Can you ever imagine these situations in a business setting?

By by D'Arcy Norman on Flickr

• Billy grabs a pen and paper and starts writing, “Hi. I am writing this note because I was told I should.  I am not sure who I am writing to or why I am writing, I just am.”
• Jane picks up the phone and dials a random number, “Hi. I am calling you because I was told I should use this thing.  I am not sure who you are or why I am calling, I just am.”
• You get an email invite to the meeting entitled, “A meeting.”  In the body it says, “Hi. Please come to this meeting that I was told to have.  I am not sure why we are having it or why you are invited.  But we need to have a meeting.”

You would never see that. Why?  Because the pen and paper, a phone and meetings are not end results.  They are tools used when there is a purpose and it makes sense to use them.

Do we ever think, “I am going to use the phone,” without following that up with, “to talk with…”

Why, then, do we feel we need to use a blog or a wiki or a discussion group?  Why do we feel others should use them?  To often we say, “You should write your blog,” Or “You should try a wiki.”  But using these tools won’t lead to any positive outcome unless we have a reason to use them.

This is why it is so important to make sure these potentially powerful tools are used correctly and for the right purposes.  We need to weave them in the way we work.

Don’t write a blog post. Instead, share with everyone where you are on your project.

Don’t create a wiki page. Instead, collaborate more efficiently.

Don’t create a discussion. Instead, ask a diverse set people for an answer to a tough question and have a conversation.

Don’t tweet. Instead, share your insights and links.

Week 4: Wikis: Day 4

Wiki, Blog, “social,” even RSS can be four letter words and leave a bad taste in the mouth.  I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people shutter at the very mention of any of these.  Yet their bad raps are a form a pre-judgement derived (often times) from a single bad encounter which they project upon the subject as a whole.

“People have been character smeered on Wikipedia.”

“Schools won’t let their students cite Wikipedia because it is so often wrong.”

“If anyone can post anything on Wikipedia,  it must be incorrect.”

There is some truth to these statements.  Yet, as Sandra Ordonez, a spokeswoman from Wikipedia, has said in an email interview,

“Wikipedia is the ideal place to start your research and get a global picture of a topic, however, it is not an authoritative source. In fact, we recommend that students check the facts they find in Wikipedia against other sources. Additionally, it is generally good research practice to cite an original source when writing a paper, or completing an exam. It’s usually not advisable, particularly at the university level, to cite an encyclopedia.”

Sound advice.

Yet the prejudice does not stop there.  They assume that if Wikipedia can be abused, “certainly a wiki in the workplace will be abused.”  Not so fast.  Change the circumstances and you change the outcome.

How can Intel create a wiki, amass tens of thousands of pages of information, have millions of page views yet have relatively no abuse?  Again, the context has changed.

When we use wikis inside an organization there isn’t any hiding.  If you abuse, your name is all over it.  No one wants to be ‘that person’ so we all understand that civility rules.  It is either that or your job.  I’d take the former.

Also, what about bad information? To that I say, open your wallet or purse or daytimer.  Look inside.  Do you see anything (expired cards, notes, old auto insurance cards) that are out of date or old information?  I decided to look in my wallet – which I like to keep lean and to a minimum size – and found five pieces of such bad/old information.  If we don’t keep our own personal wallets up to tip-top shape, why are we faulting something that could involve hundreds or even thousands of people?

Very often, however wikis are for a very specific purpose.  A meeting, or documentation or for project collaboration.  Specific people are constantly using those pages and if there is anything incorrect or out of date, they often change it.

Because of the change of venue and those involved, wikis become highly useful.  Realistically, do pages get out of date?  You bet.  But, like the note in my wallet, if it is out of date and not useful anymore, it is ignored.  And that is OK.  It isn’t needed so whether it is up to date or out of date doesn’t matter to me.

I could go on and on about negative stigmas.  But until you try wikis you may not understand.  Kind of like watching someone ride a bike.  Someone who has never seen one before might ask, “How do they stay up!  That is impossible.”  Sure, it is VERY difficult if you are standing still.  But if you change the context, the circumstances, and ad motion to it, it all of the sudden makes sense.

To Do: In the comments, tell us how you have used a wiki.

Week 4: Wikis: Day 3

Photo by SashaW on Flickr

Before we jump in to the exercise, let’s talk privacy.  There is some information you obviously don’t want open to the public – from a work or personal standpoint.  To help with this, wikis usually have a privacy setting.  The Wetpaint wiki allows you to keep your pages private but allow others to approve specific others to collaborate.  This way you have full control over who sees and edits the information.  This is perfect for work or close knit subjects.  But, just because you put it out there for others to use does NOT mean that they will.

One of the biggest impediments to the usage of any of these tools that I found early on was duplication.  You MUST replace what they have been doing with what they can do.  For example, right now I am trying out a proof of concept as a replacement for a traditional mode of communicating.  There are two types of people who are in this proof of concept.  Those who have abandoned the old way of this particular type of communication and embraced the new way, and those who are trying to do both.  Of those in the latter category, this new way is not being adopted – they aren’t using it.  It is seen as “one more thing to do” and no one has time for that.  The key: REPLACE.  And be explicit about it.  For more information, read my series on adoption.

