True wisdom

Greek philosopher Socrates was a man famed for knowing a lot, but even he said: The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.

For project management, knowledge is crucial. It turns personal information and experience into collective knowledge that can be widely shared throughout a project team, organisation, or even a profession.

Its no secret that organisations and project teams who embrace knowledge information best practice have a more advanced project management maturity, which is a key factor in the outcome of its projects.

PricewaterhouseCoopers 2012 Insights and Trends report showed that 19.5 per cent of respondent organisations were at the highest level of maturity level five optimise

Organisations that optimise regularly analyse their project management methodology, updating it when necessary. Lessons learned files are created and knowledge management and transfer processes are standardised and followed. They also ensure processes are in place to improve project performance. The management focuses is on continuous improvement.

This higher level of maturity and knowledge management is obviously key. But if this is the case, why are fewer than 20 per cent of PwCs survey respondents reported to be operating at the optimise level? Is it too difficult to implement? Is there not enough known about knowledge? In the January issue of Project magazine, knowledge expert Judy Payne looks to demystify knowledge and offers tips on how best to manage it.

Like the organisations that operate at the optimise level of maturity, I believe that that continuous professional development is key. Perhaps the best way for us all to move forward is to strive to know more, all the while accepting that you will never know everything. As Socrates said, this is true wisdom.