A Wiki Formulation of Collaboration Strategy

A wiki formulation of collaboration strategy

Context – Government agency for urban city planning – Close Partnering with other division requires new types of working: • Planned introduction of ﬂexworking • and teleworking • across multiple locations. – A wish for stronger support of collaboration and knowledge processes

About me: wikiwise • wikiwise was asked to explore the possibilities of wiki and other new technologies to enhance collaboration practices • wikiwise believes usage of the different communication channels / collaboration tools are highly related and have signiﬁcant impacts on productivity • Evaluating tool usage and satisfaction with employees, provides an interesting start for improving collaboration practices

Wiki approach – +-20 personal interviews • Starting point for workshop sessions – 6 weeks of workshops with employees (no management) • Evaluation current collaboration practices in a group setting • Experiencing new technologies and relating it to current collaboration practices – This talk only discusses ʻmost importantʼ tools : No intranet, phone, sms, etc.

Networkdrives & Documents: highly used and lowly valued ʻI never can find ʻI make little use of documentsʼ others shared documents on the public driveʼ ʻIf you want a quick and ʻThe P-drive exists complete overview out of hundreds of youʼll need the actual main folders…ʼ paper files of the projectʼ ʻThere is a lack of (document) structure ʻThe public drive is my within projects. This personal memory… The makes easy knowledge public drive is probably reuse difficultʼ used the wrong wayʼ

Networkdrives & Documents: highly used and lowly valued ʻI never can find ʻI make little use of Finding information NEEDS documentsʼ others shared documents on the public driveʼ Staying up-to-date ʻIf you want a quick and ʻThe P-drive exists Abundance of FULFILL complete overview out of hundreds of (digital) information youʼll need the actual main folders…ʼ paper files of the projectʼ Wrong, outdated or untimely information ʻThere is a lack of (document) structure ʻThe public drive is my within projects. This personal memory… The makes easy knowledge public drive is probably Use of E-mail for sharing reuse difficultʼ used the wrong wayʼ documents

E-mail: highly used and lowly valued ʻI try to use e-mail as little as possible. Instead I drop ʻOn average I have 100 by colleguesʼ unread e-mailsʼ ʻWhen I have ʻE-mail is being read so deadlines, I only read fast people actually my e-mail once a miss / oversee stuffʼ weekʼ ʻFortunately they ʻI only read the havenʼt found my e-mail subjectlines, but if address yetʼ people send three e- mails, it is probably important. They better ʻThis type of e-mail I do call me or walk by in that not read. Instead I save it casʼ (John, 400 unread e- in a mailfolder for reading mails) at a more convenient momentʼ

E-mail: highly used and lowly valued ʻI try to use e-mail as little Finding information NEEDS as possible. Instead I drop ʻOn average I have 100 by colleguesʼ unread e-mailsʼ Staying up-to-date ʻWhen I have ʻE-mail is being read so deadlines, I only read fast people actually my e-mail once a : Abundance of FULFILL miss / oversee stuffʼ weekʼ (digital) information Wrong, outdated or untimely information ʻFortunately they ʻI only read the havenʼt found my e-mail subjectlines, but if address yetʼ people send three e- mails, it is probably important. They better ʻThis type of e-mail I do Use personal call me or walk by in that not read. Instead I save it Communications for casʼ (John, 400 unread e- in a mailfolder for reading mails) knowledge questions at a more convenient momentʼ

Personal Communications: highly used and highly valued ʻIt is very simple. If you ʻDuring team meetings have a lot of meetings visits to seminars are youʼll get a lot of e-mail discussedʼ because you are not directly availableʼ ʻAround here knowledge sticks to ʻI like to call around people. Not systems not exactly knowing or processesʼ what I am looking for. ʻA lot of knowledge That always provides sharing happens in interesting infoʼ workshops and seminarsʼ ʻSpeciﬁc training is available, but not when ʻDropping by is easy… you need itʼ Or just ask colleguesʼ who are nearbyʼ ʻPeople use old procedures ʻWhen people skip the when they missed the team meeting, I need to speciﬁc team meetingʼ update them personallyʼ

Personal Communications: highly used and highly valued ʻIt is very simple. If you ʻDuring team meetings Finding information NEEDS have a lot of meetings visits to seminars are youʼll get a lot of e-mail discussedʼ because you are not Staying up-to-date directly availableʼ ʻAround here knowledge sticks to ʻI like to call around people. Not systems not exactly knowing what I am looking for. or processesʼ Disturbing collegues FULFILL ʻA lot of knowledge for trivia That always provides sharing happens in interesting infoʼ workshops and seminarsʼ Too much details ʻSpecific training is during meetings available, but not when ʻDropping by is easy… you need itʼ Or just ask colleguesʼ who are nearbyʼ Collectively a very ʻPeople use old procedures ʻWhen people skip the inefficient means of when they missed the team meeting, I need to specific team meetingʼ update them personallyʼ collaboration

Towards a collective efﬁcient and productive organization Network drives and documents wiki E-mail Documents Documents Personal Relations, trust Unstructured communcations and complex Knowledge / knowledge trivia

Towards a collective efﬁcient and productive organization Network drives and documents Collectively efficient wiki E-mail Documents Documents Individually efficient Personal Relations, trust Unstructured communcations and complex Knowledge / knowledge trivia

Towards a collective efﬁcient and productive organization Network drives WANTED: Documents Documents and documents Collectively efficient wiki shift E-mail Documents Documents Individually efficient Personal Relations, trust Unstructured communcations and complex Knowledge / knowledge trivia

Towards a collective efﬁcient and productive organization Network drives WANTED: Documents Documents and documents Collectively WANTED: efficient wiki Unstructured shift Knowledge / trivia E-mail Documents Documents shift Individually efficient Personal Relations, trust Unstructured communcations and complex Knowledge / knowledge trivia

How to stop transferring documents by e-mail and start collaborating on documents in the appropriate way • Option 1: Stricter procedures around the shared drives – Limiting use by rules and regulations would meet a lot of user resistance • Option 2: Replace shared drives with a DMS – Seduce users with versioning, automatic metatagging and powerful search

How to stop dropping by for trivia / start sharing unstructured knowledge in most useful way • Option 1: Stricter procedures around personal communication – Limiting use by rules and regulations would meet a lot of user resistance, especially as personal communication is very popular • Option 2: Use Wiki for sharing unstructured knowledge – In a wiki try-out workshop session, the team evaluated wiki as useful solution

Results of wiki try out Ideas for wiki by the employees of the Opinions on wiki by the employees of DRO the DRO ʻwikiʼs use is ʻRelaxed, informal decentralizedʼ environment online for the different teams.ʼ Wikiʼs can be used directly and instantly.ʼ ʻIncrease reuse by central storage of knowledgeʼ ʻʼWriting in a wiki is does not feel the same as writing a report.ʼ ʻPlace for passionate discussionsʼ

Conclusion • Discussion of collaboration processes by employees can result in a collaboration strategy for the organization • This strategy ʻcontains recognizable observations, valid solutions and has acceptance amongst employeesʼ • Many organizations can use wiki to reduce overload of both e-mail and personal communication

Question: What are your experiences with shifting tool usage? Transactions SMS Collectively efficient Network drives and Chat documents Phone wiki Individually Twitter efficient E-mail VOIP Personal Video Conferancing communcations

Intro • Collaborative tool usage • Case: DRO – Dutch knowledge intensive governmental organisation • Outline: – Context – Approach – Findings – Conclusion

A Wiki Formulation of Collaboration Strategy

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