by jltitus on August 23, 2007
I’ve been thinking a lot about knowledge management and the challenges that it brings. I mean how do you create that “virtual” file cabinet in such a way that it makes sense to everyone without a ton of naming conventions that to help make finding what you’re looking for. As I was thinking about it today, I came upon this post and thought it really rang true.
Facebook and the Enterprise: Part 5: Knowledge Management
The piece of this post that really spoke to me was this;
“Knowledge management is not really about the content, it is about creating an environment where learning takes place. Maybe we spend too much time trying to create an environment where teaching takes place, rather than focus on the learning.”
I thought the sentence was very thought provoking. I think about the opportunities I’ve had to work on projects where the team is trying to embrace knowledge management and we’re ALWAYS asking questions like; “how would I find that?”. “does it make sense to have that material there?”, “do we really need naming conventions?”….You get the picture. Although those comments could be thought of as jogging ideas on how to help people learn from the knowledge, they’ve been mostly about how do we house things so people can find the content. Honestly, I haven’t challenged myself and my thinking to think that a KM site should focus on the learning. Hello, isn’t that really the purpose? I think we get hung up trying to figure out the environment and what it’s going to look like and it’s functionality rather than the content found within the tool.
Thinking about this, you could really apply this to most things in training. Think about the instances when you’ve got a department developing a tool and thinking about it’s use, rather than the content within it. All those projects or activities where the functionality of the tool works extremely well but the content wasn’t helpful.
So there it is…… When it comes to KM, focus on the learning rather than functionality.
Tagged as:
content_management,
work
by jltitus on March 11, 2007
Isn’t it funny how you can go a week or more and not journal but have a ton to say? I mean, I enjoy journaling and posting here and getting comments and everything but I’ve not been journaling/blogging for about a week. Hummm…. I guess it could be because I’ve been busy with things. I know that’s an excuse for everyone. I have been working, which I’m loving. I love my job and the people I work with. it’s so nice to work with people that have a common goal and interest. It’s great too that I’m working on the projects I’m working on. I mean I’m helping make some decisions for the future of the training organization. How cool is that! I’m doing the typical, create training courses for online delivery but I’m also in charge of determining and giving recommendations for authoring tools we’ll use for now and in the future. I’m working on moving some of our content, like manuals to wiki’s, which is super cool. I could give you the link and password but then I’d have to kill ya… HAHA… I’m working on developing some Instructional Design Standards and templates for us to use which is cool too. It’ s just so nice to have such growth opportunities. it’s the stuff I’ve always wanted to be doing but haven’t had the opportunity in my last job for a variety of reasons.
This weekend Eric’s parents were here which was so nice. I love it when they come, or my mother comes because we always have a great time and it’s not a high maintenance, gotta make sure they have something to do, sort of thing. Of course we had great food and exceptional company while they were here but I think the best part was playing Pinochle for a couple of hours. Of course this time the guys beat us but usually Juile and I are the winners. Oh I also need to say THANKS a TON to BOB for getting the cable up in the garage with the curtains. If not for Bob and Eric, I don’t know when it would have gotten done..
Tagged as:
bob_titus,
family,
job,
julie_titus
by jltitus on March 1, 2007
It’s not secret that I now have a job working from home. I love it. I have a total blast with it and get more done than I ever would in an office. The only bad thing, I’ve been having a bit of a challenge getting comfortable in my office. I love the room and the colors but trying to figure out how I want to configure my desk space has been a bit of a challenge. I think I’ve changed things something like 4 or 5 times in the last two weeks. It’s like I can’t decide. Well, I think I’ve finally got it all figured out and done. I really like it now and think I’m done changing things. I had just a little desk area that was in the closet where I scrapbooked but now, it’s extended and actually that desk is part of a U shape desk I have now. I face toward the window, which I love because of all the light and Eric has his space and I have mine. It’s nice. Today was the best because I was able to get things to finish it all off. I got a flat screen monitor, BIG, OK 22″ wide screen and a KVM switch. SO now I have both computers hooked up to the same monitor and when I want to switch from one to the other I just have this coolio button to push and I’ve toggled to the other computer. Pretty cool. I also love the size of my screen too. It rocks. It’s big enough that I can do all my work. You can’t see it but I’m doing the happy dance.
