Why Knowledge Flow Matters

Every organization has a system that determines:

That system, like all systems, exists for one purpose: to structure how information flows. The structure creates the shape of that flow. That shape of the flow is what we call “the system.”

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• a set of relationships
• between sender and receiver
• mediated by channels, protocols, social structures and feedback loops.

The structure of the system determines the form of that flow.

The Trouble With Our Current Structures

Org charts, JIRA boards, working groups, academic exams ... these familiar structures feel inevitable. Natural. Deterministic.

They aren’t. We made them up. (No Gantt charts exist in nature).

And as information systems become increasing complex, interconnected, and ubiquitous ... those structures and shapes are failing us.

Humans designed them. Humans can redesign them.

We can ... but should we? Do we have to? What’s the ROI?!?

This is when a landing page tries to convince you, with pithy, scannable bullet points, that Knowledge Flow will solve your problems. Promises a magic bullet that delivers:

Here’s the truth: There is no magic bullet. There are only better systems. Knowledge flow delivers all of those outcomes because they are the natural qualities that arise when information moves well.

You cannot fix a broken epistemic system (how we know what we know) with a book, course, framework, OKR, or reorg. Knowledge Flow is a cognitive architecture pattern for repairing broken epistemic systems.

Achieving it requires three (difficult but doable) things.

Three Difficult but Doable Things

Stop thinking of knowledge as something you own, manage, and control

In knowledge systems, leadership is not control; it is coherence. Your expertise creates minimal value. Increasing your value depends on how you can understand, design or deliver something — with someone else — that neither of you could do alone.

Knowledge depends on discerning the difference between a good, sound recommendation and unjustified opinion. Especially when that opinion is offered by someone with expertise or power.

We must still decide where to invest our attention.

Improve the epistemic infrastructure of the system

Epistemic infrastructure is the material, social, and technological systems that shapes (and constrains) how we discover, validate, distribute and produce knowledge.

For years, I gave a talk titled “Architecture Isn’t Kubernetes.” Kubernetes is a coordination substrate for distributed systems. What I hadn’t grokked yet was modern organizations need a coordination substrate for distributed cognition.

That is what Knowledge Flow provides.

• Systems that think better through structure.
• Meaning as a precursor to alignment.
• Shared vocabulary as critical infrastructure.
• Knowledge moving across silos, washing away blockages in organizational intelligence.

No system can outperform its Knowledge Flow. Slow knowledge is slow strategy. Fragmented knowledge is fragmented execution. Ambiguous knowledge delivers ambiguous outcomes. Outcomes that can not help us learn, grow, and adapt.

Do the work

Welcome to the journey.

My name is Diana. My colleagues and I will be your guides, your learning partners, and (when needed) that friend who tells you the truth when nobody else will.

There are many ways to explore Knowledge Flow.

"Unfortunately, no one can be told what the Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself." — Morpheus

You must experience it.

Take notes as you read. Notice your patterns. “Where do I block flow?” “What assumptions need updating?” “What do I know, and how do I know that I know it?

Do the activities. Try things. Lean In. Experiment. Experiment. Experiment. Be willing to be wrong. The biggest win is improving your own flow.

Boldly go where no one has gone before. Apply your insights. Every day, in various circumstances.

Then come back and tell us what you discovered. Help us collectively and continuously improve the activities, processes, and insights.

The value you get from Knowledge Flow is equivalent to the Knowledge Flow you generate.

This is a journey we co-create. There is no Knowledge Flow without you.

I look forward to learning and growing together.