Rapid Blogging and Knowledge Management

I was talking to an old friend on Friday night over a curry who was involved in web design and obviously he worked on the odd project over time.

He highlighted that as clients were so demanding and frequently changing the specification he got quite used to coming up with quick and rapid iterations. However he also added that this could be bolstered in my case by getting some target audience feedback at every step.

As readers of this blog are no doubt aware, I am looking to undertake some work on primarily blogs and to a lesser extent wikis as part of a KM strategy.

I’m involved in a meeting on Tuesday (6th March) to come up with some terms of reference for trialling a blog and possibly a wiki in an area of the firm. I think that it is always a good idea to pilot something first in a team that wishes to pilot it and are keen enthusiasts for it.

By working with some trial baloons they can improve the process by giving me real life user feedback both good and where there are areas for feedback so that we can do some rapid iterations and quickly improve the product. They also give users a sense of participation and they can also act as ambassadors to spread the word like a virus through the organisation.

Not every section of an organisation will want to take it up immediately but it is key to find pockets within a team and help them to use the new tools and let word of mouth do it’s work - hopefully for the good. The key thing as my friend stated is to go and sit and work with them and help them find solutions quickly rather than sitting in an ivory tower. This is one of my key objectives - is to sit and work with people who are just starting out and help them to develop the tools and techniques that they need to help them do their work and also make it as easy as possible to share information.