Tagged as:
work_from_home
by jltitus on February 26, 2007
I’ve been meaning to write this blog post since last Friday but in typical fashion I’m busy as ever which is a good thing. Let me just start by saying, I LOVE MY JOB… well, JOBS.
Thursday and Friday last week I got the opportunity to go to our downtown offices in the Montgomery Building (used to be the old Montgomery Wards building). Going there was sort of surreal because the place is so huge. It’s like 9 stories high but the thing is, it just feels so massive, maybe because there’s nothing big around it. I walked into the main part of the building and looked for an easy way to get to the 6th floor to meet up with the person I was supposed. Of course I took the elevator, couldn’t find the stairs, but I got sort of freaked on the elevator as it’s glass and you can see out in the middle of the building where the seating for the cafeteria, etc is and me with my love of heights didn’t like that so much so i just stood facing the door hoping it would go fast enough so I didn’t have to think about where I was. Thursday I spent time with our Fulfillment Services branch of the organization and then on Friday I spent with the “traditional” side of the house.
It doesn’t seem like there’s that much that makes the two groups different but there it. FS (Fulfillment Services) do not have anything to do with customer service. If there’s any issue with a change or anything they kick it back to the agent. Traditional on the other hand is all about customer service and going the extra mile. What’s different too is that FS ticketing agents have to be able to use 4 different databases as not all airlines, etc use the same database where as those that are traditional just use one database. Traditional have customers from only one company. What do I mean? Well agents are aligned to a company so they only get calls for a particular company rather than from any company like FS.
Spending time at the offices was very interesting and enlightening. I don’t think I’ll ever book a ticket somewhere unless I’m sure about the whole trip because from the back end making the changes is quite intensive. I also got the opportunity to be double jacked in and listened to both the agent and the customers call and got the opportunity to help in a few instances. It was so cool and fun but I’m glad I’m not in customer service. One of the many times I was listening this customer wanted the agent to find him a hotel in Federal Way that had a kitchen and was available for 2 weeks. I think the agent and I spent about 15 minutes to find him one only for the guy to tell us that that was the hotel he was in and he didn’t like it. OK, so the agent and I look and find another one after another 15 minutes and were ready to book the guy only to find out that they guy was going to go check out the hotel and would call back if he wanted us to book it. Argh!!! I don’t know how the agents do it.
I was really glad I got to opportunity to go there for a few days because it gave me a great perspective of the employees and their needs when it comes to training. I also got to meet one of the guys in my group too which wasn’t too bad.
Tagged as:
BCD travel,
organization
by jltitus on February 21, 2007
I can’t believe today is the end of day three of my new job. I really wanted to post about my first day but honestly didn’t get a chance to post about anything until tonight. Let me just say…. I LOVE MY JOB!!!! I love the fact that I get to work from home doing the things I love. I love designing online training and the creative process of it all and I’ve finally found a job where I can do that. It’s so nice to have a few hours of meetings every day and then spend the day designing and organizing an online course.
I think the most interesting part of this week so far was the concept of reporting for my first day of work. I do have to admit that it was a little different calling in to talk to my manager rather than meeting someone in person. I really, really like my manager and I’m VERY excited about the projects I’m working on. One of the first projects I’m working on is overhauling a few courses that are part of the New Hire course work for new employees. I’m really excited because I’ve basically been given no limits on the project, meaning I don’t have a lot of rules to conform to regarding a template or anything. I’m excited about having the ability to really create a wonderful product that WOWs my manager but more importantly gets the right content across to the user. I’m excited too because the company I work for uses Captivate and I’ll get the opportunity to really build my skills with Captivate and use Captivate 2.0. I can’t wait.
So things are going well, very VERY excited about things and my manager. Oh, I guess I forgot to tell you about one of the other perks I get besides the fact that I have a job with good pay. I also get an IATAN card. What’s that? Well, it’s a special card given to travel agents and those that work for travel agents. It’s pretty cool because it means SAVINGS galore. I’ll get things like; 50-75% on Hotel Stays, Up to 55% Discounts on Airfare, Free First Class Upgrades, Deeply Discounted Rental Cars, Half-Priced Theme Park Admission, Cruises for $35/Day, Free Show Tickets, Free Meals and Much, Much More! Another thing that I get is two free round trip airline tickets each year anywhere in the US, Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. I guess there are more perks too but I’ll find out about them on Monday when I attend the HR conference.
