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Giving everyone in your organization the ability to contribute new information, modify knowledge that is outdated, and delete content that is inaccurate or irrelevant are some of the core benefits that you get from having an enterprise wiki. The thought here is that it is in everyone's best interest to have the wiki as up-to-date, relevant, and complete as possible. But, there could be much more value in your wiki than just this.
In an environment where anyone can change the actual structure of your content, you have an opportunity to see how people really think about the information that they need to do their jobs. You can learn quite a bit about how your organization actually works (rather than how you think it works, or even how you want it to work).
For example, your organization may have many departments that work together on projects. Naturally, you would want to foster as much collaboration between the departments as possible, so you may create a Workspace for each project to accomplish this. As you continue to use the wiki, you might see new Workspaces being created for each department, with their own status updates, work product, and other bits of information. What can you learn from this?
Perhaps your organization is more stove-piped than you want it to be, or perhaps there are areas of your organization that should be more isolated. In either case, the way people have decided to use your wiki can tell you a lot about how collaboration actually happens. You might embrace this, or you might act to change it- but you have a great insight to determine how to move forward with your collaboration strategy.
There are a number of ways in which our Fortune 500 clients use the BrainKeeper Enterprise Wiki differently than our small business subscribers. However, there is one thing that every wiki has in common: they all change as they grow. Beyond the obvious changes to the individual wiki pages, blog posts, and forum threads- most wikis will progress through a maturity process, where the underlying structure of the wiki itself is evolved to meet the changing needs of your organization and the information you are capturing.
Many of the things that you do as a 50-person organization will not work when you grow to be a 200-person organization- and the same logic should apply to the systems that you use to support your efforts. Regarding a wiki: you may start with just a few topic Workspaces, such as FAQs, Competitors, and Meeting Minutes. This might work great for your team, but once other departments see the value that you are getting out of your BrainKeeper wiki, they will want to use it as well- so the structure needs to change to accommodate the additional needs.
There are a number of factors that can make you rethink the organization of your wiki, and you might consider this to be a daunting task. However, with features like an enterprise search, tagging, and custom search fields, you can minimize any re-training that needs to be done- and BrainKeeper even comes with a number of features to make it very easy to change the structure of your information. The extra time and effort spent to reorganize what you already have can really pay off in the long run.
The most important thing to know is that your wiki will grow and change organically. In most cases, you should encourage this, since people will be working to improve your wiki for everyone. You can also get some great insights to how people are using (or want to use) your wiki as your team evolves and grows. If you can successfully embrace and understand the change, you will foster a more collaborative environment- which can lead to improvements across your entire organization.
We recently read a blog post that outlines some great ways that educational institutions can use an Enterprise Wiki. The post describes 50 Ways to Use Wikis for a More Collaborative and Interactive Classroom, and has a lot of great use cases that are pertinent to many classrooms of all levels of education.
There are a number of ideas that meet the needs of corporations and business teams as well. Organizing ideas, group authoring, creating a glossary, and developing an FAQ library are all great examples of how any organization can benefit from a wiki.
One other point not to be overlooked is that there are 50 items in this list- and there could be many more. One of the strengths of wikis is that they are so flexible, and having a flexible wiki within a complete enterprise web collaboration solution provides you with a way to enhance every part of your organization.
We recently added Discussion Forums to our Enterprise Wiki product, and we began to get requests in our demos for an explanation of when to use which collaboration tool. So, we wanted to share our take on how each of these valuable collaboration features could be used effectively in an organization.
WIKIS - Wikis are used primarily to capture knowledge and information. Wikis are intended to be living repositories that can be contributed to by everyone, which provides a more complete, accurate, and relevant view of key knowledge. Even though a wiki page should never be considered "complete" (changes happen all the time), they are meant to capture information that can be referenced for longer periods of time. In addition to knowledge management, shared content editing, notification, status reports, data collection, and project management are all excellent uses of a wiki.
BLOGS - Blogs are a great way to broadcast news or get quick feedback. Unlike wiki pages, blog posts are usually very time-sensitive, so they have less relevance as time passes. An example is that someone creates a blog post to comment on an article they found online. If that post was made a year ago and was about the soaring sales of Sport Utility Vehicles, that would have very little relevance today. There is interesting perspective to be found in historical blog posts, however. If someone brings up an idea that was shot down 2 years ago because of the feedback in blog comments, you can go back and see what the reasons were.
FORUMS - Forums organize complex conversations and help you make decisions. Email is terrible for complex conversations. How many times have you gotten an email blast that asks you to comment on 5 different bullet points- only to try to follow the responses from everyone else. And then having the main conversation breaks off into several side conversations- only a few of which you might care about. Forums solve that by following a trial of thought about each point in the discussion. Than, at the end of the conversation, you have a great resource to make decisions that you can be confident in- since everyone can participate and give their perspective.
We do believe that every team, department, and organization is different- so we encourage you to find as many ways to enhance collaboration as you possibly can. If you have specific questions about how to use these tools to improve your organization, just let us know!
