Public Question
How do you obtain new applicable knowledge?
How do you obtain new applicable knowledge, that gives you new ways of doing you job? And is there any substitute for experience?
Do you really learn anything applicable through books, and blogs, and if so, what kind of knowledge and how do you process it?
Public unpaid question.
Javier Leon
I rely on Books and Blogs for finding new knowledge and there is NOT a substitute for experience. The thing I do to balance the information overload is to combine book and blog reading with offline time for letting applications for these new knowledge flourish. Complementary observation and deep one on one interviews do speed up the knowledge application.
It is always important to let time off for ideas (from the new acquired knowledge) to incubate.
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David Carlson
From life itself - travels and friends. By an open mind towards the world. People you trust and respect. Sharing- To obtain knowledge you have to give away as well. I'm no that much blogs and books really. Prefer novels…
Britt Davis
I agree! Technical, tangible knowledge--contained in books and other written formats--is incredibly important. So is intangible applied knowledge and the experience in 'the real world.'
But then, there's that saying about learning from others' mistakes, right? Tangible knowledge sets a foundation quickly, and shuffles neurological connections to bring fresh insights.
The vital lies between: conversation. Asking someone else about their experience and learning process sometimes reveals knowledge in lecture form, as they would have written it out. Other times, however, the dynamics of discussion provoke reflection. Other times, observation reveals insights from an experience unrealized by the person who experienced it!
ShengYeong Chia
Knowledge does not necessary translate to application. Learning about new things can be done through reading etc. But learning to do the new things can only be achieved through doing/experience/application.
I can learn about cycling through understanding the motion of the physics.
I can learn to cycle through cycling, falling down and pick self up to cycle again.
I do not think experience can be substituted.
João Rosman
I have been doing since I move to LA from Brazil a really nice experiment, I trying to learn and do something new every month, and I having a lot of fun with it, and the rules for me are:
1 - Look for a starting point, it can be a book, a blog post, an idea or something I always wanted to try.
2 - Just try to do it and learn from the experience of doing it.
3 - Observe, learn, adapt, transform, start over or quit
And you should try this experiment on at least a 30 days cycle because you body and mind needs to get use to it... and usually it takes around 3 to 4 weeks.
Nishad Ramachandran
Most of my recent knowledge acquisition has been thru reading and understanding stuff. I head a digital advertising agency in India and I am often called upon to think of new ways of doing stuff. So reading, geeking and doing things that we have never done before. While experience gives me the confidence to do new things keeping in my issues and pitfalls that we have faced in the past, going forward the only way I see myself do new things is by looking out for things that are already being done, and making new innovations out of them...
Peter Surrena
I see it as, there's technical knowledge (tangible) and knowledge from experience (intangible). The technical knowledge gives you the tools to demonstrate your experiential knowledge.
My approach for technical knowledge is simple, present yourself with a problem that that has a definite answer. An example would be math. You might not yet know how to solve the problem but knowing that there is a solution provides focus in the process. It's my opinion that this process should be rapid and relevant, there's nothing more wasteful than knowledge for the sake of knowledge. Books, blogs and so on are a great place to gain this form of experience.
That said, there's nothing unique about the tangible...the answer exists, it's complete but it does provide a foundation. Using your foundation, you can make calculated risks...problems without an answer yet. This is how experiential knowledge is gained and, in terms of your work, what makes you valuable.
To answer "How do you obtain new applicable knowledge, that gives you new ways of doing you job?", choose the solution with no answer, use your tools, add new ones and........figure it out.
Piers Fawkes
Everything gives you data points. Books, magazines, blogs, links are all relevant - but you have to tearsheet from these sources and then once you have collected a decent volume of data you have to run pattern recognition to truly find learnings.
