Ensuring that you execute projects on time and with high quality is just a small part of making sure your customers are happy. A lot goes into managing a successful engagement apart from what is “stated”.

Setting expectations is one such activity, ensure that the client knows exactly what you are going to deliver. This does not mean having someone sign off on requirements documentation, while contractually you might be in the clear it does not mean the client is happy with what he got.

Unstated expectations can ruin an engagement and the next time this customer has some work he will look to someone else to carry it out.

Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Transparency and constant communication is essential as this ensures everyone is on the same page.

If there is a problem let the customer know and also make sure you have a plan in place to handle the issue. Leaving issues to the last minute and then telling your client will only make matters worse.

While formal communication forums like weekly status meetings are important it does not mean these are the only times when issues should be brought up. Clearing the air earlier will solve a lot of headaches instead if you were to unload a whole host of issues on them during the weekly status meeting.

Establishing a well planned operational process with customer’s concurrence where you clearly identify roles/ responsibilities and dependencies is essential to a project success.

Thing to keep in mind

Always work with the customer to meet his needs instead of just what they’ve put down on paper, this will result in higher satisfaction and an opportunity to perhaps get more business down the road.

Ensure that you have the necessary authorization to proceed at various stages in the project, do not assume. Decisions like these can come back to haunt you later.

Never shirk responsibility or play the blame game. Step up and take ownership of problems that arise, your customers will respect you for that.

Conduct workshops/ brainstorming sessions with active participation from the customer’s organization when faced with issues that requires inputs/ concurrence from multiple stakeholders.

Be Proactive!

Benefits:

• Increasing Client Satisfaction
• Increasing the chance of ensuring your project is successful ( on-time and within the budget )
• Strengthens the relationship with your customer. ( Promotes a partner ship with the customer instead of just a client - vendor relationship )
  
• Increased awareness amongst your team on what the client wants ( stated and unstated expectations )

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After the huge uproar caused by Faceboooks’ change in their terms of use the company has decided to tread very cautiously in this direction and have created the “Facebook Bill of Rights & Responsibilities “. This group gained close to 75000 members within just a day of its opening.

The focus here is for the group to revise the terms of use to ensure its written in a clean language and is not ambiguous.

“It will reflect the principles I described yesterday around how people share and control their information,” Zuckerberg said, “and it will be written clearly in language everyone can understand. Since this will be the governing document that we’ll all live by, Facebook users will have a lot of input in crafting these terms.”

There has been a lot thought that has gone to ensure that the user community is kept happy. Users will continue to own their content and when an account is deleted or deactivated this will promptly delete all user information.  Facebook is going out of its way to ensure that users do not get the impression that they will use any information from their profile pages.

“We apologize for the confusion around these issues,” the group administrators said. “We never intended to claim ownership over people’s content, even though that’s what it seems like to many people. This was a mistake and we apologize for the confusion.”

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Amazon has received a lot of attention after the launch of it’s Kindle and Kindle 2  . However there is a lot of speculation that the new generation of smartphones can do what the Kindle does better and much cheaper. At $359 the Kindle is far from cheap and with smartphones costing a lot less users might just decide to stay away from the device that is essentially a horse with one act.

Devices like the Apple iPhone are now offering a huge range of apps, some of which are ebook readers and at prices that are very competitive.

It will be interesting to see where this story heads.

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Yahoo needs to start looking for a new direction to grow and this new search tool seems to be just the opportunity to focus on an area that Google seems to have given up on.This new avenue comes after a realization that web surfers use search engines not just to find sites but to conduct research.

The product detects when a person appears to be doing research on a specific topic and offers to catalog the findings in a special window within the Yahoo search page.

Given Yahoo’s low investor confidence there has to be a lot of buy-in before they proceed on any investment, but given the fact there could be a high pay-off this new push might be worth it.

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Choosing the RIGHT Technology for KM

“This is a question that a lot of you might have battled with at some point in time and if i’m not mistaken continue to do so. Before we get into the “meat” of this post let me sum it up for you , there is NO right technology for KM.

While we all agree KM is more of a cultural initiative, there is no doubting that without a solid technology backbone chances are you’re heading down a dark road.

