Knowledge Management Process
What is it?
The Knowledge Management Process is the architecture used to
acquire and benefit from knowledge resources and capabilities. The
goals of the process should be to make it increasingly easier to
capture and use these resources and capabilities for obtaining a
significant organizational benefit. At NASA, KM processes are any
defined process that an organization uses to identify or capture
knowledge, lessons learned, or best practices, including: Lessons
Learned Information System vetting process, organization-specific
lessons learned processes, benchmarking, use cases, knowledge sharing recognition programs, knowledge product
validation processes, and communications about expectations related to knowledge sharing.
How do I start?
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As you answer the questions below, consider what you believe to be the best strategy for managing knowledge based
on your current circumstances, resources, and capabilities. Because knowledge is commonly captured in order to
enhance the quality of products, processes, or decisions, it’s recommended that you start by trying to identify and then
focusing your efforts on a key product, process, or decision that will have the biggest impact or will benefit you the
most. Now that you have taken your resources into consideration and determined the most likely use for the knowledge
being captured, you also need to take into consideration who the likely users are so that you can more easily envision
the best approach for the following steps.
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Bob Westbrooks, Richard McCaffery, and Christopher Scott. INSIGHT Initiative. US Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General.
http://www.scottsquaredventures.com/strategic-decision-making.html
Step 1
How will it most likely be discovered?
Knowledge may be acquired by a multitude of sources which includes hearing, seeing, conversing,
imagining, using technology, identifying, synthesizing, etc. You may decide to hold brainstorming
sessions, talk to experts, access data, conduct an experiment, etc.
Step 2
What will be the best strategy to capture knowledge?
Depending on the scenario the best strategy may be memorization, saving it to digital storage,
codifying it in writing, video recording, etc.
Step 3
How will it need to be processed?
Once captured, the knowledge may need to be reorganized, placed into long-term storage or
altered so that it can be analyzed, searched, found, tagged, converted, repackaged, manipulated,
enhanced or synthesized to increase its utility.
Step 4
How will it be shared?
We frequently manage knowledge for the purpose of sharing it with others. So to do this, we first
need to identify those who are most likely to need and use it. Next, we need to determine the best
method for making it easily accessible to those individuals. This may include teaching a class,
email distribution, memos, newsletters, social media, informal discussions, push/pull marketing,
visualizations, a central repository, etc.
Step 5
What is the envisioned benefit?
The most common goals for capturing and managing knowledge include informing, clarifying,
making decisions, improving products/services, or meeting a requirement.
Image source from https://culturedecanted.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/brain-as-clock-or-computer.jpg
Knowledge Management Process
Important Tips
Keep in mind that technology-based knowledge management systems are great at capturing explicit knowledge,
but not so great at capturing tacit knowledge. Tacit knowledge is more often captured by softer systems, like
specific actions or meetings that take place to share knowledge and help people connect with one another.
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How can I learn more?
REAL Knowledge at NASA:
http://km.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/03/Real-Knowledge-at-NASA.pdf
Video - From Knowledgeable to Knowledge-Able:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeaAHv4UTI8
Knowledge Sharing Cycle:
http://www.skyrme.com/kmbasics/kcycles.htm
CKO NASA Knowledge Map - Knowledge Processes:
http://km.nasa.gov/knowledge-map/
Image source http://www.imd.org/research/challenges/TC032-08.cfm
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MindTools. Making the Most of Intellectual Assets. Retrieved from: http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_87.htm
Knowledge Management Process
Image created by Christopher Scott
