In this workbook I will show you a number of exercises to help you map the key knowledge from your projects and your area of work. These exercises will help you identify knowledge assets created in your workflow and share them in a way that is intuitive for others.
COLLABORATIVE�KNOWLEDGE�MAPPING
Workbook
This workbook contains a small number of exercises that walk you through my way of doing knowledge mapping. I want to emphasise that this works for me and it may not suit everyone. Please share your feedback with me to help me improve the workbook.
The ultimate goal is to help you be strategic about using your and your team’s knowledge. There are two sides to this strategy: firstly, being aware of which parts of your work generate the most valuable knowledge, and secondly, capturing your knowledge as you do your work.
Each exercise comes with a few instructions, a downloadable canvas and one or two examples. I like printing the canvases and doing the exercises by hand, but if you prefer to do it digitally, you can find a link to the SVG modifiable files at the end of the workbook .
HOW TO USE THIS WORKBOOK
Probably without a computer
collaborative knowledge mapping
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We don’t work to produce knowledge, we create knowledge as we do our work
Objective
Produce an extensive list of the different areas of knowledge (called domains) around the work you are currently doing.
Tips
Be specific rather than vague. Think of exactly which work you will be doing in the next few days or weeks.
Examples
If you are organising an event: Selling Tickets or Organising Speakers would be some typical knowledge domains.
If you are building a website: Branding Book or Narrative would be some typical knowledge domains.
Rating
Once you have listed a series of domains, spend some time to assess their importance. Based on this rating you can then decide what knowledge is most relevant for capturing and sharing in your map.
EXERCISE 1
Identifying key areas of knowledge
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Objective
Identify the key domains of knowledge which are strategic for you, so you can focus on what matters first.
Tips
Use the domains that you listed in Exercise 1.
Examples
Below you can find a step-by-step explanation of how I worked out my priorities for “Event Design”.
Select the top three
Once you have completed the canvas, you should be able to select the top two or three domains to focus on. These are domains with high strategic value that need more structuring or more diffusion (or both).
EXERCISE 2
Establishing priorities
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Objective
Now that you have selected the domains with the highest priority, it’s the time to look into the specific knowledge assets that make up that domain. After this exercise you should have listed between 5 to 10 specific knowledge assets (digital files) for each domain.
Tips
You can now directly use a mindmap or, if you are doing these exercises as a group, you can print the canvas and do it by hand. Try to group the assets in subdomains.
Examples
If this sounds confusing, you can check out the example with the link below, where I have listed the key assets for “Organising Zero Waste Events”.
EXERCISE 3
Mapping your knowledge assets
collaborative knowledge mapping
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Manel Heredero
I trained as an engineer and since the first day at my first job I have been obsessed with how to make teams work better in an open, collaborative and supportive environment. I spent a decade working as a consulting engineer designing sustainable buildings.
Since 2016 I operate within the Ouishare network, working as a consultant for organisational transformation, network governance and collaborative work.
This is my LinkedIn account and every now and then I publish some articles on Medium.
ABOUT
Yours truly
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Why I’m working with Meister
I have worked for a number of companies and have experienced a range of tools for knowledge management - the Sharepoints of the world and Intranets of all types.
From all these experiences, what I found that works best is the curation of knowledge in visual ontologies (such as mind maps) and the possibility for groups to work in real-time and online. The best software for this that I have experienced is MindMeister, which is why I approached them while I was living in San Francisco. We have been collaborating since 2016.
Let’s talk
I am a geek of network dynamics and knowledge sharing, I would love to have a conversation about this topics.
You can contact me at manel@ouishare.net or directly book a 30 min one-on-one call here on Calendly.
Canvases in SVG format
If you want to change, adapt, improve or make entirely new canvases and exercises, here you can find the original SVG files. I created them with Inkscape.
PARTICIPATE
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Other links of interest
I sometimes host Facilitated Online Workshops at the Better Work Together academy.
I also send out a monthly newsletter of best reads on collaboration, future of work, networks and platforms.
Talk soon!
Manel
CANVASES IN SVG FORMAT