Wikipatterns.com, a site that Headshift is happy to have helped design and customise, "is a toolbox of patterns & anti-patterns, and a guide to the stages of wiki adoption".
Stewart Mader is the person behind the site and the author of "Wikipatterns: a Practical Guide to Improving Productivity and Collaboration in your Organisation". The book builds on the site's content to create a solid case for using wikis to improve communication and knowledge sharing and, eventually, "making change happen" (p xxxiii) inside organisations.
"[T]he wiki is the most significant development on the Internet since the web browser" as "we are moving from passive readers to active participants", says Mader (p 5) who uses the book to describe wikis according to what they are, what makes them different and their benefits for individuals and organisations.
"A wiki is simply a website in which users can create and collaboratively edit pages, and easily link them together" (p 4). For all their simplicity, wikis are extremely effective as they "focus completely on letting people work together online the same way they'd work in person, and approach knowledge as the product of that organic, nonlinear human connection and collaboration" (p 43).
Most importantly, Mader digs into his experience to recommend the eleven steps to a successful wiki pilot:
The author then moves on to advise on how to best roll out wiki use in the organisation:
Adoption and the role of champions are covered next.
The book ends with a list of questions people / organisations frequently ask about wikis and some suggested answers (e.g. people can change what I wrote?, can the wiki notify me when a page is changed?, how do I know if the content on the wiki is correct?, etc.).
Case studies from companies like LeapFrog, Johns Hopkins University, Sun Microsystems and Red Ant, are presented as ways of illustrating how wikis may, indeed, become effective and relevant organisational tools.
This book is a great resource for anyone considering a wiki in their organisation. Mader's enthusiasm and passion oozes out of every page and is contagious. However one has to be realistic: although wikis are great for many organisations, for many business needs, they do not meet some organisations' requirements and can never be seen as the be all and end all. Processes (e.g. performance appraisal criteria, recruitment policies) are equally if not more important to create the right context in which people feel comfortable sharing their knowledge, learning new tools and being more open.
Stewart Mader is the person behind the site and the author of "Wikipatterns: a Practical Guide to Improving Productivity and Collaboration in your Organisation". The book builds on the site's content to create a solid case for using wikis to improve communication and knowledge sharing and, eventually, "making change happen" (p xxxiii) inside organisations.
"[T]he wiki is the most significant development on the Internet since the web browser" as "we are moving from passive readers to active participants", says Mader (p 5) who uses the book to describe wikis according to what they are, what makes them different and their benefits for individuals and organisations.
"A wiki is simply a website in which users can create and collaboratively edit pages, and easily link them together" (p 4). For all their simplicity, wikis are extremely effective as they "focus completely on letting people work together online the same way they'd work in person, and approach knowledge as the product of that organic, nonlinear human connection and collaboration" (p 43).
Most importantly, Mader digs into his experience to recommend the eleven steps to a successful wiki pilot:
- establish a time frame
- make it representative
- keep it compact
- choose participants carefully
- seek or advertise for participants
- have a clear purpose (e.g. to build a peer directory, to organise and document meetings and events, to manage projects, as a intranet or extranet, for external communication, as a public website, to write manuals)
- define house rules
- create personal spaces
- ensure there are no empty pages
- make it a magnet
- be firm and think long term.
The author then moves on to advise on how to best roll out wiki use in the organisation:
- develop a wiki use policy
- adopt a phased approach
- make benefits clear
- use pilot cases as examples
- offer training and support
- apply the right people and adoption patterns (as described on the book and at wikipatterns.com)
- prevent or minimise obstacles (people and adoption anti-patterns, as per the book and wikipatterns.com).
Adoption and the role of champions are covered next.
The book ends with a list of questions people / organisations frequently ask about wikis and some suggested answers (e.g. people can change what I wrote?, can the wiki notify me when a page is changed?, how do I know if the content on the wiki is correct?, etc.).
Case studies from companies like LeapFrog, Johns Hopkins University, Sun Microsystems and Red Ant, are presented as ways of illustrating how wikis may, indeed, become effective and relevant organisational tools.
This book is a great resource for anyone considering a wiki in their organisation. Mader's enthusiasm and passion oozes out of every page and is contagious. However one has to be realistic: although wikis are great for many organisations, for many business needs, they do not meet some organisations' requirements and can never be seen as the be all and end all. Processes (e.g. performance appraisal criteria, recruitment policies) are equally if not more important to create the right context in which people feel comfortable sharing their knowledge, learning new tools and being more open.
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