We are even greater than the sum of all our parts  (Downloading our minds to machines) This will solve the problem.   What problem are we looking to solve again?

Have you ever thought or said words that can’t convey how you feel?

How does it feel to watch your child win at baseball?  How did it feel to graduate?  When you walked into your first job what did it smell like?   How do these things factor into your life at work and home?  How do you convey these concepts to others?  Five steps to understanding your thoughts or 10 best practices for doing something aren’t going to always get the message across.   In knowledge management, most of the time everything boils down to a list.  That is great!  What does it really mean though?  

We are lacking in passing on inherently tacit information.   We aren’t converting personal knowledge to public knowledge.   There are books and books on mechanisms associated with these concepts but I am writing today to simplify the message and bring some clarity of the situation out for YOU TO CONSIDER.

We are gathering lists today in organizations across the world to share information to make things go faster, work better, work smarter, increase a person’s knowledge, skills and abilities in short order.    Yet, with all this great and valuable information we are finding ourselves still missing something.  We are overlooking people themselves.   How can we communicate faster, better, more effectively, more efficiently..etc ?  Make a list!

Ok.. here is a list

Context = Food

1. Go to store
2. Get food that is yummy
3. Put food in cart
4. Place food on conveyor belt
5. Pay for food
6. Take food to vehicle
7. Take food out of vehicle
8. Get food to house
9. Cook food
10. Put food on table

Result = No one in the house likes undercooked liver and collards.

I will solve this problem RIGHT NOW. 

I am calling Microsoft and buying me a Sharepoint!

Here I go!

Cost (MILLIONS OF DOLLARS)

What did I get?

A secure place to store, organize, share, and access information from almost any device.

OH.. .so … umm did I just buy a place to err umm build lists of stuff?

Now I didn’t solve my problem..  What do I do?

Well, you see if I define the words or classify the list better.. I will solve my problem!

What is a Taxonomy?

A classification into ordered categories — see the link for more details

http://www.computerweekly.com/feature/A-guide-to-developing-taxonomies-for-effective-data-management

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/xbrl-for-dummies-cheat-sheet.html

What it really means?

Spend more money..

How about now, did I solve my problem? NO? What do I do?

Add a search engine with semantics!~

Now I can search my lists better with more fidelity and I can even get lists of lists! I can even bring lists together and build new lists automatically!

What it really means?

Spend more money… 

How about I add a little to this..

Why does it matter?  Further, why does it matter to business? 

I heard recently that for some companies “everyone is disposable and/or dispensable” (Narcissist) 

For the Narcissist-You are Disposable

Each human being is unique. No one will ever be born who is exactly like you. Each human life is a precious mystery. There are many people who appreciate the special qualities of individuals. Within families, it is fascinating to observe, that although the members share many common genes  and were born to the same parents, they can be very different in every way: physical constitution, temperament, disposition, physical stamina, attention span, sensory acuity, psychological resilience, emotional expression, empathic qualities. Appreciating and celebrating the uniqueness of each person is an integral part of our being fully human. For most narcissists, one person is interchangeable with another. Everyone is disposable. The narcissist is only interested in what your uniqueness brings to his table. If you don’t fill the bill, he or she will find someone else. In his world everyone is expendable. He is the unique irreplaceable exalted being. Narcissists use people up. Their constant demands, cruelties and demeaning behaviors cause incredible stress to those who are living with them, especially spouses and children. Many of those who share close quarters with narcissists suffer from a variety of stress disorders: insomnia, anxiety, depression, digestive problems, headaches, backaches. If the narcissist is given free rein, he or she can make you physically ill, mentally confused and psychologically distressed. It is up to you to decide that you deserve much better than this. When the narcissist has used some one up—he has gotten everything he wants from an individual—valuable social and business contacts, property, access to wealth, entrees into circles of power–you will be discarded. The narcissist knows when the time is right for him to show you the door. After you have been thrown away in a cold and calculated manner, you are shocked, hurt, enraged; your life has been turned inside out. The narcissist doesn’t spend a moment on your psychological and/or financial demise. You are a non-person for him, not even a glint of memory. He has moved forward to embrace his next human narcissistic supply. www.thenarcissistinyourlife.com Linda Martinez-Lewi, Ph.D.

Now the people making the lists and putting lists in your Sharepoint sorta feel that they are worthless!

What problems am I solving now? 

What it really means?

Spend more money… 

OK.. Howie.. .I get your point.. enough already …  !~

Nope..  Let me add some other stuff here for you to consider.. Now to really make matters better you start a CHANGE initiative.  So, now you throw in big big changes over short periods of time.  Also, you are hiring new people who are young and fresh out of school.  There isn’t a lot of time to get them trained so you ask the older generation to hurry up and make lists!   While they are making these lists you are asking them to change, change, change and work longer hours and take pay cuts and also understand that they are actually worth less because they are replaceable.  They are old and they aren’t as valuable to the organization as they once were.

Those close to or over 40 years old are already actually economically challenged (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/15/generation-x-has-suffered_n_1600178.html) they may be forced like a lot of Boomers to stay in the workforce longer.  That means if they will have to be on their best while doing the job and they will need to shut up and color as well.

What it really means?

Whether a business is a large corporation, mom and pop, military or other, they need to STOP FOCUSING ON TOOLS and START FOCUSING ON 

Final Thought:

Can technology enable?  The answer is emphatically (YES)  

The technology can’t be the driver, it has to be an enabler…  I am not against Sharepoint or any other technology but I am against wasting untold amounts of money, time and effort on process, methods and tools that ignore people.

Enjoy your liver.