Keith April 5th, 2007
I spoke at CPA Australia’s National Public Sector Convention in Brisbane on 21 March. Hard to believe that it was just over two weeks ago!
As I have written here before, I enjoy speaking at conferences. Apart from learning lots from other speakers and the networking opportunities, it is a great chance to play tourist in between everything else. I strongly believe in continual learning. My personal development plan (agreed with my manager) is mostly based on attending conferences.
I do sometimes think about going back to formal study again some day. It is now 13 years since I graduated with an IT degree, and I have done no formal study since then. I have dabbled though – First Aid, Teaching Migrants English, a little German language. All very enjoyable.
However, it occurred to me a while ago that speaking at conferences fills a very similar niche. In both roles, you need to do your research, and prepare your material for submission. The conference is your final exam, and the session feedback provides your results. (Perhaps a better indication of results is being invited back again…)
There was some discussion last year on actKM about conferences, and the best ways to run them. An observation made about speaking (I think it was in the actKM discussion) that I have noticed myself is that about 50% of the response you get in your feedback comes from your expectations and how you feel about your session.
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Keith March 19th, 2007
British Prime Minister Tony Blair told a self-deprecating anecdote about himself at the Davos Economic Forum. He had decided to overcome his own computer phobia and enrolled for an IT course in his constituency’s community centre. At the final examination, he asked a nervous young man next to him if he was so tense because he was next to the PM. “No,” replied the youth, “I’m tense because I can do this stuff and I’m unemployed; you can’t do it, and you are Prime Minister”.
What makes you digitally literate? Is it just the generation you were born into? I’m convinced that it is not that simple. The quote above is from Patrick Lambe’s book The Blind Tour Guide: Surviving and Prospering in the New Economy.
You can also read the relevant article on Patrick’s site.
In this article, Patrick provides a list of characteristics of the “Net generation” worker, and contrasts these with the pre-Net generation manager. I find it intriguing to try to place myself on this table. I am convinced that it is not as simple as physical age. I can see parts of my world view on both sides.
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Keith March 14th, 2007
I had a very enjoyable week in KL and Singapore - a good conference session in KL, with lots of discussion, and a similarly positive session at the iKMS meeting. (Not to mention the food, the sightseeing, catching up with old and new friends, the food, the shopping and – did I mention the food?)
The kind people at iKMS gave me a copy of Patrick Lambe’s (previous) book The Blind Tour Guide: Surviving and Prospering in the New Economy. I have only had time to read the first few pages, but it has already given me fuel for a post here! This relates to the distinctions we make between our personal and professional lives – but more on that later.
Reading the book gave me cause to wonder how long I have been dabbling in computers and web sites. I could probably dig up some old archives on floppy disk at home to be more precise, but a good way to look at the history of any web site is to use the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.
This tells me that a copy was saved of my first web page on 3 Dec 1998. I set it up a bit earlier than that – the copy here is a later version. However, if I use that date, that means that I have been editing web sites for just over eight years. This is pertinent to the discussion to follow.
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Keith February 13th, 2007
How easy is it to describe your job? Once upon a time, most jobs didn’t take a lot of explaining. But in today’s increasingly complex world, it seems to be becoming more difficult.
For the average knowledge worker, it’s hard enough. But if you go by the title of “knowledge manager”, as I still choose to do, it can be a bit tricky. For one thing, everyone has their own definition of KM! I am also the first to admit that my role really only covers one slice of the broad field. Of course, many people in this sort of role may choose a different title, but the problem of explaining your work is still the same.
One helpful approach is to have an “elevator pitch”. (We still tend to call it that in Australia, even though we have “lifts” rather than “elevators”. “Lift pitch” just doesn’t quite sound right.) I rather like Jerry Ash’s KM pitch. My slightly paraphrased version:
“Knowledge Management helps people turn what they know into ideas that make a difference in personal growth, accomplishment and worth; and helps organisations turn what people know into value, competitive advantage and success.”
However, there are times when you may need something even more succinct…
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Keith January 17th, 2007
The original title at the top of this blog was: “It’d take a lot of it to make a man laugh.” Why? Of course, there is a story behind it…
I heard it from my father many years ago, when I was a child, living on a sheep station near the town of Birregurra in western Victoria. He relayed this story from his boss - Charlie, the property owner - who was a participant.
It was 15 August 1945. Everyone in the town was celebrating V-J day – victory over Japan, and the end of World War II. People were driving up and down the main street, making lots of noise. Most likely a fair amount of alcohol was also being consumed! A man named Mark Ward, in the transport business, was riding on the bonnet of one of his own trucks. The driver stopped suddenly, catapulting his passenger forward. As he slid forward, one leg caught on the front bumper of the car, resulting in a very nasty compound fracture.
When visiting him in hospital later, Charlie commented to Mark, “God, it must have hurt!” Mark replied, “Well, it would take a bloody lot of it to make a man laugh!”
This has always seemed to me to be a quintessential example of Australian humour. Our traditional humour is black, self-deprecating and sarcastic. Maybe this has been shaped by the harshness of our environment or by the convict origin of European Australia just over 200 years ago. It is a strong part of our culture. This is a country where our most holy national holiday (ANZAC Day) is a celebration of a famous military defeat (at Gallipoli).
Stories can convey so much information, often in a few words. In this example, a brief narrative can say so much more about culture than reams of written analysis.
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