I’ve reviewed a large number of applications that claim to provide the perfect KM solution, and guess what? they don’t. No surprise there for those of you who’ve spent time trying to find an application that suites your needs. Please feel free to disagree with me, and if you’ve stumbled upon that “Perfect” KM tool do leave a comment. I’m sure the rest of my readers would love to get their hands on that information, as would I.”

Rewards OR Recognition

“One of the biggest challenges in Knowledge Management these days is getting people involved in the process. Unlike other initiatives which use a mix of the carrot and stick approach, KM can only be promoted using the carrot.

Now the challenge is, what motivates the average users to contribute towards the system? Is it the rewards or the recognition? From what i’ve seen its a balance between both.”

Is the Term KM misleading?

“The term “Knowledge Management” can be misleading at times. When i first got into this field a couple of years ago i was a little wary of what i was supposed to accomplish. The very idea of Managing Knowledge was something i just couldn’t wrap my head around.

Today, after having practiced KM in the real world and studied it, i’ve come to understand that true KM is more environment management than actual managing of knowledge.”

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When i first started blogging on the subject of KM, it had more to do with getting my own thoughts on the subject in order, rather than getting other people to read what i put up. Since I , like a lot of you, have spent a ridiculous amount of time reading/researching articles on Knowledge Management. I felt that a blog was a great way to for me to digest this information observe its practical implications, and break it down into snippets of information, beneficial ( i hope ) to others interested, or curious, about the subject of knowledge management.

In a couple of days ( August 15th ) Gridlock would have turned 6 months old. I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who’ve taken time to read my posts. Specially those amongst you who’ve left comments and sent me e-mails ( which i am surprised to say is a much larger number than i had anticipated ). I am also very thankful for those of you who’ve decided to subscribe to my feeds ( I’ll try to keep my posts as interesting and diverse as possible. )

I believe very strongly in the power of knowledge and more importantly sharing, which was another reason i started featuring other blogs and websites. Unless you know whats out there chances are you might miss something great.

Before this post gets rather long winded and pointless , i would like to say.. if you have read or heard about a blog or a website that might be important or interesting, in the context of knowledge management, do send me an e-mail aboutkm@gmail.com ( or leave me a comment ). If you do find this blog interesting please forward it to people who might like it as well…

For those of you who don’t want to do either, a simple “Hi” would be just fine!

Cheers,

Arjun Thomas

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Getting Started

“Over the past few posts we’ve talked about a variety of subjects, Strategies to implement KM , How to run communities of practice, the effect of blogs on KM and so on. The most common question however is not how to implement KM but when. I thought i’d put together a few thought on when you should start think of looking at a Knowledge Management initiative for your organization.”

Your KM Strategy

“When do you know its time to move into the second phase of your Knowledge Management Road map?

• If, you have successful initiatives already been conducted at the grassroots level.
• If, An executive sponsor decides to support KM initiatives.
• If, You have identified pilots to showcase the benefits of KM.
• If, A KM steering committee has been put in place.”

Launching your KM initiative

“You’ve already spent a lot of time identifying where your company is placed in terms of launching an initiative like this as well as chalking out a strategy to deploy KM. Now comes the really difficult part, launching the initiative.

The first step is to identify whether its time to transition to this phase of KM. There are certain key indicators you can look for.”

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While i haven’t spent a decade working with KM, i believe working with the challenges faced on a day to day basis, over the past couple of years, has provided me with some insight on what practical KM actually is.

I’ve done my share of reading articles, white papers and case studies ( and still do ) on the subject of Knowledge Management. This is has given me tremendous insight into how the theory of KM has evolved into its relatively mature state today. Though the glaring differences between theoretical KM and practical aren’t too difficult to detect.

So where does this leave us? …..

Don’t get me wrong, a theoretical knowledge of KM is as important as a working one. It gives you a foundation upon which to build a KM strategy. A lot of what I’ve managed to achieve today was built using what I’ve studied and read about, flavored with what i know works in the real world.

Which was the reason i put together this blog in the first place, to give those of you are new to the field a little bit of an insight into what KM is all about. Just keep in mind, these are my views colored by my experiences.

KM Theory or Practice? Where do you stand?

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