Knowledge repository/"Intranet" LO7740

Rachel Silber (rachel@ontos.com)
Wed, 5 Jun 1996 00:16:01 -0400 (EDT)

Replying to LO7737 --

Ben Compton wrote:
> A year ago we tried to use computer technology to store the "knowledge"
> acquired by the people in our department. The idea was once a problem was
> solved, the solution should be documented, as well as the context for the
> problem. This would allow us to "store" our experience, and refer to it as
> we progressed.
>
> The projected lasted about four months, and was then disregarded. There
> were a couple of problems: It was impossible to document all the decisions
> made in the normal course of a day, much less provide contextual
> background information; it was difficult to determine which of all the
> problems we solved should be documented; and, once documented, it was a
> pestiferous chore to find the solution to a problem.
>
> We are still wrestling with some important issues, which our project
> attempted to solve:
>
> 1) How should information about complex business issues be stored,
> shared, and accessed for future reference? Should we just go on the
> minutes from our meetings? Is it worth our time and money to
> document, with a contextually rich annotation, the solution to major
> business decisions?

I can't resist wondering if system dynamics models of the complex business
issues might not themselves be used as "contextually rich" documentation.
Given a particular problem and your solution of it, you might then record
the solution with a quantitative or qualitative simulation of the model --
"we're currently in state A. We're going to change one of the inputs from
X to Y, on the belief that if the model we've got HERE is correct, we'll
wind up in state B"

Such a formulation allows for accumulation of knowledge over time -- eg:
oops, we really wound up in state C because the model didn't account for Z
can then become a real learning experience.

I haven't done as much SD modelling as I would like, and none in a
practical business context, so this is somewhat theoretic on my part.

> 2) Is it possible to document the "wisdom" that was foundational to
> the solution of a problem? Is wisdom something too human to
> document?

Most of what I think of as wisdom is essentially unteachable (but
I hope not unlearnable), but that hasn't been keeping people from
trying to document it from the beginning of time.

Often business successes come down to saying the right thing at the
right time. Teaching that is pretty difficult.

> 3) How can we keep the knowledge and wisdom we develop as a
> department (and small teams) even though attrition claims the people
> that contributed to that knowledge?
>
> 4) How do you represent, in a database, the relationships that exist
> between decisions? A single decision could, theoretically, lead to a
> thousand more decisions. Each of those decision could lead to another
> thousand. It is difficult to document the inferences, implications, and
> ramifications of a decision . . . and to link all of those into something
> that is both coherent and relevant.
>
> We've talked about using the Intranet to do this (and in fact use the
> Intranet to document our Quality Handbook and all of our ISO
> procedures, etc.) but that is a far cry from documenting the wisdom
> and experience that existed or that emerged from important business
> decisions.
>
> I'm not sure how to solve this problem. As a team we've discussed it,
> and worked on many possible solutions, but have yet to find an
> effective way of storing the pertinent information.

I don't believe there exists a commercial product that combines
SD modelling with some sort of hyperlink capability and/or OODB
storage facility, but that might be a potential model for a solution.

Rachel Silber
rachel@ontos.com

-- 

"Rachel Silber" <rachel@ontos.com>

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>