The Knowing-Doing Gap: How Smart Companies Turn Knowledge into Action

by Jeffrey Pfeffer

There is an unfortunate emphasis on technology, particularly information technology, in these efforts. For instance, one recent article on making knowledge management a reality asserted that “it’s clear that an intranet is one of the most powerful tools for achieving results within this [knowledge management] arena.”32 Another article asserted that “knowledge management starts with technology.”33 We believe that this is precisely wrong. As the Conference Board report noted, “Dumping technology on a problem is rarely an effective solution.”34 When knowledge is transferred by stories and gossip instead of solely through formal data systems, it comes along with information about the process that was used to develop that knowledge. When just reading reports or seeing presentations, people don’t learn about the subtle nuances of work methods—the failures, the tasks that were fun, the tasks that were boring, the people who were helpful, and the people who undermined the work.

this is why eg chat ops is a completely different beast from ops wiki + presentations