Featured Video: Connecting Knowledge Strategy to Business Strategy

April 17, 2018 Knowledge Architecture

Christopher Parsons of Knowledge Architecture at KA Connect 2017.

With KA Connect 2018 just two weeks away, I thought it would be a good time to review some strategic Knowledge Management (KM) fundamentals.

I spent early 2017 developing a set of approaches and tools designed to help your firm connect your knowledge management strategy to your business strategy. In this talk, I shared my thoughts on answering questions such as:

How do you identify and prioritize business problems to solve with KM?
How do you identify stakeholders for a KM initiative?
How do you set SMART goals for a KM initiative?
How do you develop a KM roadmap?
How do you measure success?

If this is your first time seeing this talk, you should walk away with actionable ideas to connect your knowledge management strategy to your business strategy. If this is a refresher for you, I hope it will get you fired up and prepared for some inspiring conversations with your peers at this year’s conference.

Launching Synthesis @ RS&H

February 15, 2018 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Jennifer Stutts, VP of Communications, Marketing & Strategy
Krystal Modigell, Marketing Communications Specialist

Webinar Summary

A couple years ago, RS&H was faced with a communications and information access problem.

Many of their 800 employees were struggling to find the information they needed to be effective and to understand what was happening across the business. At the same time, RS&H was preparing to onboard 200 – 300 employees. The management team knew they needed better infrastructure to support their growing workforce.

Today, they are meeting these fundamental business needs for 1,100 employees with Blaze, their Synthesis Intranet.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how RS&H:

Introduced Blaze as the go-to place for “all RS&H” news and dialog
Kept employee’s user experience at the center of their design
Used SMART goals to maintain alignment with stakeholders

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights: RS&H’s Knowledge Management Objectives (8:50) and Best Practice 2: Focus on the User (18:40).

Synthesis Spotlight: Online + Offline Learning @ Payette

January 25, 2018 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Hilary Barlow, Architect and Community Manager at Payette

Webinar Summary

Payette is a design firm that specializes in the healthcare, health science, and academic science markets. Maintaining a competitive advantage in rapidly changing markets means that the Payette team must prioritize continuous learning and development. To maintain a competitive edge, team members must engage in a lot of continuous learning.

In her role as Community Manager for Payette’s Big Science Group, Hilary Barlow has answered a difficult question: What does learning look like for highly skilled professionals, many of whom are already experts in their field?

In this webinar, you’ll learn how Hilary:

Identifies hot topics and good teachers
Convenes the Big Science community
Captures key learnings on Synthesis
Engages community members in the process

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights: Introduction to Payette’s Knowledge Groups (9:00) and Big Science’s Monthly Meetings (14:00).

Announcing KA Connect 2018 Speakers + Talks

January 16, 2018 Knowledge Architecture

Today we’re announcing the speaker lineup and program for KA Connect 2018, our annual Knowledge Management Conference for the AEC Industry. KA Connect 2018 will take place at San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Center for the Arts on May 1st and 2nd.

The theme of KA Connect 2018 will be “Building a Learning Organization.”

Senior and emerging leaders from top AEC firms will gather to learn strategies and tactics for building and operating successful knowledge management programs. A wide range of experts will share their knowledge through talks, case studies, and interviews. Our focus will be on organizational learning, featuring topics such as:

Lessons Learned
Learning & Development
Corporate Universities
Best Practices
Process Improvement
Idea Management
Communities of Practice
Internal Communications
Intranets

Attendees will have ample time to network and collaborate with their peers in breakout groups.

You can review the full speaker lineup here and the conference program here.

If you are passionate about helping your AEC firm create, share, and manage knowledge more effectively, this is the conference for you.

We hope you’ll join us.

P.S. Early registration is available through February 3rd. Learn more at http://ka-connect.com/conference.php.

Synthesis Spotlight: Internal Communications @ Shepley Bulfinch

December 12, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Lauren Perdue, Vice President of Human Resources
Sarah Sack, Human Resources Assistant

Webinar Summary

Earlier this year Shepley Bulfinch’s HR team implemented a new process to ensure that the right posts get out at the right time. Now, employees count more than ever on the intranet for important (and fun!) information about opportunities and benefits available to them.

