Knowledge Management Practice at Mindtree

KM Practice at Mindtree Mindtree visit: 10th September 2007 Presentation by Raj Datta Mindtree he said believes in a holistic KM Approach. It is important to cover the entire life cycle of knowledge when we think of any Knowledge management initiative in an organization. And to do so we need to recognize the spiral nature of the knowledge and the interdependencies. The 2 types of KM approaches are Control:the organization monitors the KM database and the quality of content generated.

Community:The communities of knowledge automatically filter out junk using peer reviews which is a more transparent process. Mindtree approach to build a KM solution • He said that people are naturally motivated to share. • KM is an emergent phenomenon • Knowledge is not produced like manufacture goods • If control is softer there will be more self organization and collaboration • Environment and culture play in important role in KM • A high focus on the needs of the Knowledge worker is essential • Change is enabled, not forced.

KM goal at Mindtree : To establish systems , Process and Culture that helps to continuously build their intellectual capital. Intellectual capital can be found in 3 forms • Knowledge of the people/individuals of the organization. • Knowledge contained in the organizational structures, processes, social networks. • Knowledge contained in the interfaces between the organization and its clients. KM is socio technical in nature. A good and effective KM practice can influence the organization in the following ways | | | |Better Quality | | | |Higher productivity | | | |Innovative Solutions |And therefore |Higher Customer Satisfaction | |Faster response time |———–> |Higher Employee Satisfaction | |Increased Speed of delivery |lead to | | |Shorter learning curves | | | Knowledge lifecycle The cycle given below is called GALIS. The Get and Share parts of the cycle are enabled using a centralized repository. Certain types of Knowledge can be imparted by Training. But certain other types of knowledge are emergent. Knowledge that cannot be shared by training needs to be shared and communicated using other means such as • Storytelling • Roleplay • Simulation • Games Stories are the way in which the core values of the company are passed on to the associates.

This helps associates understand the levels of integrity, right behavior etc expected from them. The KM journey of Mindtree involves various of SocioTechnical solutions. They are illustrated below Osmosis:It the annual technical fest conducted my Mindtree in which Mindtree minds share their technical project knowledge and demo products/projects to the rest of the company. Communities:Groups of people with common interests who get together and discuss issues pertaining to their areas of interest and thereby enable knowledge sharing. These groups have their own website supported by KM group and make their own membership rules. They moderate themselves and are not controlled by any external agent. Examples: OOAD, Japanese, Innovation etc

KnowledgeNet, Project Space, Connected Minds and Open Mind are all portals, some which facilitate information exchange and discussions within the organization and some with the clients. KnowledgeSafari,Unconference etc are other techniques used by Mindtree in their KM practice. Knowledge Driven project management is practiced in Mindtree. Neuron:This is a portal that manages the ideas generated by the Mindtree minds. It is the tool for Idea and Innovation management. The tools and techniques used by Mindtree for creative and systematic innovation are • Six thinking hats • TRIZ • Mindmapping Ideas go through the stages of • Feasible • Viable • Develop • Deploy

On the portal the idea submissions have the following fields Idea: Submitted by: Primary category: Primary Nurturer: State:feasible/viable/etc IP Potential: Any comment on any idea should always be accompanied by comments from all the thinking hat perspectives i. e a black hat comment has to be substantiated with comments from all the other colored hat perspectives. This way the initial biases towards any idea are removed and subjectivity in decisions is reduced. The rewards and recognition for practicing KM in the organization are given in the following forms • Community Champion award • Innovation award • Top 10 submitters award • Patenting Award • Community of the quarter award.

Over the course of time it has been observed that the incidence of awards are coming down and knowledge sharing is happening with lesser external incentives. Conclusion The following are the important points to be noted from this study • The culture of the organization impacts the KM practice • Communities of practice is an effective way of knowledge sharing . • It is important to note the power of IT in KM • The socio-technical nature if KM has to be considered seriously for any KM practice. ———————– INNOVATE APPLY LEARN GET SHARE INNOVATE Neuron COLLABORATE ConnectedMinds+OpenMind+ProjectSpace SHARE KnowledgeNet OSMOSIS Annual Tech Fest COMMUNITIES