WOL – Working Out Loud

Share your knowledge by showing your work and narrating your work

Most people have heard KM’s exhortation to ‘share knowledge’, but often they’re not really sure how to do that beyond advertising what they could help with, helping when asked, taking an active role in events, filling in various registers and populating libraries.

I’m inspired by the UX world’s cry to “show rather than tell” and also by the working-out-loud (WOL) movement. There’s certainly a place for well-curated knowledge artefacts, and also for polished presentations. What I like even more, however, is to see the WIP and to hear the path that led there, and especially the problems as well as the breakthroughs, and also the current dilemmas.

You shouldn’t have to produce separate ‘reporting’ and ‘presentation’ artefacts different to the actual work to do this. Make it OK for people to expose what was and is difficult in their work, to expose their thinking through narration, and to then engage in discussion and collaboration with those with different experience and perspectives. During lockdown this can be done equally well with live or recorded video as in person. But keep it okay to share the rough-cut because the polished item loses the most interesting bits.

The keys are:

Instead of creating a separate presentation about the work, showcase the actual work itself and narrate it.

Some credits, references and resources on WOL

Articles, Blogs, and Web Resources

1. Bryce Williams (2010) – Original coining of WOL:
   “When will we Work Out Loud? Soon!”
2. John Stepper (2014) – Core blog post defining the 5 elements:
   “The 5 Elements of Working Out Loud”
3. John Stepper – Official website:
   https://workingoutloud.com
4. Reworked – Workplace transformation and WOL case studies:
   “Rehumanize Your Workplace by Working Out Loud”
5. Bloomfire – Introduction and how-to for WOL:
   “Working Out Loud: What It Is and How to Start”
6. Virtual Not Distant – Adapting WOL for remote teams:
   “Revisiting Working Out Loud”
7. Flexopus – Overview and workplace applications:
   “Working Out Loud: What’s Behind the Method”
8. Coach Office 365 – WOL for people managers:
   “Working Out Loud as a People Manager”
9. WOL Week – Centralized resources for practitioners:
   https://wolweek.com/wolweek-resources/

---

PDF Guides

10. WOL Circle Guide – Getting Started (v3.5.1):
    Direct PDF link
11. WOL Circle Guide – Week 12: Reflect & Celebrate (PDF):
    Scribd link
12. WOL Circle Guide PDF on GlickmanOnline (alternate host):
    Alternate PDF source

---

Academic Research

13. H. Crump (2017) – “An Investigation into the Phenomenon and Discourse of Working Out Loud”:
    Open University PDF (PhD thesis)
14. Scharfschwerdt, C. et al. (2023) – Intervention study on WOL as an agile learning method:
    ResearchGate publication