Personal Knowledge Management for Procurement Professionals

How to create an all knowing system for your Procurement Knowledge

How many of the great ideas we’ve had or encountered have faded from our minds before we even had a chance to put them into practice? Source - Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte

My brain has been bustling with ideas for as long as I can remember. Some were incredible, some were not so good, and some were destined to leave this plane and join the realm of minuses (please tell me you like The Great Glass Elevator?).

Creating a Digital Second Brain as part of Person Knowledge Management

What is Personal Knowledge Management?

Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) is a concept I’ve long explored. At school, college and university, I took copious volumes of notes. I still have some degree notes, but sadly, 99% of them were lost through hard drive failures.

And that is why I love using a solution like Notion to manage my personal knowledge - more on Notion and other tools later.

What I realised some years ago was that I was creating notes in written format but I was running into issues:

• Data Extraction was harrowing.

• Connecting ideas, concepts, and notes were complex (although not impossible)

• If I ever forgot my notebook - I was screwed. Or I’d end up with sheets of paper or flashcards that I promised myself I’d had to the book…guess what happened there.

One of my favourite writers and creators of content, Ryan Holiday, utilises this written approach using the Victorian-style commonplace book to store his notes and ideas. Part of me loves this idea.

Part of me yearns to use it. But it doesn’t work for me (but it might work for you). Suppose you love to write, feel the pen scrape on the paper, and spend time organising handwritten notes. In that case, a traditional commonplace note-taking system might be perfect for you.

But I like to think of my Personal Knowledge Management System, a.k.a my Second Brain (or my Procurement Second Brain for much of my research) like this:

1 - A commonplace digital book where I store insights I come across through the copious amounts of reading I undertake.

2 - A Second Brain is what it says on the tin. It’s a digital brain that I’ve created to assist with my biological, gooey, marvellous, complex brain. That goes for your brain too.

3 - A project manager. It keeps me on track with what I need to be working on.

4 - I know what I need to work on because my goals and aims are stored here.

And this is why I believe that Personal Knowledge Management can change your career in procurement. If we all had insights into what worked, process ideas, negotiation failures, macroeconomic trends that have impacted us and more - we could recall these insights whenever a problem presented itself and use our hard-earned knowledge to create solutions.

If you rely on your biological brain to do all of this hard work, you will struggle.

We must “be able to make use of information we value, we need a way to package it up and send it through time to our future self. We need a way to cultivate a body of knowledge that is uniquely our own, so when the opportunity arises—whether changing jobs, giving a big presentation, launching a new product, or starting a business or a family—we will have access to the wisdom we need to make good decisions and take the most effective action. It all begins with the simple act of writing things down” (Building a Second Brain, Tiago Forte).

To draw on this information like a Kwisatz Haderach, to connect events and ideas to create new thoughts and ideas you can share with the world. Once you can do this, you feel the power of knowledge and what it can unlock.

PKM has transformed my outlook on work - “The modern workplace is sick. Chaos should not be the natural state at work. Anxiety isn’t a prerequisite for progress” (It Doesn’t Have to Be Crazy at Work, Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson). PKM lets me cut through the chaos, and it will do the same for you

What is Notion?

Notion is a comprehensive productivity platform that combines note-taking, task management, databases, and collaboration features in a user-friendly interface. It enables users to create a customised workspace for various purposes, such as project management, goal tracking, or capturing valuable insights. With its flexibility and adaptability, Notion provides an effective way to organise and manage information, making it a valuable tool for professionals in various fields, including procurement.

Common challenges that procurement professionals face in managing their knowledge

Secret information is one of the most significant issues in my career. I worked on highly sensitive commercial programmes within public and private sector defence organisations for five years. I worked at two of the most secretive military establishments in Dstl (Porton Down) and AWE (the Atomic Weapons Establishment as it was formerly known). The former of which I was at as a consultant when the novichok poisonings happened in Salisbury.