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-AFAir Power Conference 2000

Why knowledge management matters to the

RAAF …

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

D

A Ours

O

O

D

A TheirsDecision

Superiority

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 teamsKnowledge 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

Capability & Group Management Concept

Information Sources

CAMM

ROMAN

JISS

RAAF Portal

Better, Faster

Decisions

JCSE

PMKEYS

Log

Intel

Spt

C2

People

RAAF KnowledgeManagement Concept

SDSS

Extranet

DRMS

Intranet

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