Project Management for Professionals

Is a basic knowledge of project management only for certified project managers or those who hold a diploma? Not necessarily!

"You need to manage your laboratory the same way you do your science: boldly but methodically, with the right balance of purposefulness and opportunism."

Project management has evolved over the years. Today's project management is less an arcane technical discipline than a set of principles intended to provide a structured approach to making the everyday decisions that keep a business running, even a small business. Or a laboratory.

Project management begins, as it should, by defining its subject: A project, according to project management theory, is an activity with three characteristics:

Specific outcomes or results

Definite start and end dates

Established resource budgets

The Key Components of Project Management

Planning--clarifying:

Organizing--specifying roles and responsibilities for project personnel

Controlling the performance of project work

Key Premises That Lead to Project Success

Project management is a way of thinking and behaving, rather than just a way of analyzing and presenting data.

Attempting to control all aspects of a project assures the greatest chance of success, but you will never succeed at controlling everything. That's okay.

People, not numbers and graphs, create successful projects.

Continue reading ... Project Management for Scientists, Stanley E. Portny, Jim Austin, United States, 12 July 2002

See also my review:
Barbara Allan. Project Management: Tools and Techniques for Today's LIS Professional. FACET (imprint of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals). & Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2004. Information Processing and Management, (in press)

Quote of the Year

Knowledge work and knowledge management are inseparable. Source: The Association of Knowledgework

INSIGHT:
At the Association of Knowledgework, people from every specialty cross professional, geographic, cultural, economic and hierarchical barriers to learn together. Not just another website, this is a virtual home for those who work with this stuff called knowledge.

Book of the Year by Stan Skrzeszewski

The book of the Year is not a slogan. Nor this blog is about rocket science fiction. The title of this post simply recognizes the fact that there are Librarians who serve as Knowledge Managers. And there is no dearth of leadership in this evolving professional genre. Stanislaw (Stan) Skrzeszewski is one such leading expert, I believe

Stan Skrzeszewski is a librarian by training and a knowledge entrepreneur by inclination. He is a frequent speaker on topics ranging from cosmopolitanism to the animate nature of information. Stan founded Advanced Strategic Management in 1992, where he continues as a consultant specializing in bringing people and technology together.

The Knowledge Entrepreneur by Stan Skrzeszewski. (Scarecrow Press, 2006. 151pp ISBN 0810852918).
Book Description
The Knowledge Entrepreneur introduces the principles, skills, and knowledge required to be a knowledge entrepreneur or intrapreneur. It outlines the process for developing and implementing business plans and proposals for knowledge-based initiatives. It also offers insight into the nature of knowledge, innovation, and entrepreneurship. For the individual entrepreneur who is just starting to develop a business concept, employees who want to become employers, and for entrepreneurially-minded people working in larger information-related organizations (e.g. libraries and information, technology, and software businesses), this book will be an invaluable tool.
Book Review, By Maggie Weaver:

Stan is a library leader turned philosopher, and this book clearly indicates that the philosopher was always there under the librarian. In fact, Stan runs a series of Philosopher's Cafes, of which the latest is “A Conversation on the Knowledge Entrepreneur as Cosmopolitan, Nomadic Barbarian." continue reading from CASLIS Special Issues – April 2006 Edition

Table of Contents
1 An introduction to entrepreneurship 1
2 Traits and skills of knowledge entrepreneurs 13
3 Trends : a source of entrepreneurial opportunity 27
4 The knowledge entrepreneur and innovation 47
5 Developing a knowledge venture 65
6 Knowledge business structures and financing 71
7 Developing proposals : planning for an entrepreneurial project 81
8 Marketing for the knowledge entrepreneur 87
9 Knowledge entrepreneurs 97
10 Exporting knowledge services and products 131

Another review @ Info Career Trends by Elizabeth Shankle is Director of Research for Aretao.

Punchline:
I strongly recommend this book to every one interested in inforstrucure (I mean, this as: in addition to infrastructure).

For more info. reviews, sample readings, etc. See the Scarecrow Press Web site
See also:
Reviews From My Desktop--This is designed to be a Reviews and Reviewers Portal.

KM in Academia: KM Degree Programs

SCAM FREE PATHFINDER: How Would You Describe Your Involvement in KM? [just-in-case you don't know] Then click here

Looking around for certification, and professional development? Here is a possible source [PS. the list is dated]

KM in Academia: KM Degree Programs
This section contains a list of schools that offer a Masters, Ph.D., or certificate programs in knowledge management. In addition, this site also provides a list of private companies that offer a wide range of KM workshops, training, seminars, and short online certificate courses in the area of knowledge management. Included in this section is a chart that displays the number of KM dissertations by year produced between 1981 and 2001. Continue browsing the site

NB. Credits: Reflections of a Knowledge Manager, KM Career Information/Resources, July 18, 2006.

