Posted in Uncategorized on October 24 2007 | Leave a Comment »
Whilst managers may have long known that ‘if you can’t measure it, you can’t manage it’, what does that maxim mean in the context of a wiki implementation? In other words, when evaluating a wiki implementation what can be measured and how should it be done? In an earlier post I indicated that:
“Measuring users’ progress [...]
Posted in Collaboration, Leadership, tagged Collaboration goals, Grass-roots facilitation, Grass-roots initiatives, managerial support, technical users, Training, Wiki adopter categories, Wiki growth, Wiki maintenance on October 23 2007 | 1 Comment »
During my research I found that the majority of wiki implementations have resulted from grass-roots initiatives (67.65% of businesses surveyed), which relied heavily on high levels of grass-roots facilitation and self-learning and motivation to use the wiki. However, 17.82% of survey responses reported no significant wiki growth, with key barriers to use being content [...]
Posted in Collaboration, Learning, tagged Adopter Types, adoption stages, Diffusion process, Early adopters, Peer-to-Peer learning, Self-learning, technical users on October 18 2007 | 6 Comments »
In an earlier post I indicated that wiki ‘adoption’ refers to the stages through which users typically progress before committing to a new technology, with different adopter ‘types’ (e.g. innovators, early and late adopters) progressing through the stages at different times and speeds. Perhaps an even simpler (although less scientific) way of categorising users [...]
Posted in Leadership, tagged , Light-touch leadership, Planning, self-organising teams, wiki management on October 17 2007 | 1 Comment »
Since a wiki does not replace discrete pieces of software or processes whose use may be highly structured and/or obligatory, thought needs to be given to:
the wiki’s purpose;
its relationship with existing work processes;
how the wiki should be designed (e.g. should be unstructured or should some basic structure/templates be provided to guide users);
the level of [...]
Posted in Collaboration, Knowledge Management, tagged 'inside-out' aproach, ideas generation, knowledge base, Mimetic isomorphism, project collaboration on October 15 2007 | 2 Comments »
There are a number of ways in which new collaboration technology may be introduced into an organisation, including:
An ‘inside-out’ approach which focuses first on the business needs and capabilities to be developed, then on identifying the technologies which can support those needs/capabilities (McAfee approach – “Mastering the Three Worlds of Information Technology” Harvard Business Review [...]
Posted in Collaboration, Wikis, tagged Best practice guidelines, Change process, Collaboration goals, Content Maintenance, Culture, Experimentation, Feedback, Integration, Knowledge Management, Later adopters, Needs, Organic growth, Organisational subsystems, Self-learning, Structure, technical users, Wiki design, Wiki gardening, Work processes on October 11 2007 | 2 Comments »
Having survey 102 companies, and interviewed 10 companies and 9 consultants, I compiled the following recommendations regarding the management of wikis in business:
1. For new implementations, consider the needs to be addressed/capabilities to be developed, how people currently [...]
Posted in Leadership, Learning, tagged Learning organisation, Organisational learning on October 11 2007 | Leave a Comment »
In an earlier post I indicated that during my research on ‘Managing Wikis in Business’ I was interested in finding out how themes of the ‘learning organisation’ can aid and be reflected in the management of wikis in business, and the extent to which such management can in turn encourage organisational learning and foster collaborative [...]
Posted in Leadership, Learning, Wikis, tagged Adoption, Evaluation, Maintenance, Need Identification, Planning, wiki management cycle on October 5 2007 | 7 Comments »
In my previous post I introduced the idea of using a process framework for managing the wiki implementation. Here’s some more detail about the concepts behind each of the framework’s processes:
Identify ‘needs’: This requires focusing first on the business needs, collaborative behaviours and capabilities to be developed, then on identifying the technologies which can [...]
Posted in Collaboration, Leadership, Learning, Wikis, tagged Adoption, Content Management, Evaluation, Maintenance, Need Identification, Planning, Process Frameworks, Wiki Design Principles, Wiki implementation, Wiki Management Framework on October 5 2007 | Leave a Comment »
The original wiki design principles (Wiki Design Principles) encourage emergent work and do not impose structure, process or rules, contrasting applications characterised by a top-down command-and-control mentality. That can allow people to work together in self-directed ways, encouraging levels of openness, autonomy and knowledge sharing which other systems (i.e. all systems in the organisation including [...]
