Recommended Books

Stages of Implementation: A Guide for Your Journey to Knowledge Management Best Practices By C. O'Dell et al*. Houston, TX: APQC, 2000, 65pgs Reviewed by Michael J.D. Sutton The book's introduction has a most poignant quote worth sharing: KM is not about just sharing documents. Knowledge includes what people know about how to make this work better, best practices, and lessons learned about any process-knowledge as "information in use."

This quote sets the stage for a review of the synthesized stages of implementation any knowledge management initiative should encompass. These stages were derived through the study of best practice organizations, such as Buckman Laboratories, Chevron Corporation, Hewlett-Packard Consulting, IBM Consulting Services, Nortel Networks, Schlumberger, Siemens AG, Shell Services, World Bank, and Xerox Corporation.

The five-stage process presented to the reader is based upon APQC's Road Map to Knowledge Management Results: Stages of Implementation. There are five stages common to a successful KM initiative:

	Stage 1: Getting Started
	Stage 2: Explore and Experiment
	Stage 3: Pilots and KM Initiatives
	Stage 4: Expand and Support
	Stage 5: Institutionalize KM

The APQC tries to present an overview of the challenges, pitfalls, obstacles, issues and concerns that may arise at any stage. The authors stress that these stages are not necessarily hard and fast. They tend to blend into each other and overlay; but that is the characteristic of each organization adopting and adapting this kind of approach.

Readers are cautioned about the difficulties of business cases, and when to try and present one. In addition, the challenges of measurement are highlighted, with the suggestion the value of KM may be difficult to express, especially since it is often embedded in other business success indicators, such as:

	Cost reduction
	Knowledge reuse
	Lessons learned
	Speed of processes
	Innovation and new products
	Rebranding and differentiation
	Improved quality of knowledge, product and service

Jewels of expert advice are proposed in each chapter to summarize the more significant activities and expectations that can be fulfilled within each stage. At the end of this small guideline, the new practitioner would be in an excellent position to present a summary of the stages in a KM initiative to senior management.

Availability

This book is part of APQC's Passport to Success Series To order, see www.apqc.org/pubs/dispPub.cfm?ProductID=1185. It is also part of the course KM 101: Managing Knowledge for Results; see Events page and also www.apqc.org/training/dispTrainingDesc.cfm?ProductID=1219

About the Author

Dr. Carla O'Dell, President of the APQC and director of its International Benchmarking Clearinghouse in Houston, TX, has incubated, launched and successfully promulgated a significant contribution to KM through the Benchmarking series. She also co-authored a number of important books in this area with Dr. C. Jackson Grayson, most notably, American Business: A Two-Minute Warning, and If Only We Knew What We Knew: The Transfer of Internal Knowledge and Best Practice. The remaining authors have held particular roles at the APQC.

*Full list of authors for this book are as follows: C. O'Dell, F. Hasanali, C. Hubert, K. Lopez, P. Odem, and C. Raybourn

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