Episode 7: From Mangroves to KM - Why People Still Matter Most with Jana Thuaud
Not Another KM PodcastShow Notes
Jana Thuaud didn’t set out to work in knowledge management. She found her way there through environmental science, development work, and years of documenting what actually happens on the ground.
In this episode, she shares what that journey taught her about KM in the real world. Not the polished version, the human one.
Brittany and Rachel dig into why organizations are still defaulting to websites, repositories, and webinars in 2026. The honest answer? They’re easy to measure, easy to fund, and easy to explain.
They also get into: The gap between knowledge products and actual knowledge flow Why KM still gets treated like information management The role of culture, context, and access in global work What it really takes to build trust and connection across teams
The throughline is simple. KM doesn’t move because of tools. It moves because people decide it matters.
A grounded conversation that cuts through the noise and brings KM back to what it’s always been about: people, relationships, and making the work actually work.
Notes: Check out this great webinar by Jana and her team - https://www.gefislands.org/webinar/islands-forum-setting-bar-synergized-sids-knowledge-chemicals-and-waste
More from Not Another KM Podcast
KM has been around for 30+ years, and it still can’t answer the question “so what do you do?” without a 20-minute explanation. So we did the only reasonable thing: we sent it to therapy. Brittany plays the therapist and Rachel lies down on the couch as KM itself, working through some deep-seated feelings. There’s sibling rivalry with information management, constant confusion with content management, a little jealousy toward L&D and its snack budget, and some very complicated emotions about the new kid everyone’s obsessed with: AI. Once the session wraps, we get real about what’s behind KM’s identity crisis. We talk about why the words we use matter so much when we’re trying to show our value, whether the “KM” label is helping or hurting us, and how KM can flex to fit different organizational cultures. Then we look ahead: is AI the thing that finally makes KM make sense to everyone else, or the thing that makes everyone forget we were here first Spoiler: KM is going to be okay. Probably.
Sarah Abdelatif, co-founder of Propel, joins us to talk about knowledge retention in the development and humanitarian sectors, the messy, iterative path to building Propel, and what it takes to keep learning alive inside an organization. We also dig into AI: why it should sharpen human knowledge instead of replacing it, why quality control matters, and why democratizing access to knowledge is still the goal. If you care about keeping people at the center of how organizations learn, this one's for you. You'll find links to Propel and Sarah's work below. Links: Sarah's LinkedIn Website: https://www.propelapp.org/ Email Sarah: [email protected]
Most people never think about payroll until something goes wrong. But behind every paycheck is a complex web of regulations, systems, processes, and institutional knowledge that organizations can't afford to lose. In this episode, payroll transformation consultant Nina Teague shares her unique journey from educator to payroll specialist and explains why payroll may be one of the most overlooked knowledge domains in business.
What happens when organizations stop thinking about learning as something that happens to people and start thinking about it as something they build with people?
This is Episode 2 of a 2 part series.