Better  Thinking  About  the  Interdependency  of  Project,  Risk,  and  Knowledge  Management  –  Webinar  by  Don  McAlister  at  PWR  on  11  October  2012    

 Don  McAlister  Bio:    Don  is  the  owner  of  McAlister  Consulting  in  Moorpark,  California,  providing  aerospace  technical  and  project  management  advisory  services  to  private  industry  and  US  Government  clients.  He  retired  from  Pratt  &  Whitney  Rocketdyne  in  2011,  after  more  than  39  years  working  on  the  Engineering  Design  and  Development,  and  Management  of  many  liquid  rocket  engine  Projects.    Throughout  his  career,  Don  has  also  had  an  abiding  interest  in  critical  thinking  and  knowledge  management  processes  and  how  they  are  used  in  our  businesses  and  personal  lives.        Announcement:    The  title  of  Don’s  Webinar  presentation  is  "Better  Thinking  About  the  Interdependency  of  Project,  Risk,  and  Knowledge  Management."  This  topic  is  inspired  by  Dons'  Internet  Blog,  in  which  he  shares  his  views  on  project  management,  risk  management,  knowledge  management  and  other  related  topics.    In  his  blogs,  Don  has  offered  the  somewhat  unconventional  view  that  project  and  risk  management  are  profoundly  knowledge  management  activities,  which  are  intimately  interdependent.  Further,  it's  Don's  view  that  our  businesses,  especially  high-­‐tech  businesses,  are  really  knowledge  transformation  machines  that  sell  products  and  services  that  are  essentially  artifacts  of  new  knowledge  sets.  During  the  Webinar  Don  will  share  how  he  came  to  this  viewpoint  and  why  believes  that  better  understanding  of  the  relationship  between  these  fields  will  help  us  be  better  Project  Managers,  Risk  Managers,  Knowledge  Managers  and  Leaders.                          

Webinar  Thought-­‐Piece      Background:  What  set  the  stage  for  the  Ideas    • Throughout  my  career,  my  interest  and  expertise  has  been  on  Project  

Management…what  works,  what  doesn’t  work,  and  how  it  can  be  improved.    I’ve  also  always  had  an  interest  in  the  way  we  think,  how  our  thinking  is  shaped,  and  how  new  knowledge  and  perspectives  can  enhance  our  business  and  personal  lives.    I  started  working  with  Bill  Bellows  more  than  20  years  ago  on  ways  to  practically  incorporate  into  our  Project  Management  practices,  the  Deming  and  Russ  Ackhoff  principles  and  the  ideas  of  Managing  Variation;  Design  of  Experiments;  Lateral  Thinking,  and  Systems  Thinking  .    I’ve  seen  how  the  application  of  these  principles  and  ideas  improve  our  business  effectiveness  and  efficiency.    I’ve  also  seen  how,  by  giving  us  a  more  holistic  perspective  of  our  work  lives,  that  they  can  provide  people  with  a  more  fulfilling  and  meaningful  work  environment.  

 • In  2008,  I  was  serving  as  Director  of  the  Program  Management  Office  (PMO)  

organization.    The  organization  responsibilities  included:  the  planning  and  operation  of  the  Program  Management  Process;  the  implementation  of  a  business-­‐wide  Knowledge  Management  Process;  the  management  of  a  technical  Library  Services  group;  the  development  and  implementation  of  the  principles  of  In2:InThinking  (then  known  as  “Enterprise  Thinking”);  and  a  project  to  the  explore  and  improve  and  the  use  of  internal  social  media  to  enhance  collaboration  and  communication  at  the  business  that  we  called  Enterprise  2.0  (E  2.0).      From  this  combination  of  apparently  disparate  organizational  elements,  ideas,  social  initiatives,  and  passionate  people,  a  new  integrated  idea-­‐set  began  to  emerge.    We  called  it  PoWeR  2.0.    The  premise  of  PoWeR  2.0  was  that  Project  Management,  Knowledge  Management,  In2:InThinking,  and  E  2.0  did  have  to  be  treated  as  separate  ideas  or  initiatives,  but  that  they  could  and  should  be  synergistically  integrated  in  a  way  that  would  create  a  distinct  competitive  business  advantage.    

