The Successful Bookstore—Maximizing the Value of a Project’s Intellectual Assets

  Knowledge Management   Lessons Learned   Knowledge Shelf  

One  of my favorite pastimes is browsing in bookstores. Whether in a brick-and-mortar building or online, there are few things more enjoyable than spending time in a bookstore that is conveniently located, well organized, and generously stocked. If I know I can go there for the classics as well as the latest bestseller, so much the better!

A bookstore is a useful analogy for exploring how you as a project manager can manage and maximize the value of your project’s collection of information. We often refer to this information—a project’s intellectual assets—as the project library, but the analogy of a bookstore, with its more entrepreneurial connotations, is more useful in defining what you need to do to get the maximum value from the information your team collects and creates. The steps you need to take are not complex, but active management of a project’s intellectual assets is frequently one of the most neglected parts of project work. This article discusses some of the key methods for maximizing the value of a project’s intellectual assets.

•  Build the foundation: Your bookstore will need a location. Can you afford the rent? Will the location be accessible to your customers? As with the bookstore, your project’s intellectual assets will need a home and the organizational support to sustain it.
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