Corporate Wikis
Corporate WikisWhere wikis are used inside companies:
How are wikis used?
One of the most useful uses is in tracking meetings. Agenda of meeting goes up on the wiki before the meeting, after the meeting it is updated with minutes of meeting. A central meeting index page is used and also records dates and counts of actions outstanding and cleared (also a concept of continuous actions, which by their nature can never be cleared...).
We do also keep milestones and various kinds of to do list. Bugs tracking is done outside the wiki, a little more support for aggregating content across pages is needed before it would make sense to track bugs in wiki too.
At DaedalosInternational, we use Wikis for general company communications. We keep track of meeting agendas, minutes, but also a lot of other stuff, like restaurant and hotel recommendations for various cities, several technical knowledge bases, etc. We also write articles, reports, courses, etc. on special wikis. We use a Wiki clone customized mainly for convenience and security.
We keep our TechnicalMemos on a Wiki (EddieEdwards's WikiServer - thanks Eddie!), along with other general engineering knowledge-base like stuff about our products, and (hopefully, as it starts to catch on) things like project outlines. The meeting agenda/minutes idea sounds pretty good. -- MikeSmith
When I ran the Linux team at iMagicTV (UK) Ltd. (it's now part of Alcatel), I introduced a Wiki as a fast information capture tool, as a parallel to the existing formal documentation system. Its benefits were obvious: extreme ease of contribution; no access control; no editorial control. All of these things reduced the HumanFactors cost of contributing, and of updating documents. A lot more vital information was captured than if people had had to write extensive documents into corporate templates, and put them through peer review. It rapidly became a community, too, kind of a HitchHikersGuide? to the project. Unfortunately, for reasons outwith our control, the project itself died, but the Wiki lives on. Having been proven once, Wikis are likely to be used a lot more in future. As for me, I left for fields anew. I'll be bringing the Wiki word with me wherever I'm consulting... --JonGreen
Observations
Generally, people are enthusiastic about the Wiki concept. In initial adoption, people have to be reminded to put working notes etc to wiki. Interesting synergy with e-mail in that e-mailing a wiki page to someone outside the firewall, with a few comments before it becomes quite common.
Higher level managers like it as they can poke around in it and see what teams are really up to without being seen to be nosey. It also makes it easier for them to replace middle level managers (of which I am one) as the project can be more easily picked up by someone else [hasn't happened yet...]. JustaProgrammers like it as it means their work is visible.
There are WikiLurkers, writers, and WikiHaters?. The lurkers only read stuff, the writers write (and most of them also read) stuff, the haters don't read or write. They get allergic to the frequent comment: You didn't know that? ItWasOnTheWiki?!
moved from WikiInEnterprise?
There are a few success stories that Wikis are used in the business sector whether as a KnowledgeManagement system or as GroupWare. One simple deployment, for example, would be for a small project white board.
What success or failure stories do you have concerning Wikis used in enterprise environment? Sharing your experiences with others will be greatly appreciated.
(Actually, I'm writing an article about Wikis for a magazine in Korea and gathering some real stories about Wiki experiences of individuals or companies. -- JuneKim)
The only concern of document management which is not handled by at least some WikiEngine is multi-language version management.
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