Pieter Verheugd studied economics at the Tilburg University and law at Leiden University. He obtained his master in finance at the TiasNimbas Business School. Pieter has been working for about 20 years in the field of supervision on the financial sector (Ministry of Finance and the Nederlandsche Bank).

Supervision: a knowledge intensive process

In essence supervision is about applying domain-specific knowledge on an information flow. Three kinds of knowledge and information are relevant:
1. domain-specific (technical) knowledge;
2. current and accurate information about each object of supervision;
3. knowledge about the legal requirements and their application in day-to-day practice.

An interesting knowledge management question is how an individual supervisor or inspector – based on their experience and expertise – accomplishes this in a clever way. Similarly, how is a supervisory body or inspectorate able to deploy its common knowledge in order to achieve more effect and reduce supervisory burden.

DNV-CIBIT
Within DNV-CIBIT Pieter focuses on specifically on knowledge and information management solutions in the domain of supervision, enforcement, law and regulation, and compliance.

Books top 3

1. The Success of Open Source
   S. Weber, Harvard University Press, 2004
   Weber offers a accessible and in-depth explanation for the emergence of open source software. Two questions are pivotal: why are people prepared to spend time and brainpower on open source software development without monetary compensation; and how do people – dispersed in time and location – coordinate the development process of a complex product. Intriguingly Weber hints that the open source process might also be applicable in case of other complex knowledge goods.

2. The end of the cricket specialist (Het einde van de krekelspecialist, Dutch only)
   New challenges for knowledge management in the publicsector, J. de Jong, M. Reith and A.J. Kruiter, Kluwer, 2007
   An interesting view on the diversity of knowledge management practices within the public sector. Remarkable, on the one hand, is the broadly recognised need to use knowledge in a goal-oriented and strategic manner and on the other hand, the familiar struggle in day-to-day practice (e.g. ad hoc, in addition to other tasks, effects not measurable). In looking at the future, knowledge management is identified as the driver for transformation of the public sector from a classical bureaucracy towards a flexible networked organisation. A networked organisation that will draw in specialised knowledge – e.g. about crickets – from outside in.

3. Infotopia
   How many minds produce knowledge, C.R. Sunstein, Oxford University Press, 2006
   Sunstein takes –a plausible – starting point that information and knowledge are widely dispersed in society. This dispersed information/knowledge can be aggregated in different ways: through a statistical mean, through discussion and elaboration, through the price mechanism (on so-called ‘prediction markets’), or through the internet (e.g. wikis, open source, blogs). The resulting joint information/knowledge is often surprisingly accurate; with the note that underlying social mechanisms may also yield the wrong results. Under which circumstances should one opt for the one or other way of aggregation? Sunstein outlines the possibilities and points out the pitfalls. The relevance for society is underscored with the observation: “(t)he two cornerstones of free societies – markets and democracy – rest on the belief that many minds can be trusted”.

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