How did they do it? In this webinar, you’ll learn how Shepley Bulfinch’s HR team:

Builds their editorial calendar
Manages upcoming communications
Ensures consistent tone and voice across multiple authors

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights: Why Shepley Bulfinch Improved their Internal Communications Process (07:20) and HR’s Editorial Calendar & Process (12:45).

ENR’s Cover Story: Knowledge Management in the AEC Industry

November 29, 2017 Christopher Parsons

We’re excited to share that ENR’s cover story this week is a broad and interesting overview of how Knowledge Management is impacting the AEC Industry.

The article profiles several AEC firms in the KA Connect community including DLR Group, MSA Professional Services, POWER Engineers, Stantec, and Fluor as well as friends of KA Connect like APQC and Columbia University’s Information and Knowledge Strategy program.

The mission of the annual KA Connect Conference is to “Advance the Practice of Knowledge Management in the AEC Industry.” It is so great to see the AEC KM movement get the visibility it deserves and I think now is a great opportunity for us all to take a moment and reflect on all the progress we’ve made on this journey together.

Thank you to the clients, partners, friends, and employees of Knowledge Architecture who make this community possible.

Here’s to many more years of learning and growing together!

Read the Article

Synthesis Product Update: Fall 2017

November 14, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Zucu Bermann Ingersoll, Director of Product
Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO

Webinar Summary

In this session, we:

Demo …

Format text and add media to comments
Custom date ranges in Content Optimization

Share designs for …

“Save as Draft” for posts
Two new tabs in Content Optimization: Views and Users

Reveal what we learned during user research for …

“Synthesis Video
Post Analytics

Video Collection: Critical Knowledge Transfer

October 18, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Jim Martin of Shepley Bulfinch at KA Connect 2017.

You are surrounded by knowledge in your AEC firm. If you reflect for a few minutes, you’ll likely agree that not all of that knowledge is equal. Some knowledge in your firm is commoditized and easily replaced when people leave the firm. Some knowledge is outdated, wrong, and/or irrelevant, not missed when experts retire. However, there is another category of knowledge which comprises unique, hard-won, experience-based knowledge, which is essential to the success of your firm today, and in the future. Knowledge Management professionals call this “Critical Knowledge.” Critical Knowledge is the high-hanging fruit in your firm, located deep in the brains of your wisest people.

From September of 2016 through April of 2017 Knowledge Architecture sponsored an eight-month research project into Critical Knowledge Transfer. Dorothy Leonard, Chief Advisor of the Leonard-Barton Group and Professor Emerita of the Harvard Business School, led four firms—Shepley Bulfinch, SMMA, Dewberry, and HGA—in this project.

Below you will find Knowledge Architecture’s Critical Knowledge Collection, a boxed-set if you will. This KA Connect talk collection shares the individual experiences of each participating firm, as well as a deeper dive by Dorothy Leonard into the theory and practice of Critical Knowledge Transfer.

By watching these talks we hope you will walk away with a well-rounded perspective of the complex challenge of transferring Critical Knowledge, various Critical Knowledge Transfer strategies, and inspiration to move forward more effectively with Critical Knowledge Transfer within your firm.

Synthesis Spotlight: Essential Content @ Turner Fleischer

September 28, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Ellen Bensky, Principal
Sherry Lay, Graphic Designer
Stephanie Tse, Project Administrator

Webinar Summary

About a year ago, Turner Fleischer faced a tough reality: they were rapidly hiring, but new employees had few written resources to reference. Turner Fleischer responded with a systematic and democratic approach to creating and publishing essential content.

In this webinar, you’ll learn how they:

Captured top-down and bottom-up insight into what essential content was needed
Delegated content creation
Made content easy to find
Solicited feedback from both management and staff
Measured their success

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights: Taking a Bottom Up Approach to Essential Content (23:39) and the Intranet Tour (39:55).

Synthesis Spotlight: Employee + Project Information @ Dewberry

July 20, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Petra Knochenhauer, Marketing Director
Rhonda Lewis, Marketing Information Systems Manager

Webinar Summary

The Dewberry team has succeeded in:

Providing staff with excellent employee and project data
Engaging staff in continuous data improvement

Watch this recording to learn what they did, how they did it, and best practices that emerged through the process.

