Getting started with wikis. By Sunir Shah San Diego, California October 18, 2005.

Getting started with wikis.

By Sunir Shah

San Diego, CaliforniaOctober 18, 2005

Part I.Background

Working together

How do we work together before the Internet?

(or telephones)• Face-to-face (f2f)

• Meetings (incl. ad hoc)• Encounters

• Documents• Messages• Reports• Binders

• Artifacts• Thing we are building• Thing we are using

• Space• Walls, doors• Tables, chairs• Bookshelves, cabinets

Working together on the Internet

How is the Internet different from f2f?Distance

Here/there/anywhere/everywhere; local/global.

Time Instantly and/or asynchronously.Persistent, searchable.

Control Our communication is shaped by the media we use.(Our media are rarely shaped by our communication.)

Top-down vs. bottom-up

Who owns, uses the network?

Networks are expensive. Use is dictated top-down by investors (i.e. your boss).

• ERP, CRM, …

Networks are ubiquitous. Use is dictated bottom-up by people talking to people.

• E-mail, instant messaging, blogs, wikis…

Working online

We do what we are told to do.

As employees, we follow the process given to us.

As users, we follow the structure coded for us.

We do what we need to do.

As workers, we work around the process.As creatives, we build new, better processes.

Too much e-mail

E-mail is the default exception handler.

Software often fails, or doesn’t exist, We use e-mail to cover the gap.

E-mail is under our control.vs.

Our e-mail is out of control.

Problem stated

We need more appropriate tools•within our control•that structure communication•flexibly like furniture.

(Think tables, chairs, bookshelves, corkboards, flipcharts, rooms, walls, doors, binders, cabinets, envelopes, paper.)

“Social software”

…e-mail, instant messaging, chat, blogs, wikis.

Software that mediates relationships between people.

• Simple, small, flexible. • Constructed (by you) vs. structured (for you)

• Bottom-up vs. top-down.

E-mail

Distance Time Control

E-mail

Distance Time Control

Structure• Person-to-person conversations, encounters. Group discussions are a like a crowd.

Wikis

Distance Time Control

Wikis

Distance Time Control

Structure• Central focus of a ‘conversation’. (Like a flipchart, corkboard, whiteboard.) Group discussions are teamwork.

What is a wiki?

Like a whiteboard:

• A wiki is a centralized resource. (web service)

• Content is persistent, but editable.

• Openly editable by everyone with access.

What is a wiki?

Unlike a whiteboard:

• A wiki has ‘infinite’ space (rather than 3’x4’).

• All versions are saved and tracked.

• A hypertext, not a drawing surface. Document-centric.

• You can use what you haven’t built yet.

How wikis fit in

Whenever you need an • open space • of common focus • for a group • constructing a common outcome,• working over the Net,

use a wiki.

Part II.Use cases

Knowledge preservation

Ideas from conversations by a crowd are lost.

Ideas are lost in your e-mail inbox. Conversations are repeated.

Therefore, move conversations into a wiki. Common space, focus, outcome. Preserve and edit into knowledge.

Knowledge base, FAQ, support Q&A, sales dossier, internal documentation, competitve intelligence.

Document writing

Using e-mail for collaborative document writing is document tennis.

• Everyone is blocked waiting for the current author to finish. (Power struggle.)

• Lose track of too many versions.

Therefore, use a wiki to write the document.

Paper, report, contract, RfP, standard.

Process management

Teams often use e-mail for ad-hoc processes.

• E-mail is best for one-on-one, private conversations.

• E-mail workflow is structured in our heads.

Therefore, use a wiki for ad-hoc processes.

• Do group process in a common space.• Build a workflow in a common

artifact.

Decision-making

Group decision making involves:• Collecting resources, ideas,

positions.• Organizing points.• Resolving positions.• Writing common outcome.• Building on top of the outcome

Therefore, use a wiki to collect, organize, resolve, write, and build.

Part III.Growing a wiki

Gardening as a metaphor

content

Need

Can only move workflowCan’t just install itLook for where your workflow hurts or problems you need to build new workflow for

Objective

Identify your objective

Layout

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Seed posting

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Launch

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Marketing

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Norms

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Renorming

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Part IV.Tending a wiki

Discussion and discussed

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Restructure: top-down

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Restructure: bottom-up

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Brainstorm-point form-reform

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Stripping

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