Building a Better Wiki

I just received one of several emails from eWeek with a link to a new slideshow entitled, 25 Tips for Better Wiki Deployment. While some slides would fall under the category of obvious, there really are some tidbits of useful information, highlighting critical issues that any organization can face when launching their own internal wiki. I’m going to take a look at some specific slides but highly recommend you take a look at the full deck to really grasp the valuable perspectives they’ve brought together. Couple of points stand out, and I feel will help you to consider many of these slides as they relate to them:

Who’s in Charge? How Will It Work? What Will They Get Out of It?

Slides 1, 2, 6, 8, 20, 24, 25

As I mentioned, many of these slides can come across as obvious or just simple logic applied to any new information management tool an organization might implement. But the point here is particularly important when launching an Enterprise 2.0 toolkit: finding the right level of administrative control, defining the parameter of participation and level of expectations. Now purists will quickly shout out that any administrative control is the death knell of a good wiki; that the community is there to police itself and define what it hopes to derive from it. Unfortunately, as many of us know, an internal enterprise community is a beast of a different color than the WWW.

Anonymity, lack there-of, internal politics, interpersonal issues, etc, all play a very real role as people begin to use such tools. Authority in the workplace has always been important to lay critical decisions at the feet of the right individual On a wiki, anyone can be an authority, but without the right administrative controls, you can find that perspective and focus can quickly breakdown, therefore, the goal has to be very specific and clear to ensure that users do not waste too much time coming to some conclusion while contributing appropriately.

So like any new productivity tool, you have a responsibility to communicate what you expect users to get out of it – even if those expectations are incredibly general. Also, lay down a set of rules to ensure that participation does not become a free-for-all. You’re goal is clearly mass collaboration, but it must be focused and tied to general guidelines that are clearly defined and managed.

Who’s the Leader of the Pack, and Give out Gold Stars

Slides 3, 4, 7, 13, 15, 17, 19,

In some of our prior posts regarding wikis you can see a definite common theme, a black and white perspective of the value or lack of value in utilizing wikis in the workplace. Often IT and business leaders approach tools like wikis as a magic wand that can be waved and valuable interactions will magically appear. Well maybe not that simply, but too often the viral nature of wikis and other Enterprise 2.0 tools overshadow the reality that a great deal of focus on the right people to push and pull folks along is necessary.

Well, for me, having been a corporate denizen for more than a decade, I expect that for people who are usually working 9+ hours a day, producing work in tools that management already expects them to use, results in very little incentive to recreate such work on a wiki – the current reality for many companies: multiple locations of knowledge dissemination until one particular toolset clearly rises above the rest.

People need incentives, especially in the workplace. First, having particular wiki leaders from within the organization - not necessarily at the highest level – can really open up the concept that the wiki is meant for everyone. Then, creating incentives for promoting valuable insight and content can propel others to join in.

Just like the “Employee of the Month” or “Top Sales Person” posting in the company common room or intranet, people want to be recognized for doing valuable work; ideally financially, but at least publicly. Not to mention bringing out the competitive nature in many of us. The expectation that people will simply get onto a wiki and start using it with no particular recognition will inevitably lead people to post less and less over time. It doesn’t take much to recognize someone, but can certainly go along way to making them feel valuable in building your wiki.

Let Your Wiki Grow…Like a Weed

Slides 4, 9, 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 23

Yep, a weed, as in virally. All companies face the issue of being able to share information quickly, easily, and deeply. Often information becomes pooled in pockets of an organization, either because of controls in place, or the tools that do a poor job of automatically reaching individuals who may need that information. Wikis are not necessarily a panacea but they can certainly help an organization to distribute information more evenly by allowing individuals to establish what kinds of information they want and when they want to receive it.

Now you’re creating bridges across those information gaps, where different teams can communicate directly on projects even when they are not directly impacted, or to discuss product/service information when a particular need arises. What in the past might take several calls and emails across an organization to find the right individual who has the answer; it becomes more readily available to a broader employee base. Naturally, it’s important that the correct information is there in the first place, but even in the act of asking for such information creates awareness that someone does need it; that it should be shared with the community at large.

In the end, wikis may not be the ideal solution for your particular organization on a whole, but a particular group or set of teams may benefit immensely. With the relative low cost, and minimal learning curve, the pros can certainly outweigh the cons. But only real experience can say if it will ultimately work. I think spending time considering the points of these slides and what your own organization is trying to achieve can at least create an opportunity for your organization to consider, is there a need for such a tool – if not this one?

Like to highlight the sources mentioned at the end of the slideshow:
Gerald Kane, assistant professor of IS, Carroll School of Management, Boston College; MindTouch; eTtouch; Cyrus Christianson, Citrix Webmaster; and “Corporate Wiki Users: Results of a Survey,” by Ann Majchrzak, Christian Wagner and David Yates.