The document discusses the role of project management offices (PMOs) in facilitating knowledge management within organizations. It outlines six aspects of effective knowledge management: 1) having a social dimension that connects people, 2) focusing on knowledge flows between people rather than static knowledge stocks, 3) demonstrating how knowledge management makes a difference, 4) enabling improvement and learning, 5) cultivating a knowledge-sharing culture, and 6) recognizing the importance of knowledge management. The document argues that PMOs should consider how to embed these aspects of knowledge management into their activities and address potential obstacles to sharing knowledge within projects and programs.

1. The role of PMOs in KM:
Sharing knowledge in
projects and programmes
Eileen Roden and Judy Payne
Knowledge SIG Conference, 12 March 2013,
Solihull
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2. Purpose of the session
 To understand the
role the PMO can play
in facilitating
programme and
project knowledge
management within
an organisation
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3. 3

4. What makes KM good?
1. A social (people!) dimension
2. Focus on knowledge flows (not stocks)
3. It makes a difference
4. Improvement and learning happen
5. A knowledge-sharing culture
6. Recognising that it’s important
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5.  A social (people!) dimension
 Connect people to other
people, not just to
information – this adds
context
 Tacit as well as explicit
knowledge
 Without this, it’s
probably information
management
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6.  Focus on knowledge flows
 Knowledge doesn’t exist
without people
 You can’t actually manage
‘knowledge’ – you can
encourage it to flow
 It’s not an exercise in
collecting (or an IT project!)
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7.  It makes a difference
 Good KM helps people do
things better (and do better
things...)
 Difficult to establish cause
and effect relationships
 Measure the impact of KM,
not web page hits...
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8.  Improvement and learning happen
 Better understanding
(learning) – including
learning about how to learn
– is a KM goal
 Learning is voluntary
 Don’t try to mandate
learning!
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9.  A knowledge-sharing culture
 You can’t change culture
– it develops on its own
 You can do things
differently to help it
along
 Trust, time, fairness,
autonomy, diversity...
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10.  Recognising that it’s important
 Organisations that are good
at KM recognise its
importance
 Look at things through a
knowledge lens
 Make it clear that it’s good to
spend time on learning and
knowledge sharing
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11. Embedding effective knowledge
management into PMO activities
 For each activity, consider
each dimension and
discuss:
– How can this be done
effectively
– Any potential obstacles
– How the obstacles can be
overcome
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12. Recap
1. A social (people!) dimension
2. Focus on knowledge flows (not stocks)
3. It makes a difference
4. Improvement and learning happen
5. A knowledge-sharing culture
6. Recognising that it’s important
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13. We’re mad so you don’t have to be...
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