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights:

Optimizing Employee Education and Credential Data (17:30)
“We’ve got to give someone a way to tell us if there is something wrong with the data.” (28:00)

Introducing the Intranet Maturity Model 2.0

June 15, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Susan Strom, Director of Client Success
Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO
Zucu Bermann Ingersoll, Director of Product

Webinar Summary

This light framework will help you achieve your goals faster by taking the guesswork out of:

Identifying your top priorities and success metrics
Building internal alignment
Developing a tactical roadmap

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two highlights:

KA Strategy Update: Investing in People and Processes (6:10)
Introduction to the Intranet Maturity Model (IMM) 2.0 (11:25)

Synthesis Product Update: Spring 2017

May 23, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Zucu Bermann Ingersoll, Director of Product
Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO

Webinar Summary

On this month’s Office Hours webinar, Christopher Parsons, Founder and CEO, and Zucu Bermann, Director of Product, demo some exciting features that are currently in development.

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to User Tools: Features in Beta (3:50) and Management Tools: Features in Beta (13:00).

Synthesis Spotlight: Essential Content @ Lochner

March 16, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Catherine Curtis, Director of Marketing & Business Development
Hillary Schlehuber, Marketing Communications Manager

Webinar Summary

March 2017’s Office Hours featured a Synthesis Spotlight with Catherine Curtis and Hillary Schlehuber, marketing leaders and intranet champions for LochNet, Lochner’s Synthesis Intranet.

Last year Catherine and Hillary set out to make basic resources, like the IT Handbook and Paid Holiday Calendar, super easy for new employees to find. They launched the LochNet employee resource page twelve months ago and the results are in—new and existing employees love it!

In this webinar you’ll learn what they did, how they did it, and best practices that emerged through the process.

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two intranet tour highlights: Overview of the Employee Resources page (11:50) and Overview of the Marketing Team Manual page (24:00).

Launching Synthesis @ Fuscoe

January 19, 2017 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Jeff Stempson, Director of Information Technology
Brandon Norton, Senior Graphic Designer

Webinar Summary

This month’s Office Hours featured an intranet tour of Fuscoe Engineering’s Synthesis intranet, ARC. Launching a Synthesis intranet in the fall of 2016 was an important milestone in Fuscoe’s knowledge management journey. Highlights of the new intranet include:

Analog Communities of Practice got a digital home
Disconnected and siloed key information about employees and projects is now accessible to all employees in a single system
Employees can now find fundamental information about how work is done at Fuscoe via a single, informative toolbox

In this webinar, Jeff and Brandon give a tour of Arc and share their insights on brand alignment and employee engagement. If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to two intranet tour highlights: Engineering CADD Standards (21:40) and #AskARC (38:45).

Launching Synthesis @ Dewberry

December 15, 2016 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Lisa Cochran, Employee Engagement Specialist

Webinar Summary

Dewberry’s information and communications needs are as diverse as their organization—54 offices, 2000 employees, and over 60 business units. They launched ID, their Synthesis Intranet, at the beginning of 2015 and the business is so happy with it that the intranet team received an internal award of excellence. Yet their intranet only has 6 community sites. Watch the recording to learn how Lisa and the Dewberry team set priorities and managed complexity to keep their intranet simple and easy to use.

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to 4:00 for information about KA Connect 2017’s theme and 18:45 for an overview of ID’s Home Page and Communities.

Synthesis Spotlight: Essential Content @ Mead & Hunt and Dewberry

November 10, 2016 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Pat Peyton, Knowledge Manager, Mead & Hunt
Molly Johnson, Director of Communications, Dewberry

Webinar Summary

This month’s Office Hours featured an introduction to the Essential Content Checklist and interviews with Pat Peyton (Mead & Hunt) and Molly Johnson (Dewberry) about how they’re using Synthesis to improve operational efficiency in their firms.

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to 7:45 for an introduction to the Essential Content Checklist, 16:25 for Pat’s thoughts on how to use the checklist to improve IT and MarComm intranet content and 33:20 for Molly’s thoughts on using the checklist to support project management process reengineering.

