Rating: 
Summary: The Best Yet
Review: ...trust me and the other reviewers. you will have to wait for a long time to come across another book equally informative, full of sound practical advice, and entertaining. proceed to check-out now.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST read for all KMer
Review: A uniquely entertaining book, Learning to Fly is written with the right blend of theory and practice. From the start, Collison & Parcell build an honest and caring relationship with the reader that takes you on a journey of understanding the why and the how of knowledge management (KM).The Chris & Geoff hit on many key issues imperative to a successful knowledge management implementation - ·KM should be focused on business results for business objectives. Emphasizing the importance that organizations don't loose sight of why they are doing KM. ·The explanation of KM as an unconscious competence is an excellent model for organization to use for a self-assessment and then strive to achieve. ·Applying KM holistically through the model of learning before, during and after. Proving that building a learning organization is at the heart of KM. Learning to Fly does it right! I particularly enjoyed the book's creative layout and the way the lessons learned and proven ways to institutionalize KM in any organization are related through thought provoking stories and reflective exercises.
Rating:
Summary: A MUST read for all KMer
Review: A uniquely entertaining book, Learning to Fly is written with the right blend of theory and practice. From the start, Collison & Parcell build an honest and caring relationship with the reader that takes you on a journey of understanding the why and the how of knowledge management (KM). The Chris & Geoff hit on many key issues imperative to a successful knowledge management implementation - ·KM should be focused on business results for business objectives. Emphasizing the importance that organizations don't loose sight of why they are doing KM. ·The explanation of KM as an unconscious competence is an excellent model for organization to use for a self-assessment and then strive to achieve. ·Applying KM holistically through the model of learning before, during and after. Proving that building a learning organization is at the heart of KM. Learning to Fly does it right! I particularly enjoyed the book's creative layout and the way the lessons learned and proven ways to institutionalize KM in any organization are related through thought provoking stories and reflective exercises.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond the theory
Review: Beyond the theory - here's 'the' hands-on guide to making KM work for real. As a practitioner of KM, I recognise and appreciate many of the initiatives and projects the authors successfully introduced and gained adoption of throughout BP. It's also refreshing to read that they had learning points to review too. This book illustrates how to achieve the ultimate goal - making KM part of the way to do business. KM is, after all, just good management, it shouldn't be regarded as an add-on, something extra to do. I recommend this book unreservedly to all who are engaged in KM activity - from those new to the field to those who (like me) want to make sure that they're doing the right things!
Rating:
Summary: Making sense of knowledge work
Review: Collison & Parcell have put together a very down to earth approach to knowledge management. I liked their simple wisdom: 1) talk to people with the T-shirt: been there, done that 2) learn, learn, learn: before, during and after 3) cultivate a community: for tacit transfer and to keep the repository alive and fresh 4) establish a network: to gather news and keep yourself aware Way too may KM projects chase content, without community, technology without a strategy and compile best practices with no way to validate and refresh. Chris and Geoff have the right spirit and advice when it comes to starting - jump right in and avoid the gradual immersion, ask some key questions, "What are your critical issues?" listen deeply and go with the flow!. Readers will find their people centric views and emphasis on learning, a refreshing and effective way to make sense of knowledge.work. In particular, I found their book easy to navigate, clearly organized and easy to absorb in small chunks - there is a deep lesson there for any aspiring knowledge manager. They certainly hit the high spots in my book: yellowpages so you can find people that know, communities of practice for continuous learning, practices for testing and validating captured content to avoid GIGO (garbage in garbage out) and strategies to embed knowledge in role structures, processes and company lore. A key aspect of learning to fly is the use personal and 3rd party stories to convey meaning and change mindsets. This helps to center the prescriptive aspects and changes the tone from a fieldbook to a readable engaging text. Learning to fly is a handy way to get your KM projects up and away, showing clearly the sky is the limit when we really start to work with our knowledge.
Rating:
Summary: Deconstructing a buzz word
Review: Learning to fly gave me a fantastic insight into the world of KM. Along the way, I learnt a lot about my own company! I've seen the term Knowledge Management used as a bit of a buzz word with little substance behind it.
Fortunately this book breaks down the 'buzz' and gives you practical applicable tools and techniques. The book has been a very valuable resource to me, both at home and in my life outside work. My experience with the philosophy and techniques has shown me how much there is to gain from sharing and listening. I recommend this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful!
Review: The knowledge management craze may be passing right before our eyes, but Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell do a good job explaining what's behind all the hype. Although a bit dry in tone, the authors manage to capture the critical elements of KM and explain the whys and hows as they relate to individual businesses. Despite a somewhat sterile presentation, we from getAbstract recommend this book as a thorough introduction to knowledge management theory and practice.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Yet
Review: Very down-to-earth, applicable guidelines for building a learning environment within an organization. Focuses on tools and techniques and difficult issues of embedding habits of sharing/learning.
I've read a lot of knowledge management books and this is the one our organization is using as a "starting point" for our efforts.
Rating:
Summary: From the book to the practice
Review: We just completed retrospects on 3 projects. We followed the guidelines on chapter 8 and the learnings from these sessions are being applied to the next projects we are starting. Chris and Geoff have given us practical tools to work with. If you are a KM practicioner, this book will become an important supporting material for your initiative.
Rating:
Summary: Learning to Fly soars among KM books
Review: What enables a company to soar in the midst of mergers, reorganisations and technology change? In their book, Learning to Fly, BP Consultants, Chris Collison and Geoff Parcell, share their secret for delivering more with less and positioning the company for future success. What's more important than the company's size, holdings or product lines? It is the use of Knowledge Management (KM) to adapt what others have already learned and dynamically capture and share the explicit and tacit knowledge of your work force as it evolves. Learning to Fly is both a reference book and a blueprint. Part One: Overview sets the context for and defines knowledge management. Part Two: Tools and Techniques describes six very useful tools for managing knowledge. I found their inclusion of real-life examples like BP's "Connect" project tremendously helpful in understanding what is involved in building buy-in for a searchable intranet knowledge directory through which all staff can search for people with relevant knowledge and experience. In Part Three: Today and Tomorrow, the authors share practical advice about embedding knowledge management in the organisation. Appendices guide the reader to resources for inspiration, people and technology. Internet style pages enable easy navigation through and between chapters. The book has received critical acclaim from a number of industry leaders. It will undoubtedly be received by those of us in the trenches with the same enthusiasm!
| 
