Acknowledgments

I wish to acknowledge my employer, the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT), for allowing me to practice, develop, and implement some of the principles I espouse in this book, even though all the opinions expressed in this book are exclusively mine. I’m specifically indebted to David McMillian, director of Human Resources; Camille Thomason, former director of design; and Benito Ybarra, chief auditor, for the career guidance they provided me. It’s worth mentioning the support from our leadership, the 50+ communities of practice (CoP) I mentor, and the entire project and KM community at TxDOT.

I’m particularly indebted to the project Management Institute (PMI), especially the Austin Chapter, where I served in various capacities on the board, including president in 2018. Project-portfolio management is my base. I have extensive experience in project management that ran for decades and carried my skills into knowledge management. I’m thankful to the knowledge management community of the National Academy of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Transportation Research Board (TRB) Information and Knowledge Management Committee and Association of Agency Highway Transportation Official’s Committee on Knowledge Management. Some of the members of these communities contributed to the selection of the title of this book. I have learned a lot from these committees.

I would like to call out several leaders and project and portfolio managers in the Austin area who supported and participated in my Leadership Cafés in Austin and tested my crazy ideas at the café. I’d also like to thank those who participate in my monthly Global Knowledge Café from around the world, including the Knowledge Management Community of Austin, which I co-founded with Cory Cannon.

The motivation and inspiration of Dr. Moses Adoka, chief knowledge officer at Goddard Spaceflight Center, Greenbelt, Maryland, and Sally Anderson, executive coach and change management expert, cannot go unnoticed.

A special acknowledgment goes to my friends Kimberly Thomsen, Monica Handy, Bruce Moore, and Joan Rylander, who helped with the manuscript editing at various stages and testing the café ideas. Also, I want to give a shout-out to the terrific project knowledge leaders, entrepreneurs, and friends across the globe who provided their case studies and shared their knowledge management experiences and challenges, including Theresa Luebcke, PMP, who was the PMI Region 6 Mentor for 26 chapters in the south-central United States; Tonya Hofmann, the CEO and Founder of the Public Speakers Association, BeeKonnected, and Wowdible Phone Application; Dr. Nidhi Gupta, PMP, who is a trained dentist and certified project manager; Dr. Monte Luehlfing, DHA, PMP, a senior IT project manager at the University of Mississippi Medical Center; and Koji Kodama, MBA, PMP , experientially multicultural, natively bilingual, technologically analytical, and strategically successful. Koji is a past president of the PMI Austin Chapter and currently the Global Executive Management (GEM) specialist in Saitama, Japan, Kodama Operations. Gabe Goldstein, MPM, served with me as the director of vendor relations on the PMI Austin board. Others deserving recognition include Ahmed Zouhai, PMP, who is a consultant with comprehensive global experience in project, program, and product management; Ram Dokka, PgMP, an Enterprise Agile Transformation Coach, senior IT portfolio/program/project manager, past president of the PMI Austin Chapter, and a board chair of the PMI Educational Foundation, award-winning project manager; Dr. Linda Agyapong, PhD, PMP, author and freelance PMP consultant and trainer for corporate institutions and higher education in Newark, Delaware; Sandra Jackson, my successor as the president of PMI Austin 2019; and my Olympia and a smart 14-year-old daughter, Amara. They shared her perspectives on knowledge-sharing preferences for her generation.

Through the stories and café ideas you have just enjoyed, I seek to honor and acknowledge some inspirational colleagues, like Leni Oman, who reviewed the manuscript. I am incredibly honored to have the support and coaching of Dr. Denise Bedford, currently an adjunct professor at Georgetown University’s Communication Culture and Technology program, adjunct faculty at the Schulich School of Business, York University, a Visiting Scholar at the University of Coventry, and a Distinguished Practitioner and Virtual Fellow with the U.S. Department of State for her constructive criticisms and guidance. She is a treasure!

I’m indebted to Eric Verzuh, the international bestselling author, and president of Versatile, for his encouragement, and David Gurteen, one of KM’s fathers, for his friendship and inspiration for allowing me to bounce some of my ideas off him.

Finally, I’m deeply thankful to my family, my wife, Precious; my son, Benjamin; my daughter, Amara; and my mom, Ezinne Fidelia Anyacho, who visited often, for your patience with my writing period.