Tomorrow and Friday I get to head down to our offices in Portland and learn more about what the travel agents do behind the scenes when people book a flight or trip. I’ll also meet with the fulfillment group too to see how they do their job. I think it will be an interesting and educational time and fun too. I have not a clue about the travel business but I think after this week, I’ll know a little more.
More later…..
Tagged as:
BCD travel,
job,
working
by jltitus on February 13, 2007
I’ve been reading a lot of blog posts lately and it seems like one of the “big deals” right now in training is the use of Second Life to host training seminars, forums and the like. A lot businesses have established a presence there, such as IBM, Adidas, Reuters, and Toyota. I honestly don’t know what to think about that.
I do see some value in Second Life such as:
- Immersion- Imagine not just talking about a place in the world but “placing” yourself in that location as environments can be built and changed at will. It’s like being there with out BEING THERE.
- Simulations – Several groups have created simulations where people can practice a skill before performing it in real life. HeartMurmur Sim is such an example.
- Prototyping – Having the place to prototype and idea without spending the actual cash to build your prototype is a great way to avoid some costs.
- Visualization – NOAA weathermaps is a great example of visualization and transferring information in a visual format.
I for one am not sure about Second Life. I once downloaded the program to try and find out what Second Life was all about. I found it difficult to know what to do, where to go or how to find things. I wasn’t very impressed with the usability of it all. I can’t help thinking about what the costs and benefits would/could be by using Second Life.
I’ll be the first to tell you that I’m novice when it comes to Second Life but I do wonder what’s the benefit of “meeting” in Second Life? Is there something you as either a presenter/instructor or student get that you can’t get from a net session using something like Webcast? I wonder if the costs out weigh the benefits.
Another concern I have about Second Life is the immersion factor. While I think it’s great to have the ability to immerse ones self into an environment, make connections, etc, I do see a caution there. I can’t help thinking about the people I know that are OBSESSED with Second Life and live in that environment so much that when talking to them it’s hard to know if they’re talking about the real world or Second Life. This leads me to this thought; “What’s the consequences of Second Life?” With every technological improvement comes a cost, what’s the cost here with Second Life besides money and is it worth it? Does Second Life give the training arena something they can’t get somewhere else?
I know I don’t know it all. I’m more that willing to hear other thoughts and insights as I’m not sure what I think about Second Life for training purposes.
Links:
Second Life II: The Value by Ton Zijlstra
Collaborative Building in Second Life by Unknown
IBM’s virtual pioneer by Stephen Shankland
Cisco Enters SecondLife by Unknown
Tagged as:
second-life,
training
by jltitus on February 5, 2007
Well I’ve got a job. Actually I have two companies fighting for me. The first company, XYZ Travel, called this morning and offered me a full time job that’s also a work from home position. Score! I had interviewed with the company the last couple of weeks and was hoping I would get the job. Well, they offered me a job so I took it. I’ve been hoping for the job and was excited when I got the offer. After that I contacted another company, ABC, that was going to hire me on a contract basis, again work from home, to see if we could work out something where I could work some nights and weekends for them to catch up with everything. Well, the ABC manager called me about an hour after I sent her the email and told me she’d just talked to the COO about me and was prepared to offer me $10,500 than the offer XYZ had made me. We talked about benefits and things but I told her I’d need to get back to her. I contacted the manager at XYZ to let her know I had a better offer that I’d have to consider. She asked me what was the amount I was looking for because she really wanted me. I told her and she let me know she’s calling me back in the morning to see let me know if she can meet my base salary. So tonight Eric and I need to sit down, weigh the options and decide. Too exciting to have people fighting over me.
In other news, my new laptop is in which means ANOTHER trip to the Apple store to swap computers and hope the new one doesn’t have any issues.
Tagged as:
BCD travel,
job
by jltitus on February 5, 2007
After long last I got a job! WOO HOO and it’s 100% from home with is too awesome for words. As of February 19th I will be employed with BCD Travel devloping online training for them. I am so excited and can’t wait to get my hands dirty again. Thanks to everyone for their support and help.
Tagged as:
BCD travel,
job
