Why knowledge management matters to the RAAF …

The retention of the right knowledge and the ability for subsequent generations of warfighters to build on that knowledge is the key to being an effective Air Force.

AIRCDRE John Blackburn, DGPP-AF Air Power Conference 2000

Introducing Knowledge Management Into Complex Organisations

Factors Essential for Success

Who knows useful things, not many things, is wise – Aeschylus

Overview

 CDF Fellowship  Research tenure limited to 12 months  Presentation concentrates on work related to final report not DIT

Ours is the age which is proud of machines that think, and suspicious of men who try to – H. Mumford Jones

Problem Statement

 Need for action driven by changes in environment  DER/DRP    Erosion of technological advantage Stated pursuit of ‘knowledge edge’ Development of Capability and Group Management Concept

The reasonable man accommodates himself to the ways of the world.

The unreasonable man attempts to get the world to accommodate itself to his ways. Progress depends on unreasonable men – George Bernard Shaw

Knowledge Edge

Our highest capability development priority therefore is the ‘knowledge edge’, that is, the effective exploitation of information technologies to

allow us to use our relatively small force to maximum effectiveness – Australia’s Strategic Policy 1997

O O A Ours O D Decision Superiority A Theirs O D

Capability & Group Management Concept

Capability and Group Management Concept

 Multi axis approach  Focus on outputs in terms of capability   Consider resources across all capabilities Develop long term plans  Dynamic networked teams

Knowledge resides in the user and not in the collection [of information].

It is how the user reacts to a collection of information that matters – Peter Drucker

Intel Log C2 JCSE Intranet JISS SDSS Extranet CAMM ROMAN Spt People DRMS PMKEYS

Information Sources

RAAF Knowledge Management Concept

RAAF Portal

Better, Faster Decisions

Knowledge Management

… caters to the critical issues of organisational adaption, survival and competence in the face of increasingly discontinuous environmental change … Essentially, it embodies organisational process that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing capacity of information technologies and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings – Yogesh Malhotra

RAAF KM Strategy

 Pilot Site AFHQ   100 users Tools   Culture Structure  ADFA CDF Fellowship   Research AFHQ ‘Guinea Pigs’  Phase 2 RAAF   ADHQ (?) ACSS

Constraints

  Technical Architecture  DRN SOE – MS Exchange, NT4, IIS    Bandwidth limitations Deployments…….

Dispersed data repositories Operational Architecture  Balance RAAF vs Joint requirements  Not Canberra or garrison centric!

Who did we talk to…

       C3ID DISG DAO META Group Delphi Group ASIO Vendors / Consultants

Where is this heading…

  AFHQ Pilot Site  Decision Aug-Sep 00   Move to other parts of Russell..

ADSC Paper – CDF Fellowship RAAF  Funding…?

    

Lessons Learnt…

High level support critical  structural and cultural change Resource requirements significant  tools, infrastructure and management High rate of technological change  tools rapidly evolving User requirements change No ‘silver bullet’/corporate solution

Questions

Research should be fun rather than a grind and one should believe in its relevance and value – Peter Keen