1. KM: Strategy, people, processes, technology

Any initiative to develop a KM system, whether personal or within an organisation or network, must begin with the question: ‘Knowledge to do what? The answer to this question forms the basis for developing a Strategy. The initiative is then taken forward by the interaction of People – the ‘knowers’ and the ‘learners’ who are crucial to KM – with Processes, and with the aid of Technology (the tools that enable the storage and manipulation of information).

Other factors, such as culture, management styles or policies, may come into play, either as Enablers or Barriers to success but, as the authors stress, the essential ingredient for success in developing a KM system is to start with a clear strategy, a clear idea of what the knowledge is for, what you want to achieve.

Individual chapters (3 to 7) of this TOP deal with each of the above, highlighting factors in some detail. Chapter 8 looks at ways to improve KM; and the TOP ends with comprehensive sections on examples, further reading, TOP models and tools, web sites, contacts and references.