This website covers knowledge management, personal effectiveness, theory of constraints, amongst other topics. Opinions expressed here are strictly those of the owner, Jack Vinson, and those of the commenters.

Adoption doesn't equal satisfaction

We all probably know this, but just because an organization has bought a given methodology, they may not be satisfied with it.  Why?

I'm guessing there are quite a few answers to this.  James Darrow points to my friend Ron Friedman with

Interesting comment from a "a senior and long-tenured KM director of a large law firm" who answers the "dichotomy between corporate knowledge management adoption and satisfaction" (that being, adoption high but satisfaction low):

"one possible explanation might be that the users of those KM resources are much more likely to be the people working for the executives than the executives themselves, and that therefor the value of the tools isn't apparent to those executives."

This is an interesting take on this problem.  Executives approve the spending, so they know the given methodology has been paid for.  But, as they are not actively using the methodology, they don't necessarily see the direct benefit of it. 

But this leads me to another question.  Why did they approve the expenditure in the first place?  If they were keeping up with the Joneses, it is no wonder they are not feeling satisfied - they didn't know what they were getting.  If it was to cut expenses, I would guess they aren't terribly happy with the results either.  But if it is to increase net profits (or patients treated, clients served in non-profits), they had better be paying attention to the results.

Ten Faces of Innovation

Four quadrants of your desktop