Recent Articles

Is Your KM System Built to Last?

Mary Abraham
March 19, 2012 11:33

Today the Sydney Harbour Bridge celebrates its 80th birthday. Affectionately know as the “Coathanger,” it is the world’s widest long-span bridge. It also is a popular destination for tourists. If you walk across it (or climb to the top of its arch) you can enjoy panoramic views...

What’s the Right Question for a Better Answer?

Mary Abraham
March 16, 2012 00:56

They say that getting the right answer depends upon asking the right question. Perhaps that works in the courtroom, but lately I’ve begun to wonder how well it works in our networked world. Here’s a case in point: I was puzzling through a technical problem at work and realized I needed...

Is Your KM Department Human Middleware?

Mary Abraham
March 05, 2012 11:50

It’s great to feel needed.  It’s nice to be known as the go-to person with the answer. In a client-service industry like the law firm world, you can get a small buzz on knowing that you helped improve the delivery of client services — especially at crunch time.  But it’s a...

A Sadie Hawkins Proposal

Mary Abraham
February 29, 2012 06:33

February 29 is leap year day, an odd day marked by odd customs intend to underline just how unnatural the day really is.  Take for example the conflation of Li’l Abner’s Sadie Hawkins Day with some older customs that upset the “natural order” by putting women in charge.  So...

When Collaboration is For the Birds

Mary Abraham
February 24, 2012 13:54

Collaboration is key.  We’re told by social media mavens that it powers networks and unlocks the potential within individuals and the groups with which they associate.  However, collaboration is not always an unalloyed good. Sometimes it can go badly wrong. Now, before you throw me out of...

CoIT: An IT Nightmare?

Mary Abraham
February 10, 2012 09:30

For the average worker, it might seem like a dream come true. However, I suspect that some information technology folks consider it a nightmare. What’s the issue? The advent of the consumerization of IT; something Scott Finnie calls “CoIT.” Dion Hinchcliffe describes the elements...

Topspin and Tacit Knowledge

Mary Abraham
February 09, 2012 06:39

Do you know what you know? And, more importantly, do you know how to communicate it effectively to someone else? For far too many of us, the answer to both of these questions is “No.” To be fair, we may think we know the extent of our knowledge and may even believe we can be [...] Do...

Displacing the Delphic Oracle

Mary Abraham
January 23, 2012 05:30

For fourteen centuries she had information that everyone wanted. So they traveled from all over the ancient world to seek her guidance. And they paid lots of money for the privilege. Who was she? Pythia, the priestess of Apollo and the oracle of Delphi. Thomas Sakoulas describes how she worked:...

Guiding Partners to Better Law Firm KM

Mary Abraham
January 17, 2012 23:45

It is the stuff of fantasy — for law firm knowledge management professionals, that is. Imagine law firm partners beating down your door asking to be involved in as many law firm KM projects as possible. Before you laugh derisively, consider the following report from The American...

Make KM Count in 2012

Mary Abraham
January 11, 2012 17:30

Your New Year’s Eve celebration is a now a dim memory and, hopefully, you’ve fully recovered from the revelry. Now comes the hard part — putting plans in place to make 2012 a year in which knowledge management really counts in your organization. This is not just about creating a...