Posted by Kees de Vos on August 02, 1999 at 09:54:40:

In Reply to: Re: knowledge transferrence by writing posted by Boris on August 02, 1999 at 07:33:26:

Hi Boris,

again I believe this to be blurry terrain. The document on lessons learned itself does not provide a sufficient basis for knowledge replication (in my view no knowledge is transferred; information on knowledge is transferred, interpreted by the receiver and used to create "new" knowledge at the end of the receiver, also the original knowledge at the end of the sender is still there. Therefor I like to call it knowledge replication).

Why is the document not sufficient? Imagine the document being written in swahili, a language I haven't mastered yet. Then the document isn't adding to my knowledge on the matter described in it (it DOES add to my referential framework of languages I don't understand :-)). Also if the document is on theoretical physics I will probably don't get it. So there HAS TO BE a common ground/context, etc. between the sender and the receiver of the (information in the) document, in which te document can be interpreted.

Besides that there is still a personal element in any lessons learned document; as the individual competencies of both sender and receiver will probably differ, the value of the document might change. E.g. a person with great skills in communication might tell you that communicating with your employees is vital in change management. If the receiver of the information doesn't have the communication skills and still tries to follow the rule, he/she might find out that following the rule will be couterproductive IN THEIR CONTEXT. They might even right a rule that not-communicating (but changing by bureaucratical enforcement) is a lesson learned.

Next to personal context also the context of the environment the lesson is applied to matters. Therefore I opted in previous postings for a concept of Best Principles, in which one tries to grasp the priciple behind the practice, abstracting it from individual or environmental context (practice; communication is vital. principle; consider the implications of communciations).

Generally I therefore tend to agree with both you and Richard: Yes this kind of information (lessons learned documents) is valuable, however, it will only be valuable if there is a common language/context, etc. so the underlying knowledge in the information is replicated. The truth like mostof the times tend to be somewhere in the middle :-)

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Follow Ups:

• Re: Knowledge can not be transferred, but can be replicated. Boris 11:42:51 8/02/99 (3)
  • For Martyn, Reilly and Boris. - only People make knowledge John Bardos 18:22:35 8/06/99 (2)
    • Re: For Martyn, Reilly and Boris. - only People make knowledge boris 07:43:45 8/10/99 (0)
    • Re: For Martyn, Reilly and Boris. - only People make knowledge Reilly Atkinson 00:09:12 8/10/99 (0)
• Re: Knowledge can not be transferred, but can be replicated. Martyn R Jones 11:18:45 8/02/99 (10)
  • Re: Knowledge can not be transferred, but can be replicated. Kees de Vos 13:47:49 8/02/99 (9)
    • Re: Knowledge can not be transferred, but can be replicated. Reilly Atkinson 19:56:17 8/02/99 (8)
      • Re: Knowledge can not be transferred, but can be replicated. Richard 21:09:34 8/02/99 (7)
        • Re: Knowledge can not be transferred, but can be replicated. Reilly Atkinson 19:13:12 8/10/99 (0)
        • Re: Knowledge can not be transferred, but can be replicated. Kees de Vos 05:16:39 8/03/99 (5)
          • Replicatable but not Transferable - Tales from the Linguistic Soup Kitchen Martyn R Jones 07:37:24 8/03/99 (4)
            • Re: addition on Learning Kees de Vos 07:37:47 8/04/99 (0)
            • Re: Replicatable but not Transferable - Tales from the Linguistic Soup Kitchen Boris 07:06:05 8/04/99 (2)
              • Knowledge Hoarding and the Rise & Fall of Empire Martyn R Jones 17:29:17 8/04/99 (0)
              • Re: Replicatable but not Transferable - Tales from the Linguistic Soup Kitchen Martyn R Jones 17:18:48 8/04/99 (0)

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