Friday 22 May 2015

Orchestrated Knowledge - not really a book review!

  • I'm not big on technical book reviews, not reading them and definitely not writing them. And I'm not really going to start now, because in my opinion, technical books tend to be either useful or not, and my reviews won't add to their usefulness or lack thereof. However, I do feel quite happy recommending books, articles and other useful sources of well thought out argument in pursuance of understanding - 'orchestrated knowledge' if you like.

    Peter Leeson is a veteran process improvement and change management expert and a very popular speaker on the conference circuit. I've been fortunate enough to hear him speak on several occasions and I invariably come out of his talks wishing I had his ability to get my messages across in plain English, without worrying about political correctness and without mincing words. 



    I've often wondered why Peter has never published a book - his website is filled with papers and presentations which he has been generous enough to share with anyone who cares to seek them out - and he has enough experience to fill several volumes of anecdotes alone.

    At last I can stop wondering as Peter recently published "Orchestrated Knowledge - Managing the organisation through knowledge".  Orchestrated Knowledge isn't a large book at a tad over 130 pages, but it's a big book in terms of practical advice, background information into why things are the way they are, and explanations of theories regarding process and change management. There are plenty of anecdotes as well and the whole package is based on Peter's exposure to many real issues faced by companies trying to improve the way they work.

    If you want to help improve your organisation and you only read one book this year I would suggest you go out and buy a copy. Now. Because the sooner you read it, the sooner you'll be able to put some of Peter's suggestions into practice.