Memes = Knowledge Units

In business, knowledge units are routinely passed from person to person as people shift and change positions. Many people in an organization have knowledge about the functions that a person performs in a position, from the specific to the general. Most often position specific information is passed from position occupant to position occupant. During the 1970’s the study of the actions of a group of business people was called “System’s Analysis.” Today much of a IT group’s understanding of a business knowledge is gained through “Use Cases" or "User Stories."

The User Stories are have more to do with the desired solution, then with what is currently happening, so that the shape of “System’s Analysis,” which was the documentation of current procedures has changed somewhat over time. As now we collaborate more on what we want to happen, then on what happens.

A partial understanding of what is currently happening could be gained using the sociological tools of memetics. Memetics is the study of transmittable pieces of knowledge replicated primarily through imitation. Lots of work flow analysis may benefit from capturing the information that is transmitted from position holder to position holder as natural turnover happens in the enterprise.

A meme is a unit of knowledge that can be transferred between people, usually through imitation. Transfer of knowledge units happens with replication and propagation. Knowledge transfer through an organization has a transformation vector. Knowledge vectors have a tendency to cluster and happen together or "herd", this is memetic association.

A knowledge unit can morph between propagations, not unlike a game of telephone, this is reflected in memetic drift or the meme's copying-fidelity. A meme is thought to have memetic inertia if its characteristics are manifested in the same manner, regardless of who receives or transmits the meme.

A knowledge unit may not always be health and helpful, this is reflected in the Meme's Fitness. A knowledge unit that does not allow another specfic meme to exist is an Allomeme, a mutually exclusive cultural trait.

A meme's rate of replication and therefore its spread is the meme's fecundity. The longer any instance of the replicating pattern survives, the more copies can be made of it, this is the Meme's longevity.

A cluster of meme's is known as a memeplex. A collection of memeplexes is know as a Deme.

As a software developer a portion of my job is to capture the processes in an organization. There are most likely great tools out there to do this, I just don't know about them. So I spend time wondering about how knowledge is transferred around the office, so that I can take my butterfly net and capture it for study so that I can turn it into "machine Instructions."

User Stories are great, but they don't get deep enough sometimes in the processes of knowledge. So I use "User Stories" but think about the propagation of knowledge in the enterprise.