Canadian Lawyer

18 A p r I L 2 0 1 5 w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m t E C h s u p p o rt KM at smaller law firms is made relatively easier, not because there's any less to remember, but that we externalize our knowledge to other people and our systems. Lawyers know everyone in the firm. They know who to ask and where to go for expertise. Through face-to- face contact and maintaining these con- nections, knowledge management just seems to happen. As it turns out there's a reason small organizations are more connected and able to do a lot more knowledge manage- ment without a separate team or depart- ment co-ordinating it all. It's all down to a Brit named Dunbar. An evolutionary psychologist, Robin Dunbar found that most humans cannot maintain more than 150 meaningful relationships — those we know, who they are and what they do, and how they relate to us. Apparently it's something to do with brain size. After studying groups of monkeys and apes, Dunbar hypothesized that the bigger the brain, the bigger the social group we primates can handle. This number for humans (though it is more of a range with 150 being the average), has since been found in all sorts of studies; from some of the few remaining hunter-gatherer tribes, to the modern military unit of a company. It also showed up in one study of the aver- age size of network that the English sent out Christmas cards to each year (this was before changing status updates on the day and shouting out a warm but impersonal Merry Christmas to your social network was a way of life). This magical number is also the max- imum number of staff that W. L. Gore & Associates (who make Gore-Tex and the such-like) will allow in one office nowledge management at law firms is about externalizing the knowledge held in lawyers' heads. Because we can't remember every- thing and everyone, we need to tap into a centralized system or repository as extensions of our brains. Think of Google. Most of us now outsource to Google some of our thinking selves — which grapes go into a Bor- deaux blend? In fact, our smartphones now act as personal knowledge management devices or memory banks — people's phone numbers, birthdays, meeting start times, to-do lists, and even interesting articles saved for future use. Formal KM departments attempt to do this but on a much bigger scale. @k8simpson o p I N I o N Size matters for KM Now that the technology is in place, we have to foster trust so we can truly scale knowledge sharing in our larger organizations. By Kate Simpson K

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