Streamline Your Operations with the Essential Content Checklist

November 7, 2016 Zucu Bermann Ingersoll

Clients often ask us, “what content is essential to a successful intranet?”

Because we have built over 100 intranets for architecture, engineering, and construction firms over the last seven years using Synthesis, Knowledge Architecture is uniquely positioned to answer this question.

We find that this question typically arises when a firm is either:

Preparing for the launch of a new intranet, or
Conducting a content audit of an existing intranet

Both of these events provide an opportunity to step back and evaluate how your intranet can give employees what they need, when they need it. Our Essential Content Checklist will help you do just that.

Synthesis Spotlight: Improving the Employee Onboarding Process @ Shepley Bulfinch

July 20, 2016 Knowledge Architecture

Featured Guests

Jim Martin, Chief Information Officer
PJ Centofanti, Senior Graphic Designer

Webinar Summary

This month’s Office Hours featured an interview with Jim Martin and PJ Centofanti from Shepley Bulfinch about how they are using Synthesis to improve the employee onboarding experience at Shepley Bulfinch.

If you only have a few minutes, we recommend jumping to 6:30 for an introduction to the new resource on Establishing a Firmwide Q+A Program Using Synthesis and 12:00 for an interview with Jim Martin and PJ Centofanti from Shepley Bulfinch about how they are using Synthesis to improve the employee onboarding experience at Shepley Bulfinch.

Establishing a Firmwide Q+A Program Using Synthesis

July 7, 2016 Susan Strom

In this article you’ll learn…

5 Benefits of a Q+A Program
3 Key Roles in a Q+A Program
9 Steps to Roll Out a Q+A Program at Your Firm

“If you can teach people to help themselves you get an additive effect: they not only help each other; they grow themselves as experts. Essentially, you have little experts pop up left and right and they sort of grow on their own. Over time, you raise people up from basic competency towards expert level.” — Jack Chaffin, LMN Architects.

Four years ago LMN Architects hired Jack Chaffin to lead the firm’s transition from CAD-based MicroStation to Revit. They knew they had an expert to guide the process because he’d led similar transitions twice before. Jack’s expertise met such a critical need that after a short while, Jack found that “help desk issues were taking up an increasingly larger portion of [his] energy; taking focus away from other strategic activities” related to the transition.

When it comes to this problem, LMN is not alone. According to research published by Rob Cross, Reb Rebele, and Adam Grant in HBR, “up to a third of value-added collaborations [in any organization] come from only 3% to 5% of employees.” As a result, often the people who are most in demand (those with the answers) are becoming increasingly over-taxed by the burden of responding to requests for their expertise. The really scary thing is that in most organizations leadership doesn’t even know who their top collaborators are. As many as 50% of an organization’s top collaborators can’t even be identified by the organization.

Enter a Q+A program. Increasingly, we’re seeing more and more firms successfully implement formal Q+A programs inside Synthesis to identify and activate subject matter experts. We’ve learned from firms like LMN, brainstormed what this looks like at previous Synthesis Workshops, and shared some successful programs through our Office Hours webinar series. In this article we’re going to share the benefits of a Q+A program along with some of the roles and steps necessary to roll one out in your firm.

Introducing Synthesis Search Optimization

July 5, 2016 Knowledge Architecture

Search Optimization is featured in Synthesis 5.2, the latest release of our social intranet for architects and engineers. The goal of Search Optimization is to provide you with the insights and tools you need to realize best in class intranet search.

Analyze Underperforming Terms

Detailed Search Logs and Search Sessions will help you understand why certain search terms perform poorly and provide insights on how to improve them.

Provide the Right Content

Search Log analysis helps take the guesswork out of determining what content your users really want.

Fine Tune Your Search Engine

Best Bets and Synonyms allow you to immediately improve the relevance of your intranet’s search results.

Measure + Benchmark Performance

Search Scores, Testing, Key Stats, and Benchmarking allow you to evaluate your intranet’s search performance.

Are you ready to optimize your intranet’s search?

Synthesis 5.2 is now available. Contact us to get started.