Comments on: Knowledge artisans choose their tools

By: Artisan blogging « via ??enK

Artisan blogging « via ??enK — Sat, 06 Nov 2010 15:12:20 +0000

[...] the month of march I came across a post of Harold Jarche “Artisans choose their tools”. In those days I did not know what a great figure Harold Jarche is in the field of education, since [...]

By: Knowledge artisans choose their tools | weiterbildungsblog

Knowledge artisans choose their tools | weiterbildungsblog — Tue, 13 Apr 2010 11:55:27 +0000

[...] Auf der LEARNTEC im Februar berichtete ein Kollege einer Großbank aus der Schweiz, wie er an seinem Arbeitsplatz einmal testen wollte, wie sich Twitter “anfühlt” und ob es etwas wäre, um die Bildungsprojekte und den Wissensaustausch in der Bank zu verbessern. Er kam natürlich nicht weit. Denn der Zugang zu Twitter ist von der Bank-IT gesperrt. Seitdem steht an seinem Arbeitsplatz ein zweiter Rechner, nämlich sein eigener. In diesem Sinne fragt hier auch Harold Jarche: “How can you be a knowledge worker if you’re not allowed to pick your own tools?” Und führt gleich die Bezeichnung “knowledge artisan” ein. Harold Jarche, Life in Perpetual Beta, 25. März 2010 [...]

By: Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 23:29:03 +0000

Thanks, Brett, I appreciate that, but it would probably cost as much as the book is worth to ship it to Canada.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 17:41:05 +0000

Harold,

I have an extra copy of Drive I’d be happy to send. Just let me know and I’ll drop it in the mail.

By: Gilbert Babin (Formative Assessment Guy)

Gilbert Babin (Formative Assessment Guy) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:45:19 +0000

To come back to Harold’s question, “How can you be a knowledge worker if you’re not allowed to pick your own tools?”.

My sarcastic..lol..answer to this is that if you aren’t currently choosing your tools you probably are not a Knowledge Artisan.

But in reality,unless you are production line worker, you are probably “choosing your tools” for certain things and every job is made up of a bunch of tasks each differing in “work type” or “level of complexity”. It is a question of mix.

I think that those who want to choose their tools should strive to become knowledge artisans.

But then, true artisans don’t choose their tools, they create them.

Gilbert

By: Harold Jarche

Harold Jarche — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:16:32 +0000

Brett: Jay Cross really recommends “Drive” as well, so I better get out there and buy it.

By: Brett

Brett — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 22:13:52 +0000

@Gilbert: I took a stab at something like that a while back, and I think I'll go back and update it based on the current discussion. (That original article was based, in part, on an earlier post from Harold.) @Bill: The situation Harold brings up, and even more so the experience you had, is something that Dan Pink discusses at length in his latest book, Drive. "Autonomy" is one of the key aspects of what knowledge (or concept) workers today expect, the other two being "Mastery" and "Purpose." It is definitely worth a read, if you haven't already.

By: Bill Bennett

Bill Bennett — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 19:07:32 +0000

I wouldn’t go as far as to say not allowing knowledge workers to install, say, Tweetdeck, on their computers is a reason why large firms have difficulty competing with smaller outfits. But I think it is indicative of the mentality that makes them uncompetitive.

I worked in a business that was acquired by a large corporation with a command and control mindset. Overnight we went from a laissez faire approach to desktop computers and software, to centrally dictated tools. Within a year the business revenue halved and the entire management team decamped.

It wasn’t the lack of software choices that did the damage, it was the lack of choice period. Managers and skilled staff were no longer able to make decisions about any aspect of their work.

In short, not allowing knowledge artisans to choose their tools is indicative of a bigger – and more serious problem.

By: Gilbert Babin (Formative Assessment Guy)

Gilbert Babin (Formative Assessment Guy) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 18:55:48 +0000

Ok. Found the article. The article focuses mainly on “Visibility” and the long term importance of visibility.

http://www.mcgeesmusings.net/stories/2002/03/21/KnowledgeWorkAsCraft.html

“One thing that differentiates knowledge work today from other craft work is that, except for final product, knowledge work is essentially invisible.”

The following sentence is interesting.

“As craft work, knowledge work fits more into apprenticeship learning models than in conventional training approaches. ”

It would be interesting if someone could create a scale for different types of work and establish some kind of “Knowledge Work” index. If a job is suited for apprenticeship can we conclude that is knowledge work.

By: Jon Husband

Jon Husband — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 16:41:54 +0000

The concept of Artisan, like apprenticeship, are fundamental to the revolution we are witnessing. Marshall McCluhan had predicted a shift in this direction many years ago.

[ Snip ... ]
.
The Artisan concept will play a big role in a knowledge economy. Would love to see discussions that lead to a better understanding of the Artisan concept.

Indeed …

Brings to mind an article Jim McGee wrote many years ago on “Knowledge Work as Craft.”

Indeed * 2