This article is part 2 of how to use the new Flipchart capability in the Idea Catalog. But before I go into that in more detail, I thought it might be useful to reflect on the APQC (American Productivity & Quality Center) framework (source) that describes how knowledge flows through organisations. It has a seven-step cycle:

Create new knowledge (this happens every day, all the time, across all areas of the business).
Identify knowledge that is critical to strategy and operations.
Collect knowledge so it can be shared with others.
Review knowledge to evaluate its relevancy, accuracy, and applicability.
Share knowledge through documentation, informal posts, and collaborative activities.
Access knowledge through pull (e.g., search) and push (e.g., alerts) mechanisms.
Use knowledge to solve problems faster and make more informed decisions.

It is a simple and well-used framework. The first six steps are easy to understand and most companies will have codified a formal process that if not exactly the same will have a similar sentiment. They will be using something like Sharepoint and, often, another system more focussed on “Innovation” such as a Knowledge Hub for collecting and sharing information.

Of course, in practice, the formal process is not widely known throughout the organisation and it isn’t followed properly. SharePoint is probably packed so full of stuff it is impossible to find anything useful and the fix (a knowledge hub which is designed to address these shortfalls) ends up being another sprawling database of loads of stuff but it is just stored in a different order to SharePoint. Okay this might be a little harsh :), but it does illustrate that just because steps 1-6 appear easy they are still challenging to implement effectively no matter how much time and money is spent.

However it is step 7 that is particularly challenging. I wonder if it might be better worded if it just said “And Then Magic Happens!”

It is bringing together all seven steps into a coherent whole where the Idea Catalog excels and offers benefits that Sharepoint and Knowledge Hubs don’t have.

We scan for new knowledge everyday and curate that knowledge into the catalogs. We are experienced professionals with a deep understanding of what knowledge is critical across industry, so the system is not overloaded with irrelevant or inapplicable information. You might not be aware but those on the Premium Plan can also add your own (company specific) knowledge to the system that is secure and only accessible to those in your organisation.

The structure of the catalogs is different for each one. This is to facilitate step 6 - accessing knowledge and step 7 - using that knowledge. The system has been designed from a completely different perspective from, say, SharePoint or a Knowledge Hub. Instead of focussing on adding information into the system (because it might be useful) it is structured around collecting potential solutions - knowledge. The idea being that you can then match your Need to potential Solutions. This is a much more effective (better quality solutions) and efficient (faster / cheaper) way to solve a problem.

I have developed a simple example of glovebox remediation to illustrate the processes to follow for the last “Magic Happens” step. You can access the Flipcharts in the Idea Catalog here (you have to be registered first - it is free to sign up and you won’t received unsolicited emails). Double click a card to see more and link back to the original entry if applicable. Zoom out (ctrl + -) if you cannot see all the Flipchart of your screen. Please note this is a very high level overview for illustration only and not a complete project!

So, breaking down the APQC step 7 in more detail:

Use knowledge to solve problems faster and make more informed decisions.

Problem Definition. What is your problem? I cannot stress enough how important it is to spend some quality time on this! The Idea Catalog has some great tools to help with this (go to Tools, then Problem Definition). I have already written a lot on this previously so I won’t go into it again but only to say that there are likely to be several problems that need solving in order to solve the bigger problem so it is best to break those out separately into Focus Areas and work from there.
System Diagram. What are the elements of the problem and what do you need to focus on? The Flipcharts (also under tools) can be used to generate this diagram and illustrate your focus areas.
Ideation. What are the potential solutions to your problem(s)? This is where you search and filter through the catalogs to identify what might already exist. The ideas are then added to the Flipchart to show the range of ideas available. A few points are worth mentioning here:

It is crucial that you do not try to evaluate the pros and cons of the ideas at this stage. That comes later. The reason is that while the idea as stated might not be appropriate there may be an element of it that does have merit.
The creativity tools are good for coming up with ideas from existing ideas - so called “Stepping Stones”.
The Triz tools are potentially the most valuable resource for complex problems where there are contradictions that need to be resolved without compromise.
Do not forget to look at the Lessons Learned to see additional insights.

Concept Development. This is where you create potential solutions for the bigger problem which will be (most likely) a combination of ideas from the separate focus areas. Again, the Flipcharts can be used to group the smaller ideas together (this is called “Affinity Mapping”) with the added benefit in that they can link back to the original entry in a catalog. This will have more information and evidence to support the decision including potentially relevant case studies, where it has been used before, what TRL the technology is at and even videos of it in action.
Evaluation. From the shortlist you need to choose the preferred one going forwards. Smart Decisions is the tool we use which is multi criteria decision aiding software that is simple to use and very powerful for sensitivity analysis. Again, this uses a structured approach that is crucial if the decision is not to unravel down the line.
Choose a preferred option. For low cost, and/or no rush decisions it is often preferable to run with several concepts so that the evaluation stage is not a single step. This gives more time to collect evidence on how each option performs against the selection criteria. However, once you have sufficient evidence as to how each option performs against the criteria you have selected you can go through the formal evaluation to get to your “Preferred Option”. If done properly it will be a robust decision.

I have two books (both on Amazon or Lulu) that give a lot more detailed information. “Successful Problem Solving” and “Guide to MCDA”.

If you have any specific questions, please DM or email me and we can have a chat.