Knowledge Architecture (KA)

Communities

Research Communities

• Knowledge Architecture (KA) Connect* (2010-2018)
  A community/tribe of AEC professionals to Advance the Practice of Knowledge Management in the AEC Industry
• Knowledge Architecture (KA) Advance (2013-present)
  A Client Community of Practice for Synthesis Intranet Teams

Conferences

• Knowledge Architecture Connect Conference (KA Connect)*
  At the Knowledge Architecture Connect Conference (KA Connect), the annual Knowledge Management conference for the AEC Industry, senior and emerging leaders from top Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) firms will gather to learn strategies and tactics for building successful knowledge management programs. Attendees will have ample time to network and collaborate with their peers in breakout groups.

Workshops

• Synthesis Intranet Workshop

Webinars

“Change Leadership and Knowledge Management” virtual deep dives

• May 2021: Experiments in Virtual Knowledge Sharing at Shepley Bulfinch
• Apr 2021: Book Club: Think Again
• Mar 2021: Culture Change
• Feb 2021: The Power of Embedded Change Agents
• Jan 2021: Employee Resource Groups @ FXCollaborative
• Dec 2020: Strategies for Managing Project Metrics at LS3P
• Nov 2020: Experiments in Virtual Knowledge Sharing at Shepley Bulfinch (CANCELLED; was planned for Sep 24, 2020)
• Oct 2020: Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion at Perkins and Will
• Aug 2020: Building Diverse, Equitable, and Inclusive Organizations
• Jul 2020: Learning as a Strategy for Organizational Change
• Jun 2020: Leading Change
• May 2020: Designing GMB for Continuous Change and Growth; What Now, KM? Knowledge Management in a Time of Rapid Change and Uncertainty; Leading Change

Synthesis Spotlight Series

Jul 2021: Fostering Community @ Lochner, LMN Architects & Shive-Hattery

Oct 2020: Intranet Reorganizations @ Lochner Stefnee Trzpuc & BWBR
Mar 2020: Firmwide Learning @ Turner Fleischer Architects
Jan 2020: Streamlining Business Processes with Online Forms @ Schmidt Associates, RCH Studios & ESa

Dec 2019: Launching Synthesis @ RDG Planning & Design
Sep 2019: Employee Onboarding @ Parkhill, Smith & Cooper
Aug 2019: Elevating Design Conversations @ Diamond Schmitt and Turner Fleischer
Jul 2019: Essential Content Reviews @ GRAEF & GMB
Apr 2019: Elevating Leadership Communications @ Dewberry
Mar 2019: Fostering a Great Place to Work @ Woolpert
Feb 2019: Using Video for Business, Technical, and Cultural Communications @ Dewberry, Diamond Schmitt Architects & KTGY

Dec 2018: Cross-Office Communication @ Shive-Hattery

…

Jul 2016: Sharing + Managing Technical Content @ Jasmax

Other Webinars:

Jun 2020: Intranet Best Practices: Research Findings from Nielsen Norman Group and Knowledge Architecture

Videos

Knowledge Architecture (KA) Connect Talks: Recordings from the KA Connect Conference

KA Connect Conference 2019:
Orchestrating Cultural Transformation through Communications and Collaboration; The Hidden Benefits of Developing a Teaching Organization; Design Better Intranets through User-Centered Design; The Networked President: Using Social Media to Improve Recruiting and Retention; Continuously Improving the Employee Experience; How to Design an Exceptional Employee Experience; From “What is KM?” to Trusted Advisor in Four Years; A Sustainable Approach to Technical Content Maintenance; Engaging Engineers with Company Wide Collaboration at AEI; Building a Best-In-Class AEC HR Function; Delivering on the “One Firm” Promise; Organizational Listening at HGA

KA Connect Conference 2018:
Learning as a Strategic Priority at Turner Fleischer Architects; Collaborative Communications: The Key to Business and Culture Change; A Framework for Collaboration and Quality: SMMA’s ISO 9001 Journey; Lessons Learned from Lessons Learned; Operationalizing Lessons Learned at Boulder Associates; Improving Knowledge Flow: The AEC Lessons Learned Pipeline; Onboarding Knowledge and Talent within DLR Group; Knowledge Reviews in the Flow at Arup: Lessons on the Journey So Far; How a Single Event Influenced the Culture of Sharing Lessons Learned at MKA; Learning at RATIO: Building Culture Through Networked Learning; Integrating Offline and Online Learning at Civiltech Engineering; Immersive Virtual Reality as a Knowledge Transfer Tool; Fail It Forward; Crowdsourcing Technical Knowledge at Bergmeyer

KA Connect Conference 2017:
Teach Them How to Fish: Enhancing Technical Learning with KM Strategies; Connecting Knowledge Strategy to Business Strategy; Experiments in Critical Knowledge Transfer at Shepley Bulfinch; Seeking Our Higher Gear: Elevating Performance Through Ethnography; Deep Smarts and Core Capabilities; How to Make KM Succeed; An Interactive Dashboard to Transfer Critical Knowledge ;Secrets of T-Shaped Problem Solvers; Panning for Gold: Finding Critical Knowledge Mid-Stream at Dewberry; Principles of Design Behavior: A 360° View of Knowledge

