Charles Jeter writes that he’s looking at adoption of collaboration tools as a means of refining knowledge management workflow. Based on his observations, he draws some conclusions about the role wikis can play in corporations. It’s a well written agrument, and there’s one point I agree with, but two in particular that I disagree with. First, the point I agree on: “Rivalry remains the top killer of corporate thought.”

I think it depends a lot on the type of corporate structure; to be blunt about it a hostile work environment rewards innovative and individual thought destructively and can jeopardize someone’s position. Having a wiki, which tracks good ideas openly, may endanger those free-thinking people without them even realizing it.

Here’s where I disagree – point #1:

All in all, I think wikis are a technology to track, but for most knowledge management and software help authoring, I would recommend spending the up-front money on the Flare/Feedback combination. That way the content can be provided in Word, XML, HTML, or PDFs and assembled by a professional Technical Communicator.

What makes wikis so useful is that you don’t need a specialist of some sort to work with the information that people put in them.

Anyone can do it!

His argument above that content can be exported and assembled by a professional technical communicator is outdated, in my opinion.

That’s not to say a professional technical communicator isn’t necessary.

I’d argue that anyone should be able to assemble the content, then call on a professional to help them refine the assembly and make the final document really sing before the publish it.

• Wouldn’t that be more efficient for the everyday user than waiting for someone else to do it?
• And wouldn’t it be more exciting anf interesting for the specialist to get involved when their expertise is really needed?

He goes on to suggest that wikis are an ideal tool for game development, but says this is the exception to the rule:

One exception to this would be within the world of Game Development. Having a multiple author environment is critical for ‘blue-sky’ thinking in game development, and refining the game concepts down into brainstorming requires documentation. Because the concepts have to flow freely, the initial phase is very important not to stifle. Creativity which is then recorded is critical.

I agree with what he says about game development, but disagree that this is only true in game development. One reason why game development is such an explosive and exciting industry is because people directly see the ‘blue-sky’ thinking at work in creative storylines, amazing graphics, and ever more realistic games.

But that does’t mean there’s a dearth of highly creative thinking in other industries. To the contrary, I’ve seen some incredble examples of forward thinking at some of the financial services firms I work with.

I think a wiki is valuable for any environment, not just game development. A wiki is the one tool that can easily support the progression of an idea from “blue-sky” thinking to refining conepts, developing a plan, and managing a resulting project.

That’s pretty powerful.

How do you use a wiki? Share your examples and ideas in the comments!

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