Knowledge Management in the Real World

Author: Joseph da Silva

We can probably all agree that Knowledge Management is generally A Good Thing and that we should do more of it.

But what does “doing Knowledge Management” actually involve, and how as BAs can we ensure we effectively reuse our knowledge?

As BAs, we tend to fall into one of two camps; those that know a lot about the business in which they work and those that don't. As we all know, the latter isn't necessarily a problem as structured analysis of a business problem does not rely on domain knowledge but often our stakeholders, not unreasonably, prefer BAs to have at least a basic understanding of their business environment.

So within a BA team (as with many teams within a organisation), there will be those with knowledge of the business, and those without. The knowledge that exists will cover many different aspects of the business and no one person will know everything. However, those that don't know the current business will probably have useful knowledge of other businesses, including other industries and competitors.

Therefore when viewed as an overall function, the BA team often has a considerable amount of knowledge. However, given that this exists within the heads of various staff members, tapping into it when required is not going to be easy.

The key to successfully reusing this knowledge is not making those that know lecture everyone else until everyone has the same level of knowledge; the key is cataloguing what is known and defining how it can be accessed when required.

The knowledge that exists within a BA team can include...