KA Connect Conference 2016:
Building Knowledge Strategies with Search Data; The AEC Librarian of the Future; #AskFinch: How Shepley Bulfinch Improved Knowledge Sharing through Measurement; Architecting a Collaborative Culture Using TheCR’s Working Out Loud Framework; The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Knowledge Management Organizations; Smarter by Design: A Knowledge Management Manifesto for the AEC Industry; 5 Ways to Amplify Your Communities of Practice; Push vs. Pull: A Simple Approach to Improve Knowledge Sharing; Behind the Scenes: Crowdsourcing Marketing Videos; 7 Things I Wish I’d Known Before Becoming a Knowledge Manager; The Evolution of Knowledge Management at AEI; Data Visualization and Space Analytics at Ayers Saint Gross; Connecting Client Feedback to Organizational Improvement at Haley & Aldrich; Behind the Scenes of Shive-Hattery’s Leadership Development Program; From Peer Groups to Communities of Practice: A 20-Year Journey; Launching NASA’s Knowledge Management Program

KA Connect Conference 2015:
Social Learning at LMN Architects; Activating Knowledge Sharing at DLR Group; The Evolution of Arup University; Design Diffusion at KieranTimberlake; Where is Knowledge Management Headed?; Lessons Learned from Array Architects’ Continuous Improvement Journey ;Panel Discussion: Connecting with Clients via the Web; State of Knowledge Management in AEC Survey: Key Findings + Insights ;Research First: Growing and Developing Intellectual Content at EYP; How Do You Model Tacit Knowledge?
How Do You Model Tacit Knowledge?; The Data on Data-Centric Practices; Deep Dive: Social Learning at LMN Architects

KA Connect Conference 2014:
Lessons from 50 Years of Thought Leadership Blockbusters and Bombs in Management Consulting; Successful Knowledge Transfer During Leadership Transition; Scenario Planning: A Creative Tool for Future Strategies; Short Passes: 5 Ways to Beat Content Anxiety; Designing for Longevity; The 4X4 Model for Winning Knowledge Content; What Transportation Can Be: Technology for the Next Generation; Integrated Knowledge Flow: Enhancing Culture and Practice; Connecting People with Data; The Evolution of Communities of Practice at Parsons Brinckerhoff; Secrets of Great Communities & Community Manager; Change is the New Black: Building a Sharing Culture at Mead & Hunt; No One Knows As Much As Everyone; Buildings: The Ultimate Smartphone Accessory; The Current and Future State of Wearable Technology; The Construction Worker of the Future; Mobile Marketing: What You Need to Know; The A/E Firm Website of KA Connect Conference 2015; AEC-APPS: Community as a Competitive Advantage

KA Connect Conference 2013:
Tales from the Field: Confessions of a Knowledge Manager; Secrets of Highly Connected Practices; Collaborative Research: Breaking Boundaries by Connecting Practices; Building a Knowledge-Based Practice in the Digital Age; The Landscape of Thought Leadership in the Built Environment Professions; DLRUniversity: Design Culture – Culture Connections; Crowdsourced Urbanism: Engaging Communities and Building Better Cities; Trust: The Key to a Smarter Workplace; The Social Building; MKThink: Strategy, Architecture, and Innovation; From Idea to Inferno: Lighting the Innovation Fire at Kaiser Permanente EYP’s AE16 Platform: Connecting Generations, Disciplines, & Knowledge; Innovation at Perkins+Will; Leading Change: Research as Real Estate, Real Estate as Research; Making Big Data Meaningful at Fehr & Peers; Communications and Knowledge Management: Evolution to Revolution; Can an App Save Your Life, and Your City Too? ;R&D at Weidlinger: Past, Present, and Future; Research in Transition: Adapting OLIN’s Research Culture to Change

KA Connect Conference 2012:
Engineering Content: The Story of Arup Thoughts; The Connected Practice; The Social Nature of Engineers; Marrying Research and Intuition; Give it Away: The Marketing Impact of Research; Innovation at SOM; The Story of Landscape Urbanism Competing On More Than Design; Brand Strategy in the Social Sphere; Correlating Design and the Bottom Line; Research-Based From the Start: Creating a New Healthcare Studio; Design Refined: Operational Modeling and Simulation at RTKL; Using Social Media to Connect to Partners and Clients; Launching into Research: HKS and CADRE; The Third Teacher: Analog, Digital, Practice ;How to Scale a Skunkworks Project; Bricolage and Bootstrapping: Iterative Innovation at Turner; The Story of Project Orange; R&D at TEECOM: Past, Present, and Future; Modular Futures: Moving from Service to Product Theory; Giving an Old Technology a New Lease on Life From Prototype to Product: A Collaborative Journey; Engineering Innovation: Challenges and Opportunities; Construction Innovation: Not for the Faint of Heart; Still Coding After All These Years; R&D: Reinvention and Design; Mobilizing EYP

