Knowledge Management

What is Knowledge Management?
Knowledge Management, as we all know, is not a technology or a set of methodologies, it’s truly a practice or discipline that involves people, processes and technology. If implemented correctly with cultural buy-in from users and management, plus clearly defined goals, a KM initiative can improve the productivity and efficiency of an entire organization.
Knowledge Management for Service and Support
A successful knowledge management initiative within a help desk can reduce training time and speed new employee ramp up. Customers and end-users also benefit when they have direct access to a knowledge base to solve their own issues without ever contacting a helpdesk.
Ten Principles for Knowledge Management Success
1. Knowledge Management is a discipline. - Knowledge management is a discipline. Creating content is not a one-time project. Also, over time the content must be updated
and supplemented as new products or services are supported.
2. One champion is not enough - To be successful, your project must have several champions within the organization. These are individuals that believe in the project,
enthusiastically advocate it and have the clout to “make things happen.”
3. Cultural change isn’t automatic - Include some people from the various groups that would directly or indirectly use the system. Sometimes there is a fear that knowledge management will be used to
replace people. If staff thinks that is what we are trying to do, then we really need to address that head-on.
4. Create a change management plan - If employees are not already sharing information, you will need a change management plan because we are asking people to do their jobs differently. As part of the overall change management plan you need to update job descriptions, feedback sessions and performance reviews to reflect the new workflow. Neglecting to make these changes may foster acceptance issues with your team members.
5. Stay strategic - Knowledge management is a strategic endeavor, not just a project. With KM you are never really done; you initiate it and you build it and then its online and you maintain it.
6. Pick a topic, go in-depth, keep it current - Pick one area that needs improvement or has limited resources, and then build a robust knowledge base for that subject matter.
7. Don’t get hung up on the limitations - Certain types of knowledge are very well suited to quickly harvesting into a knowledge base. KM initiative could be somewhat limited because of the nature of complex knowledge, and thankfully we will always need human expertise
8. Set expectations or risk extinction - A big pitfall is the failure of knowledge management proponents in helping executive management set appropriate expectations. In addition to setting management expectations w.r.t. KM we have to set customer and end-user expectations.
9. Integrate KM into existing systems - When selecting a KM system, consider systems that have open architectures and proven integrations into existing help desk tools to ensure a successful implementation. Integrate reporting capabilities where possible to best understand how the combined systems are affecting the effectiveness of your support operations.
10. Educate your self-service users – Finally you need to educate your self-service users on how to find and access support information online to ensure a satisfying experience. There are many ways to “push” your selfservice out to your end-user audience. Encourage users to visit your online support site by making it easy to find and access the knowledge base.

Sudhanshu Goyal

Factors that make a book, a sucess

In the business of book publishing many factors come together to make a book a success.

First there’s the author who may not always feel very creative, but can find inspiration anywhere:

 

Sometimes an author can get some hidden help:

 

Once the manuscript is written, it has to be accepted by a publisher.

Here’s where the author first gets direct feedback on his manuscript:

 

Or a more polite response:

 

Sometimes an author takes a more aggressive approach:

 

Once published, a successful author may attract fans of all shapes and sizes:

 

As well as have a significant impact!

 

At the end of the day, it’s great to work in an industry where one keeps learning and has a few laughs along the way!

Cheers,

Priyamvada

World Book Fair 2010

 

  

Samira Junaid

How to deal with rude behavior ?

What do you do when someone behaves very rudely towards you?
Get upset
React rudely back
Get frustrated
Run away and avoid the person or situation
Blame the person
Preach to the person
None of these will in any way strengthen you.

Then what are the options? See rude behaviour in this light:

It indicates the intensity of their commitment
It indicates their stress and insensitivity
It projects the upbringing of the person
It shows a behavioural pattern
It shows lack of knowledge
It shows lack of observation of the mind and its sensations
It shows you behaviour to avoid
It is an opportunity for you to welcome and absorb the rudeness
It strengthens your mind
It reveals the love that you are as unconditional

The next time when someone is rude to you, just give back a broad smile. If you can digest their rudeness, nothing whatsoever can shake you.

Aman Pilani

Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna

Meri Dilli Meri Yamuna is a project for making a difference to our city, Delhi-NCR. It started as an initiative of The Art of Living, but now, is a full blown Citizen’s Action Plan. Dozens of NGOs and Companies have already joined as Partners and more are joining. We are in touch with various Government departments of India, Delhi to join hands and support. Join Facebook to Support

Delhi-NCR needs to be cleaned up – India is at the centre of the world today, poised for global leadership in future – we can’t remain dirty, something needs to happen. Commonwealth Games are in October, and it would be great to present a clean city to the world.

