Knowledge Management: Barriers to Managing Project Knowledge Assets (Part 2 of 3), co-author Sinead Walsh

This is the second part of a three part series, co-authored with Sinead Walsh , examining Knowledge Management in projects.

In order to examine challenges involved in project knowledge management, we need to first consider the definition of a project – “a temporary endeavor undertaken to create a unique product or service”. In our opinion, the very nature of a project creates barriers to knowledge management. In this article, we will explore this claim, and consider how this extends to knowledge between and within projects.

In Part 1 of this series, we mentioned the three areas of project knowledge – organizational and cultural knowledge, general PM knowledge, and knowledge specific to the project. Each of these requires a particular management framework, and each presents its own challenges.

Organizational Memory

A project driven organization generates its own Organizational Knowledge from past projects, sometimes called Organizational Memory (OM). However, if mechanisms are not in place to capture this OM, project teams can become frustrated at the lack of historical data and feel like they are reinventing the wheel continually. This type of knowledge is very difficult to capture in a project environment, as the temporary and stressful nature of a project deflects team members attention away from knowledge capture, and towards the key project drivers, such as cost, schedule and scope.

An organization needs to commit to KM to mitigate this common project problem. Some KM measures include:

• Investing in and establishing a system for archiving and indexing past project experiences
• Setting up an easily used central repository for storing and accessing historical project knowledge
• Instituting a language translation system in a global organization to ensure access of the knowledge to diverse sectors of the organization
• Ensuring adequate technological requirements for sharing of large amounts of information are met
• Ensuring all members of project teams, whether transient or permanent, are familiar with the knowledge management system in place.

General PM Knowledge

Managing general PM knowledge is usually undertaken via the PMO in organizations in which one exists. As more project managers are joining the profession deliberately, and there are relatively fewer “accidental” project managers, this type of knowledge management is becoming less of an issue. The increase in availability and use of training programs and qualifications has improved the education of project managers and resulted in increased knowledge of project management theory in organizations.

 Project Specific Knowledge

Within a project, KM is closely associated with the methodology that is adopted for that project (Agile, PMI-based, or APM-based).  For example, adherents to the PMBOK will probably use Lessons Learned as part of their Close-Out phase. No matter which methodology is followed, some challenges exist across the board:

• Unwillingness to share information with other team members due to temporary nature of the team. This is a reflection of the absence of trust that can exist when teams are forced together under stressful circumstances.
• External Contractors brought in to the project team may consider their knowledge proprietary, and may not share it
• Time considerations and a high stress project environment may simply preclude knowledge management systems being implemented and/or used
• In large scale global projects, a dispersed project team will hinder the effectiveness of tacit knowledge sharing
• Cultural differences may exist between organizations joining forces on a project that hinder knowledge management

Without addressing these barriers to knowledge management within and between projects, organizations will continue to miss their potential in cost, schedule and resource management, and will hinder the success of any KM effort to significantly affect project and organizational success.

Join us at  the 2017 PMSummit on 05-OCT-2017 in Dublin, Ireland where there will be more than 6,000 years of Project Management Knowledge to engage with. To find out more, visit our web site at www.pmsummit.global .