 • In  2008  I  was  invited  to  make  a  presentation  at  the  Pepperdine  University  

annual  Knowledge  Management  Conference.    My  intent  was  to  discuss  and  explore  the  synergy  between  Program  Management  and  Knowledge  Management,  and  in  fact  the  title  of  the  presentation  was  “Program  Management  and  Process  Management  Process  Synergy.”    As  I  put  together  the  charts  however,  I  had  a  sudden  epiphany.    Project  Management  (PM)  wasn’t  just  synergistic  with  (KM)…it  was  KM.    The  conventional  view  of  how  a  business  runs  is  wrong,  or  at  least  incomplete.  

 • During  the  last  several  years  of  my  career  I  started  exploring  the  use  of  the  

blogging  feature  of  an  internal  Knowledge  Management  and  Collaboration  tool  called  “AskMe”  to  share  ideas,  information  and  opinions  related  to  Project  

Management,  Risk  Management,  Knowledge  Management,  Cognitive  Processes.    The  research  and  writing  of  more  than  800  blog  posts  on  these  topics  further  expanded  and  honed  my  thinking  on  the  subjects  and  solidified  my  belief  in  these  ideas  were  intimately  interdependent.    It  also  hooked  me  on  the  idea  of  sharing  ideas  through  blogging,  and  I  added,  “Start  an  Internet  Blog”  to  my  post  retirement  To  Do  list.  

 • Following  retirement,  at  the  end  of  2011,  and  with  my  Retirement  To  Do  List  in  

hand,  and  all  of  these  ideas  swimming  around  in  my  head,  I  started  my  Internet  blog  at  donmcalister.com.    I  also  significantly  expanded  my  membership  in  Project  Management,  Risk  Management,  Knowledge  Management,  Systems  Thinking  and  other  interest  groups  on  LinkedIn  as  a  way  to  explore  what  others  were  saying  and  sharing  my  ideas  on  these  subjects.  

 • Most  recently  I’ve  developed  a  passion  to  understand  the  neuroscience  behind  

the  way  we  think,  learn,  and  behave.    This  interest  in  this  area  was  piqued  by  Elaine  Anderson,  PhD  and  her  presentations  at  the  In2:Inthinking  Forums  and  her  recently  published  book,  “  A  Beginners  Guide  to  the  Brain,”  a  book  called,  “The  Body  Has  a  Mind  of  Its  Own”,  by  Sandra  Blakeslee  and  Matt  Blakslee,  and  by  numerous  posts  and  referenced  articles  in  the  “Neuroscience  of  Leadership”  Group  on  LinkedIn.  

 All  of  these  experiences  have  shaped  my  thinking  on  these  subjects.    I  have  a  set  of  beliefs,  which  I’ll  lay  out  in  the  next  section,  that  have  emerged  from  my  experience,  learning  contexts,  and  internal  cognitive  processes.    They  are  “my  truths.”  That  doesn’t  mean  they  are  the  truth,  or  that  I  expect  you  to  agree  with  me.    What  they  provide  is  an  opportunity  for  discussion,  the  expression  of  alternative  views,  and  the  discovery  of  new  knowledge  and  ideas.  That’s  what  these  Better  Thinking  About  Webinars  are  all  about.    

     

 Discussion  Points:  Ideas  &  Opinions  on  the  Project  Management,  Risk  Management  and  Knowledge  Management    

   

   

             

     

• Traditional  Business  models  assume  that  they  are  material  transformation  machines.      

o Input  is  Raw  materials  o Business  processes  modify  materials  to  add  value  o Output  is  a  product  that  meets  customer  specifications  

• My  view  is  that  Businesses  are  knowledge  transformation  machines  o Input  is  knowledge  of  customer  wants,  needs  and  pain    o Business  transforms  existing  knowledge  into  a  new  

knowledge  set  that  meets  customer  needs  o Output  is  a  product  that  is  an  artifact  of  the  new  knowledge  

set  • A  business  is  a  network  of  people  (the  nodes  of  the  network)  who  

collaborate  to  flow  the  knowledge  from  where  it  resides  to  where  it’s  needed  for  the  transformation  to  occur.    More  that  knowledge,  the  people  in  the  network  also  flow  trust,  ideas,  inspiration,  and  empathy  which  are  the  lubricant  of  the  knowledge  flow  

