Knowledge Management Basics
Practical Action
• Yellow pages
The yellow pages facility is a structured collection of data and documents about people in the
organization. It includes an interface for obtaining information about the expertise, areas of
interest, publications and some personal data of the project stakeholders and associated
individuals. It also provides contact information. The purpose of yellow pages is to facilitate
communication and knowledge sharing between individuals and groups of people.
• Best practices
The best practices facility is a collection of structured documents that contain descriptions of
the best ways to do things or solve problems. The best practices knowledge base includes
software that supports the maintenance of the collection of materials (new cases, revisions,
supporting materials such as photos, maps, recordings), and formulation of queries. More
sophisticated software may include case-based reasoning engine that assists the user in
discovering potential solutions to new problems. In a basic form, the best practices facility is
a repository of descriptions of good work provided by project staff. The purpose of this is to
share the knowledge on what works and stimulate good solutions for new emerging problems.
The best practices facility will not usually give a prescription for a solution but it will
stimulate positive thinking and provide a base for analysis and identification of ways to do
things.
• Storytelling
Storytelling is the use of stories in organizations as a communication tool to share knowledge.
It is used in organizational settings to help people relate to and connect to important issues.
One important aspect of stories in an international development context is precisely that
stories provide the context in which knowledge arises as well as the knowledge itself. They
are not dry recommendations listed at the end of a long document. They are memorable, more
human and they nurture a sense of community and help build relationships.
While Denning’s book focuses on the use of stories to ignite organizational change, stories
can be used for a broad range of other purposes, including:
Storytelling for communications
Storytelling to capture tacit knowledge
Storytelling to embody and transfer knowledge
Use of stories for innovation
Storytelling to build community
Storytelling to enhance technology
Storytelling for individual growth
The infoDev/IICT Stories database is perhaps the most visible example of an attempt to
collect “stories” in the international development community. [There might be others; this is
more a reflection of my own knowledge areas]. See http://www.iicd.org/about
A Peer Assist is a meeting or a workshop where people are invited from other teams to share
their experience, insights and knowledge with a team who have requested some help. It is
appropriate when the cost of gathering the help brings significant potential benefits to a team
or project that is facing a challenge that others may be able to bring help to. It is appropriate
when the diversity of views external to the team or project can broaden the range of options
considered.
You may consider holding a Peer Assist when for example:
- your team is about to respond to a crisis similar to one that another team responded to last
year;
- you are new to a role, about to tackle something difficult, and you are aware that others have
done it before;
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