Nick Milton, Knoco Ltd
IAPG - Primeras Jornadas de Gestión del
Conocimiento en Exploración y Producción
13 June 2008
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

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Nick Milton
Geologist by training
KM consultant by vocation
Director of Knoco Ltd
7 years working KM in BP
9 years as consultant to a variety of companies and industries
Based in England nick.milton@knoco.co.uk
www.knoco.co.uk
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

1.
Knowledge management is a component discipline of good management practice; the component that drives continuous improvement
2.
Focus on the business outcome for your company. Be clear on the drivers for KM. Support the business outcome, and nothing else.
3.
Focus on the critical knowledge, and manage the knowledge of highest value.
4.
Technology is part (but not all) of the answer
5.
The KM "system" needs to be complete, and performance managed. You can’t “half do” knowledge management
6.
Accountabilities are key. Knowledge needs to be looked after by people with defined roles and accountabilities.
7.
Embed KM in the business process, with clear minimum conditions of satisfaction.
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

Apply
Knowledge Performance
Learn
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Data
A pressure reading, in one place, at one time
Information
Data structured in such a way as to “tell you something”
Knowledge?
What does this mean?
What action should I take?
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Knowledge Management (KM) is the management ‘system’ that supports the creation, sharing, validation, application and refreshing of knowledge.
(Definition from BP)
People
Process
Technology
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Contract Mgt
Knowledge Mgt
Safety Mgt
Cost Mgt
Project
Risk Mgt
Document Mgt
Quality Mgt
Schedule Mgt
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A project is a carefully defined set of activities that use resources ( money , people , materials , energy , space , provisions , communication , motivation , etc.) to achieve the project goals and objectives.
Knowledge
Knowledge
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KM is a key component of good management practice. Therefore
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It needs discipline and rigour
It needs to be a business requirement
It can be governed the same way as other disciplines
And it needs integrating with the other disciplines
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a) Operational efficiency
$
Time
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b) Operational consistency
Unit d
Unit c
Unit b
Unit a
0
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10 20 30 40
Time
Quality
Cost

c) Demographics
35 60
30
50
40
25
20
30
15
20
10
10
5
0
21-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 40-54 55-60
Challenge 1 – decreasing the time to competence
0
21-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 40-54 55-60
Challenge 2 – retention of the critical knowledge
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Operational efficiency
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Focus on learning from projects, and cross-project transfer – Example, BP
Operational consistency
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Focus on learning from operations, and the development and deployment of operational standards and best practices – Example, Schlumberger, Halliburton
Decreasing time to competence
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Focus on development of excellent training and reference systems – Example, developing-world companies,
Schlumberger
Retention of Critical Knowledge
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Focus on the development of Knowledge Assets from the departing experts – Example, Shell
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

“The InTouchSupport.com system in Schlumberger is our flagship solution.
It cost $160 million
It saves us $200 million each year
It cuts 95% from the time it takes to answer a technical question
It provides 24x7 technical and operational support for
Schlumberger technology”
InTouch service is built on a number of elements:
•the Schlumberger secure global network infrastructure, a single portal into the technical resource base
•technical helpdesks located at technology centers in London and
Houston
•validated knowledge repository in a centralised database.
Mike Atkinson
Head of KM
Schlumberger/Sema UK
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

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What knowledge do you need to manage?
What knowledge will deliver the greatest value?
What is the strategic knowledge for your organisation?
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You don’t need to manage it all with equal rigour!
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

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High cost repetitive activity
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Offshore drilling
Development projects
Business critical activity
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Service delivery
Production operations
Growth activity
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Replicating proven business in a growing market
Breakthrough innovation
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New products, new markets
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

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Make sure your critical knowledge is owned and maintained
Ask yourself – “who looks after this knowledge?”
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Company experts?
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Communities of Practice?
Functional departments?
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

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Company objective – Growth
Growth Market – the developing world
Key knowledge – how to market, distribute and sell product in the developing world
Solution – small focused community, charged with developing and deploying this knowledge
Result - turnover doubled from $950m to
$1.8bn, share of profits risen from 6.6% to
10%
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“Technology is the answer”
“Technology is not the answer”
“Technology is part of the answer”
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Technology to store and find validated knowledge, and new lessons
Technology to find and connect people
Technology to discuss new knowledge and ideas
Technology to distribute new knowledge
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A corporation of communicators!
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BBC Gateway Intranet – a reference and elearning library
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“Connect” – a tool to find individuals with knowledge, anywhere in the organisation
Talk.Gateway – discussion forums and questions/answer forums on technical topics
Blogs and Wikis as a way of publishing new knowledge
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Push
Model copyright BP
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Pull

Business units and projects
The knowledge management system needs to address knowledge in 2 dimensions
1. Within the projects and business
2. Between and across the projects and business
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Access and
Apply
Best Practice
Activity
Review and capture
New Learning
Validate and update
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Knowledge Management needs to operate both within the business teams, and across the business teams
The loop needs to be closed, between creation of the learning, and re-use of the learning.
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

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MW Kellogg hold post-project retrospects
These are followed by “Validation and
Distillation” meetings with high-level functional chiefs
Immediate lessons for other teams are identified, and shared
Any necessary changes to company practice are agreed and made
(text courtesy of MW Kellogg)
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

Executive KM team
Division 1 Division 2
Head of
Function 1
Head of
Function 2
Business unit 1
Project 1
Business unit 2
Project 2
SME 1 Community 2
Accountability for compliance with
KM expectations in the line
Accountability for maintaining the corporate knowledge
Accountability for providing KM capability, and for monitoring the two accountabilities above
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Knowledge management will work when
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The necessary roles are in place,
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People are clear about their role,
People are assessed against their role
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

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13 online communities of practice (SIGN –
Shell International Global Networks)
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Each network has
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One global coordinator, to run the network
A number of designated subject matter experts, to gather and package the knowledge
One designated focal point per operating unit, to be the link between the network and the operating unit
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Create KM plan
Update KM plan
Knowledge capture
Team learning
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If people know the expectations for KM activity, then they are more likely to comply
KM activity, like other project management activity, has a timetable, a rhythm, a proactivity and predictability
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

As part of “Beyond the best Common Process” minimum conditions of satisfaction – every significant well will
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Create a knowledge management plan to access lessons
Capture and share lessons at the end of the well and may
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Hold Peer Assists on critical areas of knowledge
Capture knowledge after hole sections/casing runs using
After Action reviews
Make use of the drilling community forum
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

1.
Knowledge management is a component discipline of good management practice; the component that drives continuous improvement
2.
Focus on the business outcome for your company. Be clear on the drivers for KM. Support the business outcome, and nothing else.
3.
Focus on the critical knowledge, and manage the knowledge of highest value.
4.
Technology is part (but not all) of the answer
5.
The KM "system" needs to be complete, and performance managed. You can’t “half do” knowledge management
6.
Accountabilities are key. Knowledge needs to be looked after by people with defined roles and accountabilities.
7.
Embed KM in the business process, with clear minimum conditions of satisfaction.
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved

nick.milton@knoco.co.uk
www.knoco.co.uk
© Knoco Ltd – all rights reserved