While our last few posts have focused on ways to encourage team members to use and contribute to your Wiki, there are also pitfalls to watch out for that may hinder Wiki adoption. One thing to watch out for is your Wiki evolving into an "expert driven" Wiki.
When this happens, people feel like they can/should only create and edit information about which they are an expert. While there are many issues with this type of Wiki, the two main problems are: the lack of new information being added, and the alienation of users who feel that they are not an expert (or enough of an expert) regarding the information covered in your Wiki.
Adding New Information
This issue goes hand in hand with our Something is Better than Nothing post. If users feel they must be an expert to add information into your Wiki, then content will be rarely added. While incorrect information is certainly not desirable, incomplete information should be considered okay, since this will encourage other wiki contributors to add to it, thus enhancing the scope of the knowledge covered in your Wiki. It is obvious that most of the time, people feel like they know enough to contribute to a subject much more often than they feel like they are an expert on a subject.
Non-Expert Alienation
If your Wiki turns into an "expert driven" Wiki, you also run the risk of completely alienating those users who feel they are not an expert on any topic covered in your Wiki. Since they do not think they should add to any existing content, usually they will not add any new subjects to the Wiki either. At this point, you run the risk of those users completely abandoning the Wiki, and if this happens your Wiki will begin to get out of date and useless.
To avoid the "expert driven" wiki trap, encourage users to add new information and update existing information, even though they do not know everything about the subject. The more this happens, the more complete your Wiki will become.
We got some interesting insights from one of our subscribers that we thought would be valuable to help your Wiki gain momentum. Our subscriber found that some people were reluctant to add new wiki pages if they didn't have a "complete" page- meaning that they didn't have all of the information that others would need. This line of thinking was preventing valuable insights from getting into the wiki. The solution is easy enough to identify: users should be encouraged to create new pages even if they will be incomplete. It is usually easy to convince people to understand that once information is in your Wiki, other users will improve upon it.
You could actually make the case that it is more important to know what topics, documents, and ideas should be captured in the wiki- and less important to have them completely outlined when you first submit them to the wiki. People, because of human nature, are much more likely to improve what is already there than they are to start something from scratch. When you think about this, this really does make sense. If you come across something that you know is inaccurate, not quite right or lacking some details, it is almost a natural instinct to improve upon it.
So, the next time you think something needs to be put in your Wiki but you don't know 100% of what needs to be there, just put in what you know and allow others to improve upon it. If you know there are certain people who can make it better, let them know and ask them to take a look. Starting this evolution process and bringing other people into the mix on a regular basis will dramatically improve both the amount and quality of the information in your Wiki.
We recently released an enhancement to BrainKeeper that allows subscribers to customize their Dashboard (learn more about Custom Dashboards and our Wiki Software here). We have received more positive feedback from this enhancement than we have for any of the ones we have done in the past, which really emphasized two key reasons why organizations decide to use a wiki: 1. People want to know what is new, and what is relevant to them. This is one of the best uses of a wiki, and is one of the driving forces behind our development of BrainKeeper. It doesn't do much good to have a tool for capturing information if you don't give people a way to separate the "nice to know" from the "need to know". This is the reason why so many people are frustrated with their email: everything comes into the same Inbox, so everything must be read to determine if it was actually worth reading- not the best way to spend your day. By taking the few seconds to customize your Dashboard, you will be able to trust that everything you need to know will be ready and waiting for you. And even better, with a wiki, collaborating on that information is only two clicks away. Which brings us to the next reason why people appreciate the Custom Dashboard: 2. Everyone accomplishes tasks in a different way, so the closer you can match your Dashboard to your tasks, the sooner they will be completed. Whether you are an active wiki contributor or someone who is looking for quick answers to questions, you can setup your Dashboard to get you one step closer to accomplishing what you need to do. Many organizations are to the point where they are measuring productivity gains in minutes instead of hours, and having a well layed-out Dashboard can give you quite a boost. By giving some quick thought to the things that you do with your wiki most often, you can make sure those actions are available as front-and-center as possible. Also, hiding the things that are unimportant to you can be just as valuable- the less 'noise' there is, the easier it will be to focus on what you need to do. If you aren't a subscriber, or have not yet seen our Custom Dashboard, we invite you to take a look with a free trial. Information that matters has never been so easy to find.
Quite often, we work with potential and existing clients who have recognized that they need a better way to collaborate- and have chosen an enterprise wiki as the solution. We obviously believe that implementing an enterprise wiki is a key factor in improving collaboration for organizations, but the full answer is more than just deciding to subscribe.
Wikis are indeed becoming more mainstream, but too many people consider a wiki to be a system that sustains itself immediately after it is rolled out. The "if you build it, they will come" mentality can work (and actually has worked for a few of our subscribers, believe it or not), but this is the exception- not the rule. It is more likely that you will need a strategy for how to use your wiki- and to make sure that strategy is communicated and reinforced in as many ways as possible. Here are five keys to executing your wiki collaboration strategy:
1. Make Sure a Wiki is the Right Tool
Before you get too far, make sure that the need you have can be completely addressed with a wiki. This is where a month-to-month subscription can be very beneficial. Try it out for 30 days with a small group of people who will take the time to use the wiki and give you honest information about whether it will work for you or not. Also, don't be afraid to use your enterprise wiki support and sales staff. If the are experts at the same level as the BrainKeeper Customer Support team, they will be able to give you a great deal of good information about how to use your wiki for a particular task.
