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April 6, 2006

Deliverables - the fundamental secret to improving knowledge work

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Posted by Jim McGee

I've been exploring the role of deliverables in understanding and improving knowledge work for a while. In January, I took another shot at articulating the link in a column in the Enterprise Systems Journal putting deliverables at the center of the challenge of improving knowledge work.

Knowledge work does not produce standardized, well-defined outputs. Instead, the value of its outputs depends on how well they match the unique needs of their users. No one is interested in a spreadsheet full of someone else's data; no teacher is likely to value a copy of a paper you've submitted to another class. Understanding what aspects and features of a knowledge work product are most valuable to its intended user is key to focusing efforts on producing the desired deliverable. [The Fundamental Secret to Improving Knowledge Work - ESJ].

Our experience in industrial settings encourages us to look at the output as something that is already well-defined and well-understood. We focus on process changes that will produce the output more quickly or more cost-effectively. When we are doing knowledge work, we do better to focus on the deliverable longer and more mindfully. At a minimum we need to understand the user's definition of quality, the balance between uniqueness and uniformity that will meet this level of quality, and the conditions that must be met to declare the work done. 

Comments (1) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: Distributed Work


COMMENTS

1. Pat lake on April 29, 2006 5:39 PM writes...

I agree with Jim that deliverables can be difficult to identify in knowledge work. I find that one critical element in helping to clearly pinpoint the deliverables is to spend sufficient time with the client up front clarifying what it is he or she hopes to receive, experience, etc. as a result of the knowledge work. In other words, contracting for specific deliverables. Drawing these out usually requires skillful consulting techniques on the part of the knowledge work provider in order to ensure compatible goals are established and ultimately met.

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