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I, too, admire Fred Nichol's view of consulting. I try to follow Peter
Drucker's notion of an Insultant. The way I understand it a Professor talks
about what he/she wants to talk about, a Consultant talks about what the
client wants to talk about but the Insultant talks about what the client
*doesn't* want to talk about. Lot's more fun but not much repeat
business -- until about six months later when they call for more.

Regarding KM: In 1969 or so, I took a Technology Program Management course
from Prof. Ed Roberts, MIT. One of the research findings he shared was that
the likelihood that two people talk to one another when they should talk to
one another drops to 0.1 when their desks were separated by a distance of
fifty feet. This immediately caused a rash of office layout designs
featuring a central plenum with tables, coffee service and the venerable
water cooler. KM fad meisters at IBM and Accenture rediscoverd this wheel
some thirty years later and are still giving keynote speeches on the
importance of the water cooler. To my knowledge they do not mention Ed
Roberts.

Thanks for the anecdote, Jack, I'll use it in class if
I may. As an old guy (first year in graduate school
was 1964) I've come to suspect that experience DOES
count, but not in the USA.
Regards,
Romie

--- Jack Ring <jring@amug.org> wrote: > I, too,
admire Fred Nichol's view of consulting. I
> try to follow Peter
> Drucker's notion of an Insultant. The way I
> understand it a Professor talks
> about what he/she wants to talk about, a Consultant
> talks about what the
> client wants to talk about but the Insultant talks
> about what the client
> *doesn't* want to talk about. Lot's more fun but
> not much repeat
> business -- until about six months later when they
> call for more.
>
> Regarding KM: In 1969 or so, I took a Technology
> Program Management course
> from Prof. Ed Roberts, MIT. One of the research
> findings he shared was that
> the likelihood that two people talk to one another
> when they should talk to
> one another drops to 0.1 when their desks were
> separated by a distance of
> fifty feet. This immediately caused a rash of
> office layout designs
> featuring a central plenum with tables, coffee
> service and the venerable
> water cooler. KM fad meisters at IBM and Accenture
> rediscoverd this wheel
> some thirty years later and are still giving keynote
> speeches on the
> importance of the water cooler. To my knowledge
> they do not mention Ed
> Roberts.

=====
Prof. Romie F. Littrell, Ph.D.
Facutly of Business
Auckland University of Technology
Private Bag 1020
Auckland 1020, New Zealand
Fax (64) 9 - 917 -9629

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