Knowledge Management - Jeff Hester

Posted on November 6, 2012 by Jeff Hester — 1 Comment

Election Day, the Wisdom of Crowds, and the Enterprise

In The Wisdom of Crowds, author James Surowiecki suggests that leveraging the collective can often yield better results that asking any single expert. On election day, there are plenty of examples of crowd wisdom and prediction markets to draw from.

In business, we’re often focused on efficiency innovations — incremental improvements in efficiency that save time, money, or preferably both. So can crowdsourcing be used to automated processes effectively in the enterprise?

The answer? It depends on the question.

If the problem can be represented by a simply solution such as single number (42?), or deals primarily with optimization, then crowdsourcing can make a lot of sense. In the presidential election, leveraging the crowd to predict the winner fits the first dimension perfectly. There can be only one winner: either Romney or Obama.

If the problem, on the other hand, is complex, requiring wisdom and expertise, the crowd will be of little help. If you need to engineer a fuel system for a new airplane, the crowd may actually do more harm than good. While “asking the audience” may work statistically for “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire,” remember that those questions also present multiple choice answers. And do you want to be on the maiden voyage of a new aircraft designed by the crowd?

Part of the problem–and therefore, the solution–comes from defining what we mean by crowdsourcing. Is it asking for an answer, even from the uninformed? If we’re talking elections, yes. If we’re talking jet propulsion, absolutely not.

Can we apply the wisdom of crowds in the enterprise? Certainly, but we must do so thoughtfully. Polling the crowd, whether that be inside our outside the firewall, can help inform decision-making. The crowd can either confirm or challenge our conclusions, but it does not replace the need for critical thought. And when safety is on the line, we have to be vigilant that we don’t allow a confirmation by the crowd to lull us into happily accepting our hopeful answer as the correct one.

After all, the crowd can be wrong.

What do you think? How and when would you apply the wisdom of crowds inside your organization?

Posted on June 12, 2012December 1, 2014 by Jeff Hester — 2 Comments

The Power of Knowledge Discovery in Moscow

Two weeks ago I spoke in Moscow at Knowledge Management for the Oil and Gas Sector: Project Optimization and Business Efficiency. This international conference was attended by a number of clients–including BP, CononcoPhillips, Chevron and Lukoil–and we shared how we were using knowledge management to address the business needs facing our respective companies.

Moscow is the largest city in Europe, and if it weren’t for the famously onion-domed churches dotting the city, it would look much like any major metropolis, right down to the Starbucks and KFC. I was surprised to discover the dramatic changes the Muscovites have seen during my lifetime.

Being an informed traveler on my first visit to Moscow, I used GlobeSmart to learn about business etiquette and travel tips. While the advice was sound, it was also very generic. I very nearly forgot the most basic advise of all–leveraging our own KM system. A simple search for the term “Moscow” turned up a guide for visitors created by our Moscow office, complete with the inside information on getting from the airport to the hotel, restaurant recommendations and local contacts. Sometimes knowing what you’re looking for can cause you to miss the valuable knowledge you don’t yet know exists.

During my talk I shared this story to illustrate the power and promise of knowledge management to expose knowledge that we don’t know exists. Finding what we know exists is relatively easy; but discovering knowledge we don’t yet know of–knowledge that can shape our decision process and help us reach better solutions–that is real power.

Special thanks to my colleague Tara for reminding me of the power of knowledge discovery.

Jeff Hester speaks with attendees of KM conference in Moscow

Jeff Hester dialog during a break at a KM conference in Moscow

Jeff Hester speaks at KM conference in Moscow

Audience participation at KM conference in Moscow

Jeff Hester using his hands to make a point

Discussion during the Moscow KM conference with Jeff Hester

Audience taking notes as Jeff Hester speaks

Jeff Hester interacting with the KM audience

Jeff Hester describing how to engage employees in KM

Jeff Hester addressing the KM audience in Moscow

Posted on October 4, 2011October 4, 2011 by Jeff Hester — Leave a comment

Social Computing and Knowledge Management: Chat Transcript

Earlier today I moderated a KMers.org TweetChat on the subject of Social Computing and Knowledge Management. We had great participation, and according to TweetReach.com, the last 50 tweets using the #KMers hashtag reached 16,212 people.

Thanks to Liz Williams, Brett Miller, V Mary Abraham, James Monroe, Stan Garfield, Juha Krapinoja, Allison Maguire, Ryan McClead, Ben Hack, Kelly Craft, David Wallace, Joe Raimondo for joining the dialogue.

Here’s the complete transcript:

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If you’ve got a KM-related subject you would like to discuss, get involved! Volunteer to moderate a TweetChat at KMers.org.

Posted on October 3, 2011October 3, 2011 by Jeff Hester — 1 Comment

Social Computing and Knowledge Management

Social networking tools have taken off in the past five years. Facebook has over 800 million users, Twitter over 200 million, and even newcomer Google+ with over 50 million. The ubiquity of these tools in our personal lives has spilled over the firewall and into the enterprise, re-labeled as social computing.

Social computing is a broad term that encompasses a range to tools, including blogs, wikis, profiles (with social/professional connections), microblogging and discussion forums.

Are you an advocate for social computing? A knowledge management practitioner? Join me on Tuesday, October 4th for a Twitter Chat I’ll be moderating at KMers.org. To participate in this Twitter-powered discussion you can use your favorite Twitter app with the hashtag #KMers or even easier — just sign in with your Twitter account at the live chat page on KMers.org. The chat will begin at 9am Pacific and run for an hour.

During this chat we will discuss the differences and similarities between the social computing movement and knowledge management, how to reconcile and integrate the two, and the implications for KM over the next five years.

Agenda

How do you define social computing, and how does it differ from KM?
What social computing tools and approaches are working well for you?
Where do informal social computing “communities” or team rooms fit in the context of communities of practice?
Should social computing tools be “managed?”
When does social computing and collaboration become KM? Is a boundary necessary or even beneficial?

Interested? Join us, and you can follow me @jeffhester and keep the discussion going.

Posted on October 1, 2011October 3, 2011 by Jeff Hester — 1 Comment

Connected, The Film

Every month a terrific group of bright minds meets in Los Angeles to share, challenge, drink and discuss how we can live an enlightened life. The gathering is known as Mindshare, and if you live anywhere within driving distance of downtown LA, I highly recommend it.

This past Thursday, Mindshare hosted a preview screening of Tiffany Shlain’s new film: Connected.

Connected takes on what it means to be connected in the 21st century. How does technology factor in? Why do we connected? Is our growing interdependence the next step in human evolution? Shlain went in with this vision, but as so often is the case, life gets in the way. In her case, it was the cancerous brain tumor in her father, and her own high-risk pregnancy that caused her to tweak her vision for the film in a personal way.

The end result wasn’t revolutionary or mind-bending. The key premise is that we are evolving as a species, specifically by becoming more interdependent. To continue to grow, we must connect with each other — rely on others — and build stronger connections not only between the two hemispheres of our own brain, but between each other. The ideas are not ground-breaking. But Shlain tells the story in a way that is both personal and memorable.

Connected is currently playing in Los Angeles at the Arclight in Hollywood. If you get a chance, check it out.