How to stop your KMS from being your MIS

This was a very interesting discussion. An organisation had just set up their KMS and were wondering about information structure. 

The project manager asked a very intelligent question - How do I ensure that my KMS does not become a document repository, and remains a knowledge warehouse? 

Here is, in brief, the answer: 

What goes into a KMS? 

To understand what goes into a KMS, we have to understand what a KMS is. The best way to understand what a KMS is, is to know what a KMS is NOT. KMS is not: 

MIS 

It is not meant to give you timely information on your operations and help you monitor business as usual. 

DMS

It is not a Document Management System. It is not where you dump all your reports, proposals, policy documents, etc. 

DSS

It is not a Decision Support System. All information in the KMS repository is, by and large, time agnostic. Like the Vedas and Amar Chitra Katha, the wisdom in it is for a long time, of course, updated with the times. But not time sensitive. That is the crucial aspect. 

A Knowledge Management System is just that - a system to manage the knowledge in the organisation. 

So, to be counted as knowledge, an artifact / document must be: 

A. Time agnostic

B. Be applicable in a wide variety of domains. If it is specific to that one project, that one report, and that one employee, its not KMS worthy. 

C. Be clear about the knowledge it imparts. 

D. Ideally, help a person connect the dots and lead to some business value.

E. Must not include any confidential information / company identifiable information.  

Some examples of good KMS usage 

Katy is looking for ways to quickly do effort estimate on her bids. Obviously, the information is incomplete, and she has to do her best. She finds out, over a period of time, that if she has some key data elements, she is able to give a bid that is very close to the actual costing + margin of the organisation. 

So, she prepares a questionnaire that has all these data elements. 

Now, whenever the bid team receives a RFP (request for proposal) , it sends this questionnaire as its standard list to the client. The bid team then has the info it needs to create a clear bid in a short amount of time. 

******************* 

Raghu, the Finance head, is sick of asking departmental heads for TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) before approving their capital procurements against Budget Line Items. 

Exasperated, he creates a TCO Calculation template that he just uploaded into the KMS. Now, before sending the proposal, everyone looks at the TCO calculation template. This has also helped other department heads identify the hidden costs in their procurements, which were earlier blind spots. 

************* 

How to ensure the success of your KMS

1.  Keep a tight gate on what gets in. 
2. Incentivise reuse of artifacts as much as possible. 
3. Monitor usage at all times. Even plants atrophy without fresh air and anything left untouched starts to decay. KMS is not a dead system. It is a living, breathing system that supplies vital nutrients to your organisation. 
4. Guard against plagiarism. It is unfortunate, but not rare, for employees to copy stellar documents written by someone else and submit them as their own KMS submissions. 
5. Incentivise participation. If people are hesitant to create documents, give them sample documents and offer surprise prizes for lucky submissions. Hold a contest once a month every 6 months - for both submitting and using artifacts. The contest for using artifacts will also give you the case studies that you need to create emails about KMS use. 

How long does it take? 

6 months. This number is usually independent of the organisation size. It will take people about 6 months of consistent, persistent reminders to make a habit of using KMS as a regular part of their work. Plan your Change Management for 6 months, and keep plenty of budget. 

And Finally: 

What makes a good Knowledge Management System 

How to Design a Dashboard for yourself

 Many years ago, I wrote this post to explain durable dashboard design. 

A durable dashboard is not a dashboard that is used by the client for a long time. All dashboards, once developed, are used by client organisations for a long time. 

But they are not used by the people making the decisions. Their Decision Support System inputs start flowing in, as they always have, from outside the system. 

That post tries to address the issue of creating dashboards that remain relevant for the user for a long time. 

This post is for managers trying to create a dashboard for their own use. Obviously, its technology agnostic. You know what tools you use and how you can make it better. The post will only help you ask the right questions and find a way to design something that works for you. 

How to create a dashboard for your personal use 

Step 1: What do I want to know, and why? 

This may sound like a no brainer, but you'll be surprised to know few people actually start with this question. What do you want to know? 

Let's say that you are a talent acquisition professional. There is a mountain of metrics that you need to be tracking. Which ones need to be on your dashboard? The  higher up you go, the more aligned this will be with the organisational metrics. 

Make a list, then discard 

If this is the first time you are doing this exercise for yourself, it makes great sense to create a larger list, then eliminate entries until you arrive at a manageable number. 

Why do you need to know this on a daily basis? 

Let's be clear - there are reports, and there are dashboards. Dashboards are what many of us wake up to. Reports are what we see once a week, month, or quarter. If this isn't something that you need to see on a daily basis and track, then it should not be on your dashboard. 

If you do see something every day, ask yourself WHY you see it. Which decision making does it support? What does it help you control or monitor? Sometimes, we track some metrics just because we like them. It is time to be ruthless with self. 