Over the next few weeks, we expect to have 100+ partners, who will together inspire a million citizens to come out and clean Delhi in September 2010. Everyone will be contributing – people and leaders from all sectors of the society will be joining, including the NGOs; Corporate and Business community; Resident Welfare Associations; Defence and Allied Services; Schools, Colleges, Universities; Leaders from Art, Culture, Music, Literature, Theatre and Films; Media, Government, and every citizen of Delhi. Click here to download MDMY materials

We plan to begin with Yamuna first, our sacred river. Yamuna is immensely important for the economic, ecological and basic needs of the region and its people – but, over the years, it has become one of the most endangered waterways in India. Numerous attempts have not had much success, and there is confusion about what will happen in future.We need to join hands and increase the awareness about cleaning of the river Yamuna – more than half of 3.6 billion tonnes of sewerage produced in Delhi everyday flows into Yamuna untreated! And we are dependent on Yamuna for more than 60% of the water needed by the Delhi region. We are organizing an event on March 7, 2010 in Delhi where the citizens and leaders from all sectors and areas would be participating. This will be followed by a massive cleaning of the banks of Yamuna between March 8-14 by the citizens to demonstrate that ‘it is possible to make a difference’.

 Aman Pilani

Forgot to Live!!

Marketing Team

tryin' to be cockney ... yeh

Pallavi Narayan

tryin' to be cockney ... yeh

hah … so ya fancy yerself a poet?

well … lemme tell ya now

ya leerin' on de borders of time past

still … heh … what ya will

ya will be stuck dere

intimidated emaciated

bewildered into chaotic silence.

ya wonderin' how me know

all dose dere big woords?

accent, mate, accent …

jus' da bloddy refinement

peeks thru' the ol' visage.

de writin' world is dere

out in da middle of dat dere centre

‘n' ya stuck in here wid me in time past

in dis here periphery

of formal line ‘n' a progressive story.

don'cha know ya got no chance?

in dese here ruptures ‘n' dose dibisions

dese endless revisions

of how to mis-create creativity?

wazz dat? no definishuns?

den why ya hangin' dere

by a thread, when ya feel ya

can make it big instead?

don' worry … be happy ...

don' eat no bread, starve yer gullet

heh … here de world is bright ‘n' gay

here are alway days of may

come gader dese here daisies

string ‘em on yer lover's knee …

for ya need a lullabie

no one's gonna sing fer me …

me will neva make dat damn historee

Pallavi Narayan

fer me will neva be a great writer

‘cuz of dere darn standar's … heh …

ya won't a fit in … me tellin' ya

Tristram Twist

Hello everyone,

Listed below are Pallavi's poems that were published in Literary Paritantra (Systems): An International Journal on Literature and Theory, vol. 1, nos 3 & 4, Autumn, 2009. The home page of the site is http://www.literaryparitantra.com/LPHome.html.

It has taken a great deal of persuasion to make Pallavi agree for these to be put up on the blog. So, send in your comments and congratulations directly to her at pallavi.narayan@tandfindia.com

Shafina

Pallavi Narayan

Tristram Twist
 
T  H  E  
 
L   I   F   E  
 
A  N  D  
 
O P I N I O N S  
 
O F  
 
TRISTRAM SHANDY,  
G E N T L E M A N  
 
 
Tarassei tous Anthropous ou ta Pragmata,  
alla ta peri ton Pragmaton, Dogmata 
 
V O L. I  
 
THE THIRD EDITION 
 
L O N D O N  
 
Printed for R. and J. DODSLEY in Pall-Mall.  
M.DCC.LX.  
 
 
Consider my life and opinions —  
so Tristram said, and in his  
autobiography we read a multiplicity  
of Shandy dominions, one in  
another's vicinity, chock-full  
of digressions and Tristram's  
visions and views of his family.  
Walter Shandy looms large with  
his Tristra-paedia, a halter  
on the poor boy's educational growth,  
one which he appears to have  
overcome with élan, as we see  
from the plan of the many  
volumes of digressive-progressive  
... what shall we call it — a novel,  
a book, a hobby horse, a something  
regressive, as were Uncle Toby's  
military fortifications, urged on  
by Trim, metaphors for conquering  
nations in the clear eye of  
Widow Wadman, who with a speck of dirt  
real or pretended, captured Toby's  
heart distended. However, easily  
revoked the proposal, after the  
long tussle over the exact location  
of the ... hush, should I mention it,  
for fear dainty ears will be offended.  
Nay, it was the groin, which leads us  
back to baby Tristram's whine when  
circumcised by the sash of a window,  
he wailed as loud as when the nose,  
(which is, by the by, a phallic symbol)  
was flattened by Slop's forceps, then  
rebuilt with a bridge which mirrored  
the seige Toby was involved in, the one  
he didn't win. And Tristram, to flee  
Death, traipsed over Europe, fled  
the burgeoning number of Tristrams,  
rejoiced in his blossoming wisdoms  
at recognizing this phenomenon, and  
before the fascination with my own  
art gets to me, I'll here end  
this tiny history, of fastidious  
gallantry, a couple of blank pages,  
Sterne's genius and the protagonist's  
rising obsession with his own insanity.  
For the mind is a maze, with several  
false starts and stoppages, and may laze  
on events we would most like to forget,  
and muse on those that haven't occurred yet.  
 
Tristram Shandy was written in nine volumes between 1759 and 1767 by Lawrence Sterne.

Never Give Up!! - Ramaswamy Seshadari, Mumbai

By Ramaswamy Seshadari, Mumbai