Some claim that "Knowledge Management" is getting the right information to the right person at the right time. Consider as a counter-argument the following true story.

Dr. Thorvald taught my second year German class. Perhaps a more accurate way to state it would be to say that he occasionally interspersed his strings of insults to our class and his long dissertations about European history with questions about German. At mid-term, he asked "How many people in class vant 'A'." Of course, everyone raised his or her hand. Then, he spent the next forty-five minutes asking a barrage of unrelated questions to his first victim, never waiting for more than the first syllable of an answer before moving on to the next question. Every question was barked out in English but every answer was expected auf Deutsch. The first victim finally put her head in her hands and cried. Dr. Thorvald smiled as he asked, "Now, how many people STILL vant 'A'?" Only two of us rose our hands.

One spring day, as Dr. Thorvald droned on about Medieval history, he spied something to his mind unbelievable. "Hah! Vat is Dis? Someone passing notes in MY class? I vill read note in front of entire class!" He snatched up the note and read it aloud. "Dr. Thorvald. Your fly is open." And so it was.

Note that, just as some people recommend, the right information had been delivered to the right person at the right time. Unfortunately, due to Dr. Thorvald's own actions, it was delivered in the wrong manner -- out loud to the entire class rather than discreetly and silently. Knowledge management isn't just about what, who, and when....it's also about how.

This story is meant to induce some emotional engagement, and is, in fact, based on a true and specific set of events that I witnessed first hand. However, it also has a potentially quite relevant point regarding a possible formulation of "knowledge management." It seems quite fitting partly because forgetting about the importance of how information is presented (let alone presuming that information becomes knowledge just because it's "delivered" more effectively) is a mistake some people have made in this area.