For any project knowledge is both a necessary input and a valuable output. As you plan or propose a new activity, project, or program, make the most of knowledge by asking yourself these 10 questions:
“Does my proposal or plan describe…
1. …what knowledge will be crucial to meeting project objectives—that is, what knowledge is necessary for success?
2. …how this crucial knowledge will be obtained, both initially and throughout the life of the project? What will be acquired from outside? What is already available in the organization?
3. …who will be responsible for maximizing knowledge flows, acquisition, and sharing in support of project objectives? Where that function will be located in the organization? What are the specific functions of this knowledge manager?
4. …both the human and technical systems for identifying, collecting, storing, analyzing, and sharing crucial information and knowledge?
5. …how relevant knowledge will be available to support decision-making at the moment needed?
6. …what encourages, rewards, and supports evidence-based decision-making (that is, use of knowledge for decision-making)?
7. …how the project will plow back the lessons of its own experience in order to reap continuous improvements?
8. …how knowledge generated by the project will be passed on to future generations of projects and shared with other projects?
9. …what encourages, rewards, and supports knowledge sharing within the project and between the project and others?
10. …the budget for knowledge acquisition and knowledge sharing (i.e., for all of the above)?"
Knowledge is a resource. Manage it!
Developed by Ward Rinehart for the INFO Project, Center for Communication Programs, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
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