Tuesday 8 January 2013


Ranking and selecting your KM pilot projects


Select I blogged a couple of years ago about Knowledge Management pilot projects, and suggested that there are many business opportunities which could constitute a suitable KM pilot, these being



  1. Where there is a business critical activity which is new to the organisation, where rapid learning will deliver business benefits. If it is new to only one part of the organisation, then transferring learning from where it has been done before, will give huge benefits.
  2. Where there is repetitive activity, and where continuous improvement is needed, in which case knowledge management can help drive down the learning curve.
  3. Where there is activity which is carried out in several locations, and where performance level varies, in which case knowledge management can help exchange knowledge from the good performers, to improve the poor performers.
  4. Finally where there is an area of the business which is stuck due to lack of knowledge, in which case knowledge management can help develop the knowledge needed to get unstuck.
The focus of the pilot is on business issues, as the purpose of Knowledge Management is to solve business problems, and the purpose of the pilot is to test and demonstrate that KM can do what it is supposed to do. In most cases, your pilot will cover multiple business areas, or multiple projects, and will look at ways of developing, sharing, transferring and re-using knowledge to solve business issues.

When you start looking around, you will find very many business opportunities for KM piloting. Your "opportunity jar" will soon be full to overflowing, and you will need to find a way to compare and rank these piloting opportunities. We have a set of ranking criteria we have been using for about 15 years now, which includes looking at the following questions;

  • If the project is successful, can we measure the value, and so demonstrate that the pilot has "worked"? 
  • Is there is strong management support for the pilot, and for knowledge management, within the potential pilot area?
  • If we create knowledge, is it purely for the pilot team or can others use it across the business, allowing us to leverage the results and spread the benefits? 
  •  Finally, can we practically complete the pilot in the required timeframe and with the resources available (money, staff, KM support resource etc)? 

Any pilot where you can answer a strong YES to all of these questions, will be a top-ranking pilot, suitable for selection as part of your KM program.

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