KA Connect Conference 2011:
A16: A Revolutionary Program for Up/Down Mentoring; Knowledge-Driven Strategy; Organizing Around Intellect; Custom Tools for Wicked Problems; Great Organizations Give Up Control; Working the Biggest Room Possible; Cultural DNA: The Key to Competitive Advantage; The Path to Enterprise Collaboration; Two Degrees of Separation; Fabricating the Future; Moving from Building Design to Product Design; Learning to be Lean; You’ve Got a Secret…And You Shouldn’t; Engineering is Poetry; Occupant Satisfaction and Sustainable Design; Harvesting Knowledge and Evidence in the Wild; Design Research and the 21st Century Hospital;Data Mining for Design; Social Media @HOK; Get Uncomfortable…That’s When It Gets Good!; Creating Organizational Learning Agility; Capturing Distilled Knowledge on Video; Activating Knowledge: Data-Driven Design; IT as an Enemy of Innovation; How to Speak BIM; Why the Future Looks IPD-ish; What the AEC Industry Can Learn from Farmville; What About Me? Retention in the Recovery; Video: Consumer Toy or Power Tool?; The Unstructured Landscape of the Knowledge Worker; Bret Tushaus at KA Connect KA Connect Conference 2011; Sales: The Fountain of Sustainability; What’s AEC for Entrepreneur?; Leveraging Internal Experts to Build a Learning Program; Flying Together; Digital Fabrication: 7 Steps to a New Workflow; Data Mining and BIM; Curating Digital Design Data; Collecting Evidence is a Team Sport; BIM’s ‘First Mile’ Problem; Benchmarking Isn’t Just Benchmarking; A New Collaboration Framework For Design and Manufacturing; Make Project Management Cool; The Power of the Knowledge Broker; Teaching 2.0; What You Really Want to Know About Clients; One Project at a Time is Not Fast Enough; Knowledge Generation for the Small Firm; Tools and Resources that Support EBD in Healthcare

KA Connect Conference 2010:
Dinosaur Lessons: Learn or Die; The Three Ages of DAM; How do you know what you know?; The Reemerging Midcareer Professional’s Companion; A 12-Step Program for a Learning Organization; Crowdsourcing Design; A Wiki for Your Thoughts; Leveraging Learning; The Unifying Force; On Collaboration; Storytelling: The Key to Marketing Knowledge; Translations from Model to Building; Design-Build-Bid: A New Delivery Process; Game Development: An Unlikely Muse; Engaging the Tools; There are four P’s in Practice; Knowledge, Knowledge Everywhere…; CAD Metaphors

Podcasts

Feb 2021: Managing Knowledge & Data for Continued Improvement

KA Connect Evidence-based Design Forum 2011

Tools and Resources that Support EBD in Healthcare
Harvesting Knowledge and Evidence in the Wild
Data Mining for Design
Knowledge Generation for the Small Firm

KA Connect Conference 2011

Fabricating the Future
What About Me? Retention in the Recovery
The Unstructured Landscape of the Knowledge Worker
Great Organizations Give Up Control
IT as an Enemy of Innovation
Flying Together
Teaching 2.0
Collecting Evidence is a Team Sport
Two Degrees of Separation
Data Mining and BIM
Digital Fabrication: 7 Steps to a New Workflow
The Power of the Knowledge Broker
A Revolutionary Program for Up-Down Mentoring
Leveraging Internal Experts to Build a Learning Program
What the AEC Industry Can Learn from Farmville
Social Media @HOK
Moving from Building Design to Product Design
Curating Digital Design Data
Organizing Around Intellect
Working the Biggest Room Possible
Benchmarking Isn’t Just Benchmarking
Capturing Distilled Knowledge on Video
Video: Consumer Toy or Power Tool?
What You Really Want to Know About Clients
Cultural DNA: The Key to Competitive Advantage
Creating Organizational Learning Agility
BIM’s ’First Mile’ Problem
Learning to be Lean
A New Collaboration Framework For Design and Manufacturing
The Path to Enterprise Collaboration
Engineering is Poetry
You’ve Got a Secret…And You Shouldn’t
Sales: The Fountain of Sustainability
Activating Knowledge: Data-Driven Design
Get Uncomfortable…That’s When It Gets Good!
One Project at a Time is Not Fast Enough
Knowledge-Driven Strategy
Custom Tools for Wicked Problems
Why the Future Looks IPD-ish
How to Speak BIM

KA Connect Conference 2010

Translations from Model to Building
Dinosaur Lessons – Learn or Die
Design, Build, Bid
A Wiki for Your Thoughts
How do you know what you know?
Game Development – An Unlikely Muse
Engaging the Tools
Leveraging Learning
The Three Ages of DAM
A 12-Step Program for a Learning Organization
CAD Metaphors
The Unifying Force
Storytelling – The Key to Marketing Knowledge
There are 4 P’s in Practice
Knowledde, Knowledge Everywhere
On Collaboration