The Complete Idiot's Guide to Knowledge Management

Don't let the name of this book fool you. Dr. Rumizen is a KM expert with outstanding knowledge and writing skills. She discusses developing a strategic approach, building an infrastructure, dealing with change and culture, measuring and assessing, and avoiding common pitfalls. Rumizen's "Getting Started" (Part 2) chapters are very insightful. The chapter on communities of practice alone is worth the cost of the book. She also includes three chapters on organizational culture, and how to deal with this possible "showstopper." There are also four chapters on "measuring," which are very helpful for practitioners. She concludes with a valuable appendix with a list of books and articles. Excellent book! Michael Beitler Author of "Strategic Organizational Learning"

I work on implementing KM strategy, and always have this book at hand. It is an excellent, practical guide which I couldn't do without. I own many bookson KM and this is by far the most useful one. Well done to the author!

I'm new to a Knowledge Management role and was searching desperately for a book to give me more background information... this was it! Concise, very easy to read and with some inspiring examples about how KM can work within a variety of environments.With this book by my side, I'm now ready to start trying to make a difference!!

New to knowledge management? Already deep in the throes of a knowledge initiative, but hitting the sticky spots? Then this is a must read. As a leader and strategist in two successful implementations Melissie Rumizen obviously knows the realities of bringing this new management focus into an organization. Yet, she brings deep understanding of the principles as theories as one who was in on the new thinking around knowledge and intangibles from the beginning. Everything in this book is tried, true, and respected in the field. The author has synthesized and simplied the best practices and theory from a variety of sources and experiences, laying out the path forward in a clear, direct and good humored style that will make this one of the key guides for successful knowledge initiatives.

When I sat down in the airplane to read Idiot's Guide to Knowledge Management I told myself "I hope I can stay awake". Boy, was I surprized. This KM book kept me energised and musing to myself on both the outgoing and return flights. Ms. Rumizen leads the reader in a path to greater understanding and definition of some of the technical terms that we've all heard, but not understood, in the Knowledge Management movement. There are an appropriate number of case histories and references to this phenonenon that has basically been a hot topic for the past six years. As a witness to most of the conferences she refers to and the leaders she qoutes, I can truthfully say she told it like it is. I think this book can serve as a Primer for KM 101 and will provide a great overview of all the aspects of deploying a KM stategy in your company. I particlaly like the tact she took in Part 2 "Getting Started" by addressing the sponsorship issues and the infrastructure issues. Part 4 "The Show Stopper of Culture" is also strong as it recognises that the company culture is the one item that drives all behavior including knowledge mangement. eanablers. I would say buy it, read it, chuckle and then go do something.