Preface
Knowledge management (KM) is a field that is now reaching maturity.
In the academic world, KM has established itself as an autonomous field, with a constant and impressive growth in the number of academic publications devoted to it, with dozens of international scientific journals dealing with the subject, with a large number of congresses throughout the world and with the creation of dedicated learned societies. In France and in the French-speaking world, it is AGeCSO (Association pour la Gestion des Connaissances dans la Société et les Organisations) that brings together research laboratories interested in this field. I helped to create this association and had the honor of being its first president. This active association is now recognized and it organizes an annual congress (in France or Quebec), the 12th of which was held in France (Clermont-Ferrand) in 2019.
In the economic world, KM has gradually taken its place in companies and organizations. In some organizations, new knowledge management processes have been put in place, specific structures have been created around this theme, specific expectations have been integrated into strategic objectives, etc. Gradually, the economic world is adapting to this famous “knowledge economy”, which represents the economy of the future. After hesitant and often chaotic beginnings, KM is also maturing in companies. A strong structuring element is the arrival of international standards, which now guide the KM approach of companies around the world. These include section 7.1.6 of ISO 9001:2015, the IAEA’s nuclear safety standards and, above all, ISO 30401, which defines the requirements for a knowledge management system. The ISO 30401 standard was published in November 2018 for the English version and in January 2019 for the French version.
The road towards KM maturity has been long and sometimes difficult. I started it more than 20 years ago, first at the University of Bordeaux, until 1991, when I started with artificial intelligence, then at the CEA (Commissariat à l’Énergie Atomique et aux Energies Alternatives), where I was in charge of a knowledge management unit from 1994 (we were not yet talking about knowledge management at the time!), until 2000. It is in particular by working on large and fascinating projects in this organization that the first versions of the MASK method discussed in this book were developed. From 2003, I was able to continue my work on KM at the Institut Mines-Télécom and collaborate on the NKM (Nuclear Knowledge Management) project of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
In 1999, I participated in the creation of a professional association, the Club Gestion des Connaissances, a French knowledge management club which I chaired for 17 years. This association, whose founding members are PSA Peugeot Citroën, Microsoft France, Cofinoga and Bull/Osis, brings together some 50 very diverse companies in 2019. Its objectives are to promote inter-sectoral exchanges, develop a network of contacts and build a shared operational reference system. After 20 years of existence and work, the Club has developed a KM methodological reference framework widely used by its members and which has served as a working document in the IAEA and ISO 30401 standardization commissions. It can therefore be said that the Knowledge Management Club has contributed, at both the national and international levels, to the maturity of the field in general.
At the dawn of the 2020s, which are beginning to change the (almost paradigmatic) framework of knowledge management, it seemed useful to me to draw the lessons learned from this journey, so as not to reinvent elements that have already been the subject of much reflection and experimentation. It is a bit like applying the principles of knowledge management to yourself!
A first step was to establish, in the light of these lessons, a theoretical and a practical framework for the field. This is the subject of the first book, Knowledge Management: The Creative Loop, published in 2018 by Wiley/ISTE [ERM 18a]. This book does indeed have two distinct parts: one on the theory of KM and one on the practice of KM.
To go further and satisfy even more KM practitioners in organizations, it seemed useful to Pierre Saulais and myself to illustrate this first book with real cases, which I experienced with other actors in research, industry and/or the Club Gestion des Connaissances. This was not an easy task. It was necessary to search for documents sometimes well buried in the corners of hard disks, in storage places more or less improbable or to call upon more or less recent memories (including mine)! It was necessary to compile, reread, rewrite and structure the content according to the plan in Part 2 of the book [ERM 18a], in order to ensure its true illustration. Two tools have helped us considerably in this task. The first tool is the basis of the CNRS’s open HAL archives, where I have deposited the original writings concerning the corresponding cases included in this book. Thus, the reader will be able to freely consult the additions desired by referring to the HAL identifiers provided in the bibliography. The second tool is, of course, the KM methodological reference framework for Club Gestion des Connaissances, which includes many case studies and from which we have extracted some of the most significant studies.
To make the link with [ERM 18a], we have written an introductory chapter using the KM framework and, at the beginning of each chapter dedicated to a case study theme, we have taken it upon ourselves to provide a brief introduction to the subject dealt with in that theme.
We still have to thank the many people who are mentioned in the references, with whom I collaborated and/or who created these applications, leaving behind testimonies that will undoubtedly inspire the next generation of KM.
We hope that this set of cases will be enlightening for KM practitioners, who will be able to discover the innovative possibilities offered by structured and equipped approaches, outside the box.
Jean-Louis ERMINE
Honorary President of the Club Gestion des Connaissances and
Honorary President of the Association pour la Gestion des Connaissances dans la Société et les Organisations
January 2020
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