RE: Some thoughts on knowledge management, content management and single sourcing

[Erika Yanovich <ERIKA_y -at- Rad -dot- co -dot- il>]

<It struck me that I have never seen these expectations 
spelled out in any management article or book, nor in any 
job ad, nor in any job description for a technical writer 
or manager, nor in any set of performance goals, _except_ 
in cases where a formal Knowledge Management system was 
involved.
I do not believe these expectations are so common that they 
can "go without saying." Therefore, I conclude that such 
expectations are rare (or else, logically, my memory and  
experiences are deficient). >

It is very important to document (and keep updated!) the WHAT, HOW and WHY
of every business and not leave it as word of mouth. My experience is that
good managers who think long term do ask their employees to document the
WHAT and HOW. The WHY is problematic (I have almost never seen it
documented), but important. If you document the reasons for making a
specific decision, later on when things change, you can easily revise the
decision. One way of building it into your daily (routine, current) work is
actually adding it to the ISO procedures (if you have them anyway). I know
it sounds a bit weird, but if you think about the whole purpose of ISO
(besides consultans making money out of it), you'll find it fits in.

Erika


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