The Unauthorized Guide to Doing Business the Bill Gates Way by Des Dearlove

Author:Des Dearlove
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Published: 2010-03-29T16:00:00+00:00

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE (KMS)

The Knowledge Management Structure (KMS) is a term put forward by management writer Tom Peters as a development of the learning organization. The ‘new’ firm must destroy bureaucracy but needs to nurture knowledge and skill, Peters says, building expertise in ways that enhance the power of market-scale units, and that encourage those units to contribute knowledge for the benefit of the firm as a whole. Microsoft is made up of KMSs.

LEARN TO SURVIVE

In Microsoft, Bill Gates created a voracious learning machine, the sign of a ‘smart organization’, and the only way to avoid making the same mistake twice. His competitors have not always been as careful. In part, Microsoft has prospered by capitalizing on the mistakes of others.• Stick to the knitting. Gates proved remarkably resilient in a very competitive business. In large part this was because, for a very long time, he stuck to what he was good at - software.

• Create a learning organization. In Microsoft, Bill Gates created one of the first genuine learning organizations in the world. The company’s headquarters in Redmond, Washington, is organized along the lines of a university and is even called the Microsoft Campus.

• Create continuous feedback loops. At Microsoft, Gates instituted a system where those elsewhere in the organization provide constant feedback to their colleagues. Passionate about what he calls ‘feedback loops’, Gates built them into everything that Microsoft does.

• Test your products on real customers. Gates was always willing to test software with customers. Beta versions of the company’s software are offered to customers who are prepared to provide some feedback for advance knowledge of the new software. In this way, the company’s developers get real feedback from the people who will use the final version of the software.

• Know thyself. Today, knowledge management is all the rage with business school professors and management gurus. Initiated by Gates relentless quest for knowledge, Microsoft has been doing it for years.

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