Once you have a list of the numbers you need on your dashboard (and not before that), please move to the next step. 

Step 2: How do I want to see them? 

This is as important as Step 1. Do not underestimate the importance of visualisation. And, there are few best practices. Understand how YOU want to see these numbers. Today, the tech investment needed to see even some of the better visualisations is not too high. But its important that you should be able to interpret the numbers at a glance using the visualisation. 

Common Mistakes to avoid 

• A 'cool' visualisation: Heat Maps, Dials, are all great. But does your brain absorb them instinctively? Do they tell you all you need to know?  Does traffic light always meet your needs?

 

• An incomplete picture: When we travel from numbers to visuals, the first planned casualty is the detail. So, when you choose a visual, please ask yourself it it tells you all you need to know, and only that which you need to know. Do be ruthless on both fronts. 

• Heavy to load: A slow loading dashboard starts off being cute, moves to being mildly irritating, and ends up being abandoned property. Choose visualisations that are quick and efficient. 

Step 3: In what order do I want to see them? 

This is the last step, and as important as the first two. 

Sit back and imagine your dashboard. Wireframe it - using a tool of your choice (mine is pen and paper) and imagine yourself using it. Since you are the only consumer of this, there is no one to impress. Only you. Which report goes where on the screen WILL impact whether you see it at all, and how well you process the information. 

Once you do all these 3, congratulations, you are all set to develop the personal dashboard. Today, there are multiple DIY dashboarding solutions available, the simplest being MS Excel, which exists on most laptops. 

When is it time to redesign the dashboard? 

When any of the following happens: 

• Role Change 

• Change in organisational priorities

• When a project /program / department you are tracking moves from scaleup/development to stability or vice versa 

Important end note

Even if you have designed this dashboard, do give yourself time to 'break in' and start being productive with the dashboard. A week or two is par for the course. See how you use it, what elements work best for you, whether you want redesign or restructuring. 

Once we start using dashboards for every day working, data based decision making comes naturally. So does the ability to ask the right data questions when faced with a decision. 

Why should someone invest in The Children's Post of India?

 Someone asked me: 

What is the one reason that someone should invest in you? 

And what is the one reason that they should not? 

Our answers: 

What is the one reason that someone should invest in you? 

The Business Model. Print at home was considered hilarious 3 years ago but today it is par for the course. This disruptive business model will make the industry capital un-intensive, and eliminate geographical barriers. 

And what is the one reason that they should not? 

Me. I can, and have done, great product design. But after that, scaling up on ad renvue needs a different skill, one that I dont have. Investor relations. All of these are important skill gaps. So it makes sense for someone to pick up the business and take it to the next level. 

Exceptional Educators

 Yesterday, we did our first ever Exceptional Educators chat with the Jindal Mount Litera School, Nagothane.

One of the things we heard was - Every child gets a response to their email when they write to The Children's Post. That is very important.

This is something that we been particular about.

"This is not a scalable model." "You cannot manage to write back to every child as your numbers grow."

Yes, but at the other end of that email, is a child or a parent, waiting with anticipation. We have to show them the respect that they deserve.
We have all been those children. :)

#ValuesthatMatter

Surprisingly, Google (and our laziness) is the harbinger of 1984

 With our current technology, short of Brain Computer Interface, there is only one way for 1984 (the book) to come true.

That is, if people stop remembering. If they depend on the internet for everything, every piece of information. The internet can be changed in a short time. History can be altered really easily using Wikipedia. (As some of us already know).

The Growth Imperative

In Europe, there was bakeries that bake a certain number every day. At the end of the day, or when they are done, they shut shop and sit back and relax. They make a small profit every day, and use that to live. 

In India, there are samosawalas or chhole bhature walas who bring a certain amount of production to the market every day. Once they have sold it, they shut shop and go home. 

There is never any need to grow, diversify, increase etc. 

When we started work, both at Topgain and at The Children's Post, we came from a place of happiness and content. We were not in a race. We were not chasing anything. We were doing the best that we could, as much as we could with happiness, but giving it our all. There was no stress. Just the joy of doing great, fantastic work and adding value to the world. 

Today, both Topgain and The Children's Post have grown. Every day, esp on The Children's Post, we are asked questions like Growth numbers, projected growth, etc. 

The thing is, we are still not chasing anything. Only rats run rat races. We are here to focus on our work and to take the paper to more children. 

Growth is not an imperative for us. We have experienced that some people find chasing targets inherently joyous. We are not among them. To us, this endless chasing of targets leads to stress and not happiness. 

We understand that this is not a conventional view of business. But contentment is a good part of Indian business. The samosavala is inherently Indian.  

Of course, contentment precludes greatness and a place in history books. But we would rather be Nandan and Chandamama than Times of India :) 

On Agile

 Agile is not a methodology. Its a mindset.