2. Find a Champion and / or Key Stakeholders
A sense of ownership is one of the most powerful motivating factors in the corporate world. Give one person, or a small group, the responsibility to make sure that the wiki is being used- and used properly! By having respected personnel buy into the wiki, you will have advocates that become mentors. Also, make sure that you reward the heaviest contributors, which might mean adding them to the group that manages the wiki.
3. Start Small
To ensure that everyone understands what the wiki should be used for, start off with a Workspace that contains content which many people can relate to. Many people will quickly see the value of the wiki and understand how it will be used in your organization. By starting small, you can manage it closely, you get a quick success story, and you have a great foundation to build from.
4. Constant Feedback
Consistently ask about how things are going with the wiki. If people like it, find out why so that you can spread the information to other people. If people don't like it, find out why. You, or a BrainKeeper Customer Support representative, may be able to solve it quickly. Make sure to get feedback early and often!
5. Learn From Experience and Adapt Your Strategy Accordingly
Not every aspect of every point from above will apply to everyone. But this one does apply: whatever strategy you start with will change. You need to be able to recognize when things aren't working, and modify how you use your wiki. Your wiki will grow organically, so the policies that govern its use will have to do the same. Preparing everyone for this ahead of time will be very helpful when it comes time to make those changes.
For more help on developing your wiki collaboration strategy, the experts who work with the BrainKeeper Enterprise Wiki are more than happy to talk to you. Let us know if you are interested.
There are numerous examples of successful open source wiki implementations throughout the internet. Wikipedia is the most well known of these, which is built on the MediaWiki open source software. Hoping to see the same type of viral adoption and enhanced collaboration in their organizations, more and more people are looking into wikis for a wide range of needs, and many of these people look at open source software as their first option. There are situations in which an open source wiki is right for an organization- but it also could be a big mistake.
There are several main reasons why open source software appeals to people (which tend to be more technical than the average employee). A large user community to help troubleshoot installation and configuration issues can be a big factor, as is having familiarity with the software if you are an active user of Wikipedia or other wiki-based sites. Most often, however, the biggest motivator is the fact that open source software is free- but is it really? Taking everything into consideration, could your open source wiki project actually end up costing you more money than subscribing to an online Wiki Software service?
Ultimately, you are interested in a wiki to centralize information, be it an intranet, a knowledge base, or a collaboration center- all with the goals of saving time to access information and answer critical questions. How much time would you spend to install, configure, backup, integrate, and maintain your own wiki? Add the cost of the hardware to run it and the extra strain on your infrastructure. Just compare the days of work and added costs of open source to the minutes it takes to get started with the BrainKeeper wiki- which has zero impact on your IT. We offer a 30-day free trial, so you can have a 60-day pilot for 10 people for only $35.
Something else to keep in mind with open source wikis is that if your wiki is a success, your entire company may want to have access to it. Will you have the time to teach everyone how to use wiki syntax? Will you be able to work around any quirks of the system until a new version comes out? Training, writing documentation, and developing workarounds all take even more time to keep your wiki running smoothly.
With an online enterprise wiki like the one offered by BrainKeeper, you get an ideal situation: you can try it out with very little risk, and if it becomes a success, you will have a provider that you can trust to deliver on your goals of knowledge sharing and enhanced collaboration.
See for yourself by signing up for a free trial: http://www.brainkeeper.com/free
The battle for Wikipedia's soul, an article published in a recent issue of The Economist, touches on the semi-political struggles within the Wikipedia "organization" between Inclusionists (those who think everything should be in Wikipedia) and Deletionists (those who feel fewer but more important/noteworthy articles should be included). While the article does an outstanding job of laying out the differences between these two groups of Wikipedia users and the arguments behind each point of view, of greater interest to us is the larger concept of what should be included in a Wiki, specifically an internal Corporate Wiki.
One concern we hear on occasion is if you include too much in your Wiki, you may run the risk of Users getting frustrated with having to wade through too much information to find what they are looking for, or simply being overwhelmed by the shear volume of information available. However, we feel that if you use a Wiki with enhanced features such as content filtering, fine-grained searching and tagging, along with organizing your information appropriately and consistently, these concerns will be greatly minimized. While you certainly do not want to include everything under the sun, such as outdated company forms or personal musings (use a personal blog for those), the "less is more" route should definitely be avoided.
When an organization severely restricts what goes into their Enterprise Wiki, they are in effect limiting its ability to grow naturally. If there are doubts about what should go into your Wiki, then you risk losing the benefits of contributions by the more cautious people in your organization. In contrast, if you do everything you can to encourage people to contribute anything they believe to be relevant, you will be amazed how much valuable information, enhanced collaboration, and great ideas will come out of using a Wiki. By embracing a diverse but logically organized body of knowledge from the beginning, you will always help spur adoption and increase activity- which is the true measure of success for your Wiki.
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