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 Usually, only one person can add to it because of the complexity of editing a web page and soon it gets out of date.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?
