DOD KM Collaboration-Forum Brain-Jolt: A Java-fueled, Idea-Exchange Session
Through this interactive session, held at the beginning of the conference to encourage networking and information-sharing throughout the day, attendees will use KM principles to analyze an engaging topic of interest. Meet new professional contacts and collaborate to suggest solutions to common challenges within the knowledge worker ranks. This session provides an interactive learning experience over a cup of coffee to help "jolt" ideas and share expertise with your colleagues focused on advancing KM initiatives and programs. Highlights of the discussion will be captured and posted within the break area during the day, as well as to the DGI website for your reference and use following the conference. Bring your ideas, enthusiasm, and KM questions and enjoy this interactive, collaborative opening session.

Discussion Topic: When “It’s the Right Thing To Do” Doesn’t Cut It—Using ROI to Build Support for KM

Coordinators:

Douglas Weidner, Chairman, International Knowledge Management Institute
Jane Maliszewski, Strategic Change Consultant and President, ISKA LLC

If you have tried to start a KM program or initiative, you have inevitably been asked by a skeptical manager “show me the ROI and I’ll consider it.” Given the difficulty of measuring any baseline in the government and therefore ROI, this could be the death knell for your KM project. Traditional ROI is a holdover from the industrial age, focused primarily on cost cutting. Let’s update things for the knowledge age and redefine the “I” in ROI from “Investment” to “Intangibles”—Return on Intangibles. KM is about value creation, so start measuring it that way. In this interactive discussion, where attendees will share ideas we’ll look at measuring intangible benefits through a Balanced Scorecard approach.

9:00

Opening Keynote Session: Why Great KM Programs Fail
Steve Denning, Author and Former Knowledge Management Program Director for the World Bank

Why are so many world-class knowledge management programs, with demonstrated results and of great strategic importance, closed down or undermined or shifted to the periphery? In this keynote presentation, Steve Denning argues that the root cause of these failures is that KM is incompatible with much of the underlying philosophy of traditional management. Learn how these principles apply in the public sector today as they do in the private sector, where traditional management is an increasingly bad fit with the economic context. As a result, organizations are increasingly resolving problems by adopting radically different management approaches, that spark high productivity and continuous innovation, and which are more compatible with the goals of knowledge management.

10:00

Networking Break / Visit Exhibits

10:30

Experience-Driven Design: Why Should You Care?

Bobby Caudill, Solution Architect, Global Government Solutions, Adobe

Over the years, users of computer systems have grown accustomed to having to adapt to the ‘needs of the system’. All too often, the needs of the people using the systems and the outcomes they are attempting to achieve come last on a long list of priorities. While designing systems that properly protect information and processes is of paramount importance, more recently, advances in available infrastructure, software tools and development concepts have enabled a new approach to building systems, called Experience Driven Design (EDD). The basic idea is simple: people should not have to learn how to interact with systems, systems should be designed to interact with people. In this session, we will delve into this topic and discuss the merits of putting people first.

11:00

Social Media, Organizational Knowledge and Soylent Green: It's All About the People

Mark Oehlert, Innovation Evangelist and Program Manager for Advanced Technology, Defense Acquisition University

Social media is not coming. It is here. It is inside our firewalls and in some cases, already included in our enterprise software (and if it isn't now, it will be soon). The question is not about technology. It's not even about funding. The real question isn't even will it change your organization and the way you share knowledge, make decisions and call upon your organizational expertise. The real question is how will you shape that change? Will you recognize that the real barriers to leveraging the power of social media are human issues like fear, control and trust? Will you understand who needs to be at the table to help successfully shape enterprise-wide social media implementations? Will you understand how to transition from thinking about subject-matter experts to thinking about subject-matter networks? Join the dialogue and hear thought-provoking perspectives of this pressing and controversial topic.

11:30

The Future of KM Implementation: A DKO Perspective

Lt Col Anmy Torres (USAF), Director, Defense Knowledge Online, Defense Information Systems Agency

Defense Knowledge Online (DKO) is designed to be “an information sharing network Department of Defense uses to encourage collaboration and enable secure access to information.” Attend this session to understand the role of DKO as a KM-enabler across diverse and complex defense organizations. What does DKO offer its users and how is it different from its predecessor systems? How is the military using DKO capabilities to improve operations, communications, and outcomes? Bring your questions and experiences to share in this interactive discussion.

12:00

Networking Luncheon and Visit Sponsor Exhibits

1:00

Enterprise 2.0: Collaboration and Innovation in Organizational Context

LTC(P) Nate Allen, Division Chief, Business Synchronization and Governance, Office of Business Transformation, U.S. Army
Jason Bock, Co-Founder, MilSuite

Given the ever-increasing pace of change that 21st century organizations face, the ability to rapidly share, make decisions, and generate new knowledge for novel challenges and opportunities as they arise in the environment is essential to organizational effectiveness. This session explores the potential that social media holds for enabling individual and organizational learning, cross-boundary collaboration, and innovation. Focused case examples from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the emergent work that the MilSuite team is doing for the U.S. Army will be used to illustrate key concepts.

1:45

Using Tools to Improve KM Outcomes: DoD Experience

W. David Evans, Chief Software Engineer, Aviation and Missile Research, Development, and Engineering Center, U.S. Army
LT Col Pete Kilner, Academy Professor and Director, Center for the Advancement of Leader Development and Organizational Learning, U.S. Military Academy at West Point

Government professionals welcome examples of how operations can be improved, collaboration enhanced, and measurable results demonstrated with the use of KM tools and strategies. This session will highlight two programs that are leveraging KM to meet very different requirements. First, attendees will learn how the Milspace community of practice supports the U.S. Army’s company commanders and platoon leaders. Understand how this innovative KM software platform has integrated content, connections, and conversation, in a context of shared purpose among practitioners to foster individual and organizational learning. Second, consider how the DoD acquisition process and outcomes can be improved by knowledge-driven software design. Attendees will hear how KM principles offer a unique way to adapt to technical risks in acquiring software-intensive systems, the beneficial impact of forming virtual teams, the importance of sharing architectural knowledge, the challenges in capturing software design decisions, and how to develop KM competencies among key procurement officials.

2:35

How to Make the Most of Virtual Work Environments for Defense Operations

Len Blaisol, Director, KM Lead, U.S. Marine Corps
Thomas Garrity, Director Federal Sector, Corasworks
Jo Ann Simmons, Human Capital and Knowledge Management Consultant, Simmons & Associates
Ronald Simmons, Chief Knowledge Officer, ATSC (Army Training Support Command), U.S. Army

There is a lot of talk about collaboration, but creating effective, trusted, and scalable methods to share knowledge within and among complex organizations is another matter. This session will provide an overview of the core principles and processes necessary to create virtual teams and virtual work environments (VWE), and will share specific lessons learned based on the collective experience of the expert panel from DoD organizations. What were the challenges encountered by professionals in the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, and partner organizations as they attempted to migrate from traditional paper and e-mail based operations to more collaborative practices? Attendees will take away tips for partnering with kindred organizations to support and streamline VWE implementation. Hear how to use VWE strategies to support mobility, continuity of operations planning (COOP), and other agency mandates, and learn how to establish key success criteria for successful virtual teams given your group mission and business objectives. Panelists will explain how to use widely available technologies to effectively manage virtual work groups, and what you can expect, including unintended--but positive--consequences of implementing virtual work environments.

Read DGI's Executive Insight Interview with Ron Simmons about his work and what advice he has for agencies moving to VWE's.

4:00

Wrap Up, Announcements, and Closing Remarks

Mike Smoyer, President, Digital Government Institute

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