PMTips.net is focused on bringing you, the reader, information on a number of subjects ranging from Project Management to Knowledge Management and of course everything in between. In keeping with this theme this post hopes to serve as an introduction to Knowledge Management. What it is, but most importantly what it can do for you.

While the idea is to provide you with enough theoretical knowledge and background on its intricacies, future posts will also serve as a means to start dialogue around the practicalities of this subject.

So where does this leave us? …..

To start with 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.

What is Knowledge Management?

As defined in Wikipedia - “Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice.”

There are two main dimensions of Knowledge Management; the first is the tacit and the second explicit. Tacit Knowledge is always more difficult to capture and codify as opposed to explicit, however its benefits are far greater.



Knowledge Management

Ikujiro Nonaka and Hirotaka Takeuchi, The Knowledge Creating Company, New York, Oxford University Press, 1995

The Diagram above depicts the 2 types of Knowledge and the various methods of transition between them. Understanding how to leverage each phase within your project environment will give you the power to ensure that there is maximum knowledge re-use and therefore less waste and re-creation.

The end goal is as always, to ensure you are able to do things faster and better with as little effort as possible. This will go a long way towards helping your project meet its deadlines.  The posts ahead will talk a lot about Strategies to effectively implement KM within your projects, leading to some of the following benefits.


  • Lifting your Productivity and Efficiency
  • Enhance Team Collaboration and Coordination
  • Avoid Waste and Duplication
  • Have better Knowledge transfer during the execution of Projects

.... and a whole lot more.