components of know-how, and their relative contribution and importance to the firm's strategic objectives, turns managing know-how into a rather different activity to the way in which knowledge management is usually portrayed. Managing know-how and strategy are mutually dependent. The implementation of strategy is then founded on: recruitment and retention; the development of experience through considered training, work allocation, delegation and supervision; the use of managerial know-how to optimise productivity, processes and the delivery of value to clients; and embedding know-how in the firm to the extent possible (through training (again), sharing of experience, developing recorded know-how, and yes, appropriate know-how systems).