1. THE LUST FOR KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE
MARCEL VAN BRAKEL
28 JAN. 2011

2. A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MYSELF
 Development
 PHP
 Open Source
 Content Management
 Custom applications
 Teams,processes, business
 Dog, movies, gaming, gadgets, musicals
∂ Developer since 2000

3. WHAT IS THIS TALK ABOUT ?
Understanding the stuff that makes knowledge so
hard to get and even harder to share, therefore making
experience the main influential aspect in development
team evolution.
∂ NOT about recruitment

4. WHAT IS HAPPENING ?

5. WHAT IS HAPPENING?
 Widely accepted
 More large scale projects
 Rising aspiration
∂ PHP Developer hunt is on

6. MORE AND BETTER WORK
∂ NO MORE UNDERDOG!

7. DEMAND IS CHANGING …
Apache Linux
PHP
HTML MySQL
∂ … SO IS THE WAY WE WORK

8. DYNAMIC ENVIRONMENT
ActiveMQ PHPUnit
Hadoop Gearman
Memcached Tika
Zend Server
SSL Azure
Apache Linux nginx
PHP
Varnish
Amazon S3
OAuth CouchDB
Zend Framework MySQL
CakePHP Drupal Symfony MS SQL
MongoDB
WordPress API’s Solr MariaDB
HTML NoSQL Oracle
Typo3 Social media

9. THIS IS A LOT

10. THIS IS A LOT
TEAMWORK !

11. WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE ANYWAY?

12. KNOWLEDGE, AS A FUNCTION
K = ƒ( I.S.A )
Information , Skill, Attitude

13. EXPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
“This talk is about knowledge”
∂ Codified

14. IMPLICIT KNOWLEDGE
“How do airplanes fly?”
∂ Can be codified

15. TACIT KNOWLEDGE
“How do you operate a complex
machine efficiently”
∂ Can NOT be codified

16. THE DEMAND

17. COMPANIES ARE LOOKING FOR:
 High knowledge level (sr.)
 Broad focused
 Specialist
 Several ( 3 – 6 ) years of experience
∂ NOT REALLY REALISTIC

18. DEVELOPMENT TEAMS

19. GENERAL TEAM COMPOSITION
Senior developer
 Domain knowledge
 System architecture
Medior developers
 Production, development
Junior developers
 Production, implementation
∂ “Knowledge equals Power”

20. APPLIED KNOWLEDGE
HIERARCHY within the team
DECISIONS top – down
COMMANDS no collaboration
LEARNING by doing
∂ Efficient and effective for production only

21. THE DANGERS
TERRITORIAL behavior
SHARING not implemented
JUNIORS steep learning curve
NO INSIGHT in knowledge

22. WHAT DO WE WANT ?
More knowledge
 Explicit and implicit
More experience
 Preferably > 3 yrs
Self supporting team
 Sharing knowledge
 Better synergy

23. EFFICIËNT KNOWLEDGE SHARING

24. SHARING OPTIONS
 Sessions
 Knowledge base
 Yellow pages
 Master - apprentice – pupil

25. PERSONAL SHARING SESSIONS (1)
By SENIOR
For ALL
TARGET
Minimize interpretational difference
Providing information
“Improve” attitude
∂ Conference, presentation, meeting

26. PERSONAL SHARING SESSIONS (2)

27. PERSONAL SHARING SESSIONS (3)
 Motivate sharing
 Certification
 CFP’s
 Variants
 Open Podia
 Corporate blog
 User group initiatives
∂ Part of performance review

28. KNOWLEDGE BASE (1)
By ALL
For ALL
TARGET
Provide data and explicit knowledge
∂ Wiki, lotus notes, custom application

29. KNOWLEDGE BASE (2)
∂ Inline documentation !?

30. KNOWLEDGE BASE (3)
 Transfer information
 Explicit knowledge
 Project facts
 Warnings
 Time consuming
 Strict formatting
∂ Use for archive

31. YELLOW PAGES (1)
By ALL
For ALL
TARGET
Insight in knowledge and skill locations
Insight in low density area’s
∂ Wiki, intranet, custom

32. YELLOW PAGES (2)

33. YELLOW PAGES (3)
 Who knows what?
 What are we missing when someone is
unavailable?
 Where can I go to?
 Who can teach me?

34. MASTER – APPRENTICE – PUPIL (1)
By SENIOR / MEDIOR
For MEDIOR / JUNIOR
TARGET
Actively engaging in teaching
Easier tacit knowledge transfer
Structural team member growth

35. MASTER – APPRENTICE – PUPIL (2)
∂ Teaching I will …

36. MASTER – APPRENTICE – PUPIL (3)
1. Teach the teacher
2. Master “teaches” pupil
3. Pupil becomes apprentice
4. Apprentice supports new pupils
5. Apprentice becomes master
∂ … share it you must

37. KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT
IMPLEMENTATION / TOOLS

38. WHERE TO START
 Assign a coordinator
 Create team awareness
 Gather budget
 Analyze your needs
 Implement in phases

39. JUNIORS TAKE THE LEAD
 Absent knowledge
 Important topics
 Seeing the gap

40. PHASE 1
SKILL MATRIX
KNOWLEDGE MATRIX
∂ YELLOW PAPERS ?

41. PHASE 2
TACIT KNOWLEDGE SHARING
Sessions, blogging, open podia
∂ MOTIVATE !!

42. PHASE 2
MASTER – APPRENTICE – PUPIL
Personal attention
∂ Self organized

43. PHASE 3, 4 , *
KNOWLEDGE BASE
Documenting information

44. RECAP
 Self supporting teams
 Awareness
 Willingness
 Tools
∂ Knowledge no longer equals power !!

45. THANKS !
joind.in/4775 || www.slideshare.net/mvbrakel || @mvbrakel