Skills, Skills, Skills and Knowledge About People, Process, and Technology

Educating for a knowledge management future: Perceptions of library and information professionals, by Ross J Todd and Gray Southon, The Australian Library Journal, volume 50 issue 4 (2001) Full text

ABSTRACT: The emerging diffuse and complex discourse on knowledge management has, amongst many things, given some focus to the nature of education and training for professionals engaged in managing knowledge. The complexity of charting an educational and training pathway becomes apparent when considered against the plethora of perspectives of what constitutes knowledge management, as well as the various underpinning assumptions about its nature, contextualisation, role, and indeed, the meanings of its constituent terms 'knowledge' and 'management' This paper is the second part of the findings of a research project undertaken in 1999 and 2000 to identify the perspectives of experienced professionals working in the library and information sector in relation to knowledge management, and in particular to identify directions for the education and training of library and information professionals who wish to be engaged in managing knowledge. Part 1 identified considerable variation in levels of awareness of the term 'knowledge management', in the perceptions of knowledge management, and its relation to information management, and in the perception of the institutional understanding of and responses to knowledge management (Southon & Todd, 2001). source

Visualize theses skills here (A sample from the above article):
Table 1: Understandings required for knowledge management

Knowledge about knowledge
.Nature of knowledge.
.Creation of human knowing.
.How people acquire knowledge.
.Typologies of knowledge.
.Knowledge dissemination.
.Knowledge utilisation.
.Knowledge trends: globalisation, convergence.

People
.Needs analysis.
.Group and organisational dynamics.
.Psychology of people in groups.
.Strategies for creating a knowledge sharing culture.
.Ways people learn, think, absorb ideas.
.Learning styles.
.Cognitive science understanding.
.Understanding how people share information

Organisation
.Understanding of organisational culture.
.Structure, politics and needs of organisation.
.Business products and services.
.Role of knowledge in the organisation.
.The external market and competitive advantage.
.Understanding how organisations work: purpose, function, vision, mission.
.Cost benefits of knowledge management.
.Value of knowledge to the organisation.
.Understanding customer requirements.

Information
.Information management principles.
.Information management systems.
.Indexes and catalogues.
.Understanding how information is utilised.
.Synthesis of information.
.Holistic view of information theory.
.How to integrate knowledge and information into management systems.

Technology
.System specifications and applications
.Understanding the Internet as a global, networked information infrastructure
.Search engine algorithms
.Understanding impact of technology on the organisation
.Data mining

Literature Survey - Trends and Prospects

Senior legal librarians (SLLs) are increasing in importance at their firms as the new knowledge management technologies they govern become more crucial to delivering top-quality legal services. According to recent research by Sweet & Maxwell among the top 100 UK law firms, more than 20% of SLLs now either report directly to the managing partner or chief executive officer, or sit on the most senior management board of their firms.
Knowledge management is now at the very core of many firms, and because of this, SLLs are increasingly important. The old perception of legal librarians working away in small, dusty libraries, searching through volumes of legal texts is completely divorced from reality. Continue reading: From librarian to knowledge manager /The Lawyer. London: Oct 4, 2004. pg. 29

This blogosphere, then, tends to provide a reflection for a knowledge manager or one who is managing knowledge

Holistically speaking there is a strong link between the following: record management, information mangement, library management and knowledge management. More about this link will follow in another post.

Much dig is already done by two Mary's, (co-incidence: Mary is a Latinized version of the Arabic name Miriam, etymologists may argue, however) information professionals--And, Save the time of the knowledge mangers:
A bibliography:

knowledge management and librarianship resources: Almost all resources about KM and LIS, Maryam
A literature capsule:

to remember, Mary
and From Librarian to Knowledge Manager and Beyond:/By Doug Church ...

A few more sources on role & / or place of Librarians as Knowledge Managers:

The Road to Collaboration: Librarian as Knowledge Manager, Melinda Orebaugh, The Health Science Librarians of Illinois, 2004 Annual Conference.
This paper will provide a brief overview of knowledge management, outline skills required for librarians wishing to accept knowledge management responsibilities, and describe the author’s personal experiences and responsibilities as director of corporate knowledge at Gundersen Lutheran Health System.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
Tools of Knowledge Management consists 70% of services and 30% of Technologies. Librarians provide these 70% services. This indicates the role of Librarians as Knowledge Manager / Knowledge Sharing facilitator

LIS Professionals can play the role in KM process @ knowledge Management Resources, by ROHIT SAHU

