Handbags at dawn — defining the damned thing

So Shawn wants me to define knowledge workers?

One school of thought tries to define knowledge work based on the role. The thinking seems to be: “I’m a knowledge worker; therefore, whatever I do is knowledge work.” Definitions based upon this premise tend to creep naturally toward broadness. Because the activities that correspond to the role can vary so greatly from organisation to organisation, the definition of the role (and thus the activity) grows larger and larger.

The opposing approach is to define the role based on the activity. Whatever knowledge work is, an knowledge worker is the person who does it. These definitions tend to creep naturally toward narrowness. In order to speak meaningfully about the issues surrounding knowledge work and their solutions, we must define the scope of those problems in very concrete ways. When this definition (intended for the activity) is applied to the role, it creates for some the fear of being ‘boxed in’, trapped in a role so narrowly defined that many of the elements essential to the success of any given knowledge work are outside the control or influence of the knowledge worker. Ultimately, it leads to the result that Shawn suggests, with people saying “Our salespeople are knowledge workers but our gas fitters are not”.

The yearning for clarity of a concept by defining it is not something new. Many disciplines have gone through this agony. I actually stole borrowed reframed these words from Jesse James Garrett’s IA Recon essay. Some years ago, Information Architects were attempting to define what they did and ultimately got no where. Business Analysts are going through the same argument of definition right now. What then was Garrett’s solution to definition? Let me again, reframe his words:

Knowledge work is an activity that can be practised by people in a wide variety of roles. Knowledge work can be designed to achieve a wide variety of goals, not just information retrieval. The single most important factor in the success of knowledge work is the skill of the knowledge worker. This skill is applied through a combination of experienced professional judgement, thoughtful consideration of research findings, and disciplined creativity. This skill can be developed and applied by specialist knowledge workers and non-specialists alike.

Only by being honest with ourselves about what makes knowledge work valuable can we convince others of that value. Only by being generous with our knowledge can we reap all of its benefits. And only by creating a culture in which these principles are fully embraced can we foster the growth of our field, and ensure our continued success.

M