TO DO – Start a wiki document (Difficulty Level: EASY – Time: 10- minutes)

• Choose a topic from your brainstorming and start your wiki.
• If you want to keep it private, change the settings.
• Send an email to those who you want to take part in the wiki.  Tell them NOT to email you details but that all communication about this subject is on the wiki.
• Use your RSS reader to watch the feed and see when others update it.

Week 4: Wikis: Day 2

Some things are beautiful because they are easy to use the first time and don’t need much of an explanation, if any at all.  It has always made me laugh that instructions are printed on a bottle of shampoo.  Understandable, but  still…  Other products are just too over the top, or way too complicated to understand.

Wikis are simple: Click edit. Modify. Click Save. Done.

Photo by kristin wolff on Flickr

When a product is so easy to use, its adoption increases (see this post on Complexity and adoption).  If we combine these together – ease of use and high adoption – something extraordinary happens: Unintended uses.  We think, “Well, if I can use it in this instance, I bet I could also use it here, and here, and here…”

There are many list of how wikis can be used.  In fact, many times it changes the norm.  For example, I was in a meeting where they were redesigning a web site.  They said they wanted an FAQ page (which, interestingly, seems to have its internet roots from NASA). But, there has been a long standing problem with FAQ web pages.  Usually, only one person can add to it because of the complexity of editing a web page and soon it gets out of date.  Why not create a wiki page that will allow you and others to update it?  When you or they see an FAQ, add it to the page.

Or what about the endless meeting agendas and followup notes.  An agenda is emailed to the attendees before the meeting, then a recap of what happened is emailed after.  What if you want to find something that happened a few months ago.  Finding it can be difficult – did you delete it or file it, and in which folder?  But if it was in a wiki, the agenda and results could be one, and last week’s meeting could be on top of the other.  Also, if you have an update or an agenda item you want covered, anyone on the attendee list can add it.

Often, wikis take the place of meetings.  Think of the wiki as the meeting room.  When you have time you come in and say what you need to say or get the information you need.  Then you leave.  Allow anyone in the meeting to do that and you have a meeting you can join when you have the free time, and still get the same information.  I agree – it is not as personal.  But how many meetings have we been in that are all status and anything but personal?  Way too many.

For a final project of mine (in pursuit of my masters degree) I created a wiki page with all the info there.  Although not requiring feedback, it was a easy place for me to put the information for anyone to see and use in the future.

Some of my favorite uses:

• Brainstorming – again, no need to be in the same room, just be in the same wiki
• Collaborating on a project
• Creating a knowledge base
• Manuals (instead of pointing people to a static PDF, point them to a living, breathing and up-to-date document)
• Any collaborative work – especially school group assignments (I don’t know how many teleconferences and meetings a wiki has saved me!)

TO DO – Apply to Your Circumstances (Difficulty Level: EASY – Time: 10- minutes)

This is ‘homework’ of the most fluid kind.  It is time to brainstorm.  Go to your wiki you created yesterday and think about and type out some ways you could use a wiki – inside and outside of work. To help, answer some of these questions:

• Where/When might I need others’ input?
• Do I have a lot of emails floating around that I wish would go away? Can I use a wiki instead?
• Is there any documentation that needs updating that I could put out there?
• Is there a meeting that is marginally useful that a wiki could help with?

More specific questions:

• Are you a kids sports coach and need people to sign up to bring snacks?
• Do you have a project at work that could use some better collaboration or record keeping?
• Need input from colleagues on an idea?

Week 4: Wikis: Day 1

Not only have you lived this scenario, but I am sure you all love it – right…?

Photo by darkpatator on Flickr

You need to get some feedback on a proposal so you write it up in Microsoft Word and save it on your computer.  Then you create a new email message, attach the file, add an introduction and send it off to 4 choice people.  They each open it, modify it (with tracking on), save it to their computer, create a new email message, attach the modified file, add a high level explanation of their thoughts and send it back to you.  You now have four email messages with four attachments – all of which you open, plus your original one (a total of 5 almost identical documents are now open).  Now you cut and paste their changes into your document and save it.  You email back two of the four with an explanation or clarification of a question they asked and that starts two separate conversations with follow up emails.  You create a new email message, attach the newly revised document and send it back to the four original people for a final look.  Two of them respond with an agreement on the document, two of them make more changes, to which you respond by creating…

(Honestly, I could go on, but I am tired of it and I think you know the end of the story.)

STOP THE MADNESS!

How about a new situation.    You go online and create a web page (with one click) and type in your information and save it.  Four others go to that page, make the changes  and comment on those changes – all on the same page.  You are alerted when they have done this and you go to the page and review the changes each has made.  You edit the page again.  They receive a notice that you have edited it again and review it one last time.  A couple of them make some more comments.

Done.  That is how you might use a WIKI.

Wiki Advantages:

• Constant – realtime
• One place to collaborate
• Searchable / Taggable
• Archived
• Interactive
• Learning increases

A wiki (a Hawaiian word meaning ‘quick’) is an online web page that anyone can edit.  So instead of collaborating on one document that lives in many different places, it lives in one place and all the collaboration interaction lives there.

TO DO – Sign up for a Wiki (Difficulty Level: EASY – Time: 5- minutes)

1. Go to WetPaint – a free online wiki.
2. In the upper right, create a wiki by entering a name for it and the URL (or web address).  Create one that compliments the blog you created in Week 1.  Remember, using each of these new technologies revolves around a purpose.
3. Click “GO!”
4. Enter in the information to sign up and click “Sign Up Now”
5. That’s it.  Play around with it if you would like, or wait for tomorrow…

photo credit: Joelh085

This morning my 14 year old son said that he LOVED Corvettes and I asked why.  You see, every time he and my 11 year old son see a Corvette or Mustang, they gets all excited – too excited.

“Because they are fast and cool looking.”

“Would you pick a girlfriend based on those criteria” I asked.

“No.”

“What else do you know about Corvettes?”

Struggling… “That they are really cool.”

“Coolness is a cultural factor.  Do they have style?  And why don’t you get excited when you see other typical ‘cool’ cars – like a Porche or Fararri or Aston Martin or ….”

“Aston what?”

“Have you been inside of a Mustang?”

“No, but I saw the inside and it was cool.  These tan leather seats…”

“So if I put tan leather seats inside a Gremlin (my first car) it would be cool, too.  Right?”

This was all said lightheartedly, but with a twinge of seriousness.

What makes something “COOL” and is that reason enough to get it?

Too many in our professional world are waiters – order takers.  They tell us what they want and we give it to them.  A training.  A wiki. Social something.  But we need to back up and ask “Why?”  Much of the time they say they want these things because 1) that is all they know or 2) because they are deemed ‘cool’.  Both of these were in play with my son and his cars.  He didn’t know much about other brands, nor did he really know why he liked them, but he knew what was cool.

If they don’t know why, find out for them.  Even though it may seem like a bother to them, they will thank you in the end.

“Relative Advantage is the degree to which an innovation is perceived as better than the idea it supersedes.” (Diffusion of Innovations, p. 15)

How do we get adoption for social learning (or anything really?)  The above statement has two Key parts.

1) BETTER. It must be seen as better.  Better how?

More efficient?

More cost effective?

More quick?

Less of a hassle?

Less obtrusive?

More conforming to current _______?

More integrated with _______?

Notice that ‘better’ may be monetary or social or ego or convenience or…  What is better for your organization and culture?  You may want to find their pain or the thing that will give them the most freedom.

2) PERCEIVE.

Whether ‘better’ is truly better & can be quantified or not doesn’t matter (at least not for adoption).  What do they perceive is better – the old solution or the new one?  The old way of thinking or the new one?

Both ‘better’ and ‘perceive’ is an individual matter, not so much an organizational matter, as you will see with the following four Keys.  The individual make the collective.  So you need to get to the individual.

EXAMPLE: (I think I have written about this before, but shall do again.)

To get adoption for one solution I approached the Support department and asked, “What process are you having problems with right now?”  I got a list, but at the top was reporting bugs and enhancements to the development team and then tracking the results.  They showed me their process (convoluted and lacking to be sure).  Then I stepped up to the whiteboard and showed them a different process, with a wiki, reaching the end goal, with less headache.  Bingo.  They were on board.  After coordinating the whole thing with the other department, the new process went into effect.

They haven’t looked back.  If something goes off, they quickly tweak it as necessary.  The problem is now gone and the communication between the groups for that instance improved immediately.

For you to perceive their perceptions, you will need to get in their heads. This is part of the necessary analysis you will need to conduct before even thinking of a solution.

What questions could you ask to find what is most important to them?

Image by inf via Flickr

WHY #9: Complements Learning

The next characteristic of social learning is that it is not supposed to be threatening to the training department.  Instead it is to complement the learning function.  Indirectly I have seen many people with a learning function be intimidated by social learning because it almost seems to threaten their jobs.  On the contrary, for the most part it will compliment and add value to the learning.  Sure, in some instances it might replace some training.  But over all it is not meant to do that.

When I say that it does not replace I want to be clear: It does not replace traditional learning for the most part, but it instead adds to it.  It DOES, however, replace – and absolutely MUST replace – less effective methods of informal learning.  This is KEY.

ILT has its place.  ELearning courses have their place.  Simulations have their place.  Social Learning adds to the existing toolbox.  But to do this we MUST change our skills sets to accommodate.  We can’t sit back and say, “This is they way we have done it.  There is no way you can learn on a blog (or through Twitter, or through a wiki).”  Because, to be blunt, you would be wrong if you did say that.  We must adapt or be left behind.

This is not a scare tactic, but rather an great opportunity for those that catch on the concept.  It is time to jump on the wave and ride it!