Evolution of Librarian to Knowledge Manager in Academic Institutions

Knowledge Management Opportunities for Academic Librarians Jane O'Donnell

Ling Ling Lai: “Educating knowledge professionals in LIBRARY and information science schools”. In: Journal OF Educational Media and LIBRARY Sciences 42 (2005) 3, P. 347 - 362

Information and Knowledge Management: What Technical Communication Can Learn From Library Science,

Knowledge Management and the Information Professional in KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT:
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY, Revised and expanded version by Paul R. Burden

Karen Letarte/Michelle Turvey: “Cataloging or Knowledge management: Perspectives OF LIBRARY Educators on Cataloging Education for entry level Academic Librarians”. In: Cataloging & Classification Quarterly 34 (2002) 1+2, P. 163 - 185

Knowledge Management in Academic Libraries: Building the Knowledge Bank at the Ohio State University, Joseph J. Branin

Ross J. Todd / Gray Southon: "Educating for a knowledge management future: perceptions of library and information professionals". In: Australian Library Journal 50 (2001) 4, S. 313 - 326 [full text / html]

Librarians are the ultimate knowledge managers?, Cathie Koina

Google for much more

Welch, Jeanie M. “Hey! What About Us?! Changing Roles of Subject Specialists and Reference Librarians in the Age of Electronic Resources.” Serials Review 28 (2002): p. 283-286.

Whitlatch, Jo Bell. "Reference Futures: outsourcing, the web, or knowledge counseling." Future of Reference Services Papers. 2002. American Library Association. 19 April 2005.

Knowledge management and reference services, Smiti Gandhi, Senior Research Librarian The Journal of Academic Librarianship, Volume 30, Issue 5 , September 2004, Pages 368-381

Hwa-Wei Lee, Knowledge Management and the Role of Libraries Chinese Librarianship: an International Electronic Journal, Issue No. 19
(June 1, 2005)

Michele Ann Jenkins (Majink). Librarians and Knowledge Management.

Kashmiri Lal. IN QUEST OF THE INFORMATION SECTOR: MEASURING
INFORMATION WORKERS FOR INDIA Malaysian Journal of Library & Information Science [pdf full-text]

Maitrayee Ghosh & Ashok Jambekar Networks, Digital Libraries and Knowledge Management: Trends ... [Tables & Figures: Components of a library KM system, Knowledge Management Technologies, Intranets and Extranets in KM, Architecture of a library KM system, Potential upsides and possible limitations of KM technology-- Adapted from Donald J. Reifer. IEEE Software, 2002, May/June 2002, 15.] DESIDOC Bulletin of Inf Technol, 2003, 23(5)

Maryam Sarrafzadeh The implications of knowledge management for the library and information professions

PUNCHLINE:
To sum up,three major roles are waiting for librarians to assume withthe coming of the new millennium: global informationprovider, educator and trainer, knowledge manager...

Knowledge manager
The shift from distributing information to managingknowledge is becoming an independent production factor next to labor, capital and natural resources. Knowledge isevolving into intellectual assets on which businessorganizations around the world are dependent for theirsurvival [Bonaventura, 1997].

Library managers: knowledge coordinator ...
Librarians: knowledge creator...

Continue reading The expanding roles of librarians for the new millennium, by Jinhong Tang, IASSIST Quarterly, Spring 1998

From my desktop:
Book Reviews:

Michael E. D. Koenig and T. Kanti Srikantaiah, Editors. Knowledge Management Lessons Learned: What Works and What Doesn't. Information Today, 2004. International Journal of Information Management, 25 (2005) 281-283

Chun Wei Choo, et al. Web Work: Information Seeking and Knowledge Work on the World Wide Web. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000. Information Resources Management Journal, 16, 2003, 62-64.

Ali Mirsepassi and others, editors. Localizing Knowledge in a Globalizing World: Recasting the Area Studies Debate Syracuse Univ. Press, 2003.MELA Notes 78 (2005): 71-74

A New e-journal: KnowGenesis

Articles, essays, etc.:

Nexus between Knowledge Management and Library Science

"Save the Time of the Godly: Information Mediators Role in Promoting Spiritual &Religious Accommodation," in Knowledge Organization, Information Systems and other Essays. K.N. Prasad and K.S. Raghavan (eds.) Professor A. Neelameghan Festschrift. New Delhi, Ess Ess Publications, 2006.

Vertical and tacit: Multifaith and Knowledge Management in Perspective

Knowledge Management Applications in Multifaith & / or Multicultural Transactions Revisited

http://kmlisc.blogspot.com/2007/01/tacit-and-oral-knowledge-faithcommons.html