Introduction
KCS is an approach to knowledge management that originated in high-tech customer support. The methodology has evolved over the past 25 years to become a rich set of principles and practices that create dramatic benefits for any information- or knowledge-intensive organization. KCS v6 seeks to generalize what we have learned in tech support organizations. While we are gaining experience with KCS in HR, legal, professional services, product management, engineering, and development organizations, many of our examples are still based on tech support.
This Adoption & Transformation Guide is meant to complement the KCS Principles and Core Concepts paper, the KCS v6 Practices Guide, and the Measurement Matters v6 paper. A thorough understanding of these three documents is critical to a successful KCS adoption. The KCS Principles and Core Concepts provides the guidelines for alignment. The KCS v6 Practices Guide provides examples of how to operationalize the KCS principles. The Measurement Matters v6 paper describes the dynamics an organization must deal with on the KCS journey. Sustained success with KCS requires a change in how we measure the health and value being created in a knowledge-centric environment. Because value can only be measured at the point of realization, most organizations have to make a two dimensional transformation:
- A shift from focusing on transactions and activity to a focus on value creation.
- An expansion of the scope of measurement beyond the traditional organizational boundaries.
It is our intent to minimize the duplication of information. As a result, there are numerous references to details included in the other documentation mentioned. However, some level of duplication is unavoidable.
In this section: