Wiki , Wiki everywhere. Whats the productivity motivation?
You probably need to be living under a rock at the moment not to have heard of Wikileaks so I thought
some topical commentary wouldn’t go astray. However, I don’t want to disappoint but there will be no moralising
about Mr Assanges moralising. So to wind things back to my obsession with Productivity we will cast some light on the
wiki bit , not the leaks.
Some definitions:
Wiki:
a website that allows multiple users to create, modify and organize web page content in a collaborative manner.
Some examples of popular Wikis
Wikipedia: www.wikipedia.org
Wikihow: www.wikihow.com
WikiFAQ www.wikifaq.com
Wikileaks: www.seeifyoucanfindmenow.somewhere
Some uses & how it can improve your productivity:
Create an easily accessible knowledge base.
As most Wikis are web based this enables authorised staff to access data from anywhere and they don’t need
to rely on finding documents on either local PC’s or via a server. The data is live and can be updated
at any time by group members. There has to be some time and frustration savings here.
Knowledge Base data may be in the form of FAQ’s ( Frequently Asked Questions) about your company
products/services or more detailed technical information recorded during troubleshooting and implementation.
Imagine the benefits of being able to get all the accumulated knowledge of your people added on a regular basis
that can be accessed in one place.
Manage Meetings.
Post meeting minutes and actions in the wiki to improve communication and reduce distribution management.
Collaborators can use the Wiki to clarify actions, confirm completion of actions and attached supporting information
where applicable. Productivity opportunity ?…….less time spent chasing & following up meeting members.
There are other applications such as Project and document management but the level of complexity rises and the first two
uses would be a good start for new users.
Check these resources for advise on how to set up your wiki.
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/getstarted_wiki.htm
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wiki/a/guide_to_wikis.htm
http://webtrends.about.com/od/wikireviews/fr/wikidot_Review.htm
PS - ’don’t forget to check out Evernote which can also be used by multiple people for a very
reasonable monthly fee and requires very little set up. Check out an earlier post on Cloud Magic for more.
Save some time…….then spend it doing something you love.
Tim