- Does the categorization and mapping strategy add anything
substantive to the business? In other words, does it facilitate knowl-
edge dissemination and application across the company? - Does the process facilitate improved decision making in any
way? Does it enable individuals and teams to come to better deci-
sions in less time, or does it provoke more meaningful debate
regarding programs, processes, or other initiatives? - Is there a better way to provide the categorization and
mapping outcomes to the company in order to achieve the goal of
efficient knowledge classification and improved decision making? - Is there a way to demonstrate measurable impact from using
a system and process such as this, and if so, what kind of metrics
would be used? Faster response time to mission critical activities?
Improved customer service levels? Improved team performance?
Reduced time to market with products and services? These and
other indicators are possible yardsticks to be used in more rigorous
evaluation processes. Simpler versions could merely ask employees
whether or not they found the process useful to them in any way. If
not, would there be value in revising it, or should it be abandoned
altogether?
ConclusionsOur purpose has been to propose an idea that might have benefit
in the increasingly difficult challenge of efficiently managing the
abundance of knowledge that is being made available to us all. The
issue seems less how to collect and disseminate knowledge than
how to quickly and effectively organize and categorize it in ways
that facilitate decision making at all levels. If knowledge is power,
then real-time access to the most relevant streams of knowledge is
the most potent form of this new-age engine.
As Thomas Stewart writes in Intellectual Capital,“Knowledge
and information are the competitive weapons of our time.”^3 If one
believes his premise, then the more quickly and more reliably we
can direct knowledge toward decision makers who can leverage it
KNOWLEDGEMAPPING 119