I’m popping together some marketing material for our wiki consulting ‘suite’, and came across some notes.

In my new role as re-poster of stuff I’ve written elsewhere I thought I’d post:

Open Environment

• It’s powerful and effective to let people shape their own software ‘experience’
• Wiki content creates accountability and visibility on project deliverables
• People can see and learn from other people’s content

Dealing with Initial Resistance

• Broadly speaking, managers are more resistant to change than team members
• Wiki content creates accountability and visibility on project deliverables
• Some people instinctively didn’t want open info (e.g. on project deadlines)
• People are addicted to email (cc lists, ‘paper trail’. ‘I told you in email’)

Stick with it

• Initial resistance dies down; some of key advocates were initially very sceptical
• Organic growth is unpredictable; usage has occurred in unexpected places
• Multiplier effect; as people use the wiki in their own areas, more people get exposed to the wiki

A culture of prototyping

• Everything’s fast, low hassle, low cost and open; e.g. asking people to vote for new features
• Iterate content; more comfort with ‘early and often’ iterations (and easier to build content as a team)

Why have wikis worked (and other tools failed?)

• Open ‘adult’ system; unlike KM systems where control/mistrust built in
• Contributors able to shape and manage their environment to fit needs no templates/required fields
• Organic, completely optional use. Wiki was ‘sold’, but didn’t impose a top-down mentality
• Primary focus was a social/people project and not an IT project