Learning to Fly, with free online content: Practical Knowledge Management from Leading and Learning Organizations

by Chris Collison, Geoff Parcell

Today, no one is, nor can be, an expert in everything. In every challenge, it is easy to feel that you don't know enough to keep up with the accelerating pace of change inside our organisations, let alone the world outside. Start with the assumption that somebody somewhere has already done what you are trying to do. How can you find out whom, and learn from them? Learning to Fly shows exactly how to put knowledge management theory into practice, sharing the tools used and the experience and insights gained by two leading practitioners. Completely updated for the second edition, Learning to Fly shares the authors’ experiences from BP and other leading knowledge organisations.and incorporates new material on implementation and best practice, including free online resources. "Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell show how new ideas and tools are making working and learning inseparable."
― Peter Senge  

Genres: Management, Nonfiction

336 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2001

Reviews

[Michael O'Donnell · Rating 3 out of 5]

The principles and approaches in here on knowledge management and the clarity of writing are great. It would benefit from an update, though: the examples, or specifically the references to technology in them, are quite dated now, even if the sorts of organisational practices and challenges still sound current.

[Gabriel Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loads of useful ideas (though the IT suggestions have predictably dated) but very hard not to keep thinking about the awful impact the authors’ home company has had on the world. And as each example or best practice is drawn out of BP, this happens on every single page. So much much intelligence and creativity squanders on turning the world into a dying greenhouse!

[Vonprice · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although it’s quite old now, I found this to be an excellent book for providing background context to knowledge management work that I am involved in. I particularly enjoyed the stories/case studies and the chatty style.

[Jack Vinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. It tells the story of how BP has implemented their version of knowledge management into their business processes. Their focus is on learning and on developing networks to enable that learning throughout the company. 
 
The book reads well (and fast), and is loaded with practical advice on how to proceed with knowledge efforts, as opposed to my usual more academic KM readings. The authors are clearly focused on "doing something" rather than waiting to figure out the best way to do it. They heavily advocate the learn before, during, AND after cycle I have seen in a number of places. 
 
The book is split into sections that focus on setting the stage for BP's model of knowledge management; describing the tools and techniques they have used; and talking about the future of KM at BP. This last is interesting, as the formal KM program at BP has been disbanded. The tools and techniques described in the meat of the book are now embedded deep into the BP culture, so that any new programs make use of the KM concepts without necessarily calling them KM. 
 
The most useful section of the book is clearly the section on tools and techniques that BP have used for KM. Their model of KM is focused on learning: learn others before setting off on a project; learn from your own experiences during a project; and learn what to do better / what to do again at the end of the project. All this learning also needs to be captured so that other people/teams can adapt and make use of it in their own learning cycles. 
 
Other tidbits: 
 
The authors' definition of KM: Processes for dealing with knowledge as it is captured, shared, created, discovered, distilled, validated, transferred, adopted, adapted, applied. 
 
Peer assist (learn before): Start with the assumption that somebody, somewhere has already done what you are trying to do. How can you find them and learn from what they did? 
 
Good lead-in questions, particularly when assisting a new business area, where the issues are not obvious: 
- What is the main issue you have to deal with? 
- What is the biggest hurdle to be overcome? 
- What do we need to learn? 
 
There is also a YahooGroup for people interested in the book (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learnin...). The authors have made available a number of extracts from the book, including guidelines on each of learn before, during and after.
 

[Krazykiwi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate reviewing textbooks, but this one was actually a pretty fun read. The authors use a lot of examples of techniques as they applied them at BP, among others, and they are pretty well known in the field, so they have a fair bit of credibility.
 
This is aimed more at practitioners than academics, - it's heavily practical, although there is some theory covered in late chapters. Since that theory was right up my alley with Communities of Practice, this book and I got along just fine. I have a sneaking suspicion that the first 3/4ths of the book slid down easy because I already know this stuff, and very little was new, it was just presented in an easy to read way.
 
In the end, nobody is going to buy this for bedside reading, but if you've been assigned it for a class, well, as intro textbooks go it's a pretty good one, if you're looking for more depth, you'll need to look elsewhere.
 
And if you're looking for a book with some practical use in the workplace, well as those go it's a pretty good one too. 

[Jeroen · Rating 4 out of 5]

As Knowledge Manager for an organisation I was looking for some background information and practical help.
This is one of the more helpful KM books that I have seen for some time.
Some books on KM tend to be very technical/theoretical/academical, but this book leads you by the hand in some time-tested methods. Thing like 'corporate yellow pages', After-Action Review, communities of practice for continuous learning, practices for testing and validating captured content make it immediately useful.
The book is well written with some refreshing humour.
Recommended if you want to build some knowledge management system.

[Danijel · Rating 3 out of 5]

COLLINS, Chris. PARCELL, Geoff. Učimo se leteti: priročnik za upravljanje znanja. Ljubljana: GV ZALOŽBA. 2002. ISBN 86-7061-288-7

Danes se vsi bojijo vprašati za pomoč, saj se bojijo, da bodo s tem pokazali nesposobnost. Kar seveda ni res. Pokazali boste veliko mero sposobnosti in zavzetosti za delo. Kar je zelo pohvalno.

Znanje se upravlja z razumevanjem, motivacijo in pomočjo. Predvsem z drugačno miselnostjo in zavzetostjo z delom.

Predvsem je ta knjiga hvalnica BP.

[Gareth Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

not a book about aviation but knowledge management in a topical oil company. It is an excellent reference for the subject and one which has direct application into the world of business resilience, crisis management and continuity. In particular the 'peer review' technique works and the discussion of the military debrief - US process 'after action report' is useful. The biggest barrier to KM - people's attitudes in a knowledge industry - hum

[Corza · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic bok for practical Knowledge Management!!

[Megachristina · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is about Knowledge Management in BP.

[Alan Fricker · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most sense I have read on KM.

[Atif Shaikh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent practical hands on approach

[Pk Hkw kw kku]

thx

[Shozo Hirono · Rating 1 out of 5]

Read it for work.