Lessons from implementation practice

These Lessons From the Knee of the Master: Battle-Tested Tips for ECM Success are formally about Enterprise Content Management, they apply to nearly any type of change implementation: knowledge management, enterprise 2.0, continuous improvement, etc, etc.  [Found this one thanks to my friends on Twitter!]

Not many people have heard of Duncan Stanners. Forget Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook, Duncan was quietly plying his craft when the internet was but a twinkle in the DoD's eye. But make no mistake, Duncan Stanners has had the kind of success implementing knowledge management programs that most of us can only dream about.

Here are Duncan's six abbreviated lessons.  Read the whole piece for details:

1. Go where the energy is.
2. If you can't find energy, create it.
3. When talking to customers, don't talk about [the implementation], talk about their business.
4. If you can't create a hard-dollar ROI, focus on real risks.
5. "You're already doing knowledge management. You're just doing it badly".
6. Tools won't sell the thing.

I like the first pair.  The "energy" can be anything from people already excited about the idea to The Big Problem.  Don't try to fix everything or go everywhere first, because the energy should radiate outwards and attract more people.  And then the next two are related there too: what is the connection to how things are going in the business.

[Photo: "Espiguero bengalí [Lesson's Seedeater] (Sporophila bouvronides) (♂)" by barloventomagico]