• The  health  and  growth  of  the  business  network  is  a  function  of  the  effectiveness  and  efficiency  of  the  interactions  between  the  people  

o Leaders  must  build  and  promote  interactions  and  be  sensitive  to  and  proactive  in  eliminating  barriers  

 

• Project  Management  is  a  Knowledge  Management  Process  o Not  a  popular  idea  with  traditional  Project  Managers  o Project  Sponsors  and  PM’s  identify  Customer  Solution  

Knowledge  Needs  o PM  and  Functional  Managers  identify  relevant  existing  

business  knowledge  resources  to  be  applied  and  new  knowledge  resource  needs  

o PM  creates  a  Project  Plan  (Knowledge  Application  Plan?)  to  define  and  sequence  the  tasks  that  apply  knowledge  to  deliver  a  new  knowledge  set  that  meets  customer  knowledge  needs.  

o PM  creates  a  Risk  Management  Plan  to  handle  knowledge  gaps  and  uncertainties  

o Business  explicit  and  implicit  (people)  knowledge  is  applied  through  design  and  production  

o Acceptance  test  verifies  that  new  knowledge  set  meets  Project  Plan  

o Project  Deliverables  are  an  artifact  of  the  integrated  knowledge  transformation  process  

• Businesses  and  Project  Managers  that  embrace  their  roles  and  responsibilities  as  knowledge  managers  will  have  better  relationships  with  their  customers;  make  better  plans;  handle  risks  more  effectively;  make  better  use  of  resources  

• It’s  all  abut  the  people  because  the  people  are  the  sources  of  the  knowledge  and  the  conduit  through  which  it  flows  from  source  to  need  

 

• Whether  thy  realize  it  or  not,  Project  Managers  are  constantly  working  across  a  Knowledge  Domain  

o Conscious  Competence  Learning  Model  o Known-­‐Knowns  (KK’s)  form  the  foundation  of  Project  

Plans.  Explicit  and  know  Implicit  knowledge  o Known-­‐Unknowns  (K-­‐U’s)  form  the  realm  of  Risk  

Management.    Knowledge  we  know  that  we  need  but  that  is  missing  or  uncertain  

o Unknown-­‐Knowns  (U-­‐K’s).    We  know  the  knowledge  exists  somewhere,  but  not  yet  accessible.    Graybeards,  Consultants,  knowledge  mining.  

o Unknown-­‐Unknowns  (U-­‐U’s).      The  greatly  feared  darkest  corner  of  the  domain.    Use  of  Reserves,  Margins,  Buffers.    Establish  an  organizational  learning  and  discovery  bias  

!

• Knowledge  &  Risk  Management  Competencies  Are  Coupled  o Being  good  at  one  of  them  isn’t  good  enough  

• Risk  and  Knowledge  are  two  sides  of  the  same  coin  and  must  be  treated  in  an  integrated  fashion  

o Risk  is  the  absence  of,  or  uncertainty  in,  needed  knowledge  o “Risk  is  uncertainty  that  matters”,  Dr.  David  Hillson  o Opportunity  is  a  favorable  outcome  of  uncertainty  

• Risk  Management  must  challenge  what  we  initially  consider  to  be  “Known”  

• Anticipate  and  identify  “Surprises”  in  all  forms  and  be  a  “Spoiler”  • Risk  Management  of  peoples  behavior  is  the  biggest  challenge  

o Behavior  is  driven  by  the  work  environment  o Project  Managers  must  be  concerned  about  and  

continuously  assess  the  work  environment  as  it’s  health  is  a  forward-­‐looking  metric  for  risks  due  to  variance  from  Plan  

o Out  of  Place  (OOP)  and  Out  of  Sequence  (OOS),  work  is  caused  by  peoples  well-­‐intentioned  “work-­‐arounds”  and  they  introduce  significant  risk.  

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