Rob Castaneda, Founder of CustomWare Asia Pacific, wrote Working the “Wiki” Way for the March 2008 issue of Octane, quarterly magazine of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO).

In the article, he discusses how CustomWare uses a wiki internally to improve information flow between teams working on client projects:

The Pain Point

The biggest snag we experienced was transferring knowledge and context from the sales team to the delivery team. This muddled flow of information threatened our client projects.

Rob and his company decided they needed to improve communication, and decided to use a wiki as their collaboration platform. [Read more]

Larry Cannell writes about a recent CIO Magazine interview in which Ross Mayfield discussed 4 common wiki uses that can reduce email. Here are Ross’ four examples, and my suggested Wiki patterns that can help you with each:

1. Collaborative intelligence – “for example, in marketing and sales operations, you need to communicate to the field organization about an ever changing product line.” The pattern I’d use here is Magnet to establish a wiki as the “go-to” place for people out in the field.
2. Participatory knowledge base – “99 percent of the pages created [on the wiki] and tagged allow the call center to go from 20 clicks to find information to four, substantially decreasing search costs and decreasing the average call time by 10 to 20 percent.” I’d use the FAQ and Seed it with content patterns here.
3. Flexible client collaboration – “a collaborative workspace between [a firm] and the client.” Agenda is a good pattern for using the wiki to organize meetings with clients, and kickstart client collaboration.
4. Business social networks – “with your business partners or customers, where you’re communicating to them, getting feedback from them, and they’re interacting directly.” I’d use the Corporate Directory and MySpace patterns as the building blocks of a social network.

You can still start or grow a wiki in your organization.

Gartner has published a press release advising businesses to start planning for cost cutting and prepare two budgets: one that takes into account the current economic situation, and one that identifies potential further cost cuts should the need arise.

This is where the low-cost, resource-conscious, simplicity, and freeform nature of Enterprise 2.0 tools like wikis and blogs really shines.

Large, traditional enteprise software projects with six- or seven-figure budgets are often the ones that run into trouble during an economic downturn.

But you can spend in the neighborhood of $5,000 on a wiki (pocket change, even in an uncertain economy), run a pilot, and help groups get started and find the best uses for their needs.

Do this now, stick with it, and by the time the economy is roaring again, you’ll be running an efficient, agile organization that can take advantage of that strength to surge ahead.

Teams can use a wiki to organize and work on critical documents and project plans. It lets people work more efficiently between face to face meetings and becomes a Magnet for the most relevant information:

As topics are discussed in a meeting, record action items on the meeting wiki page. Then, as you work on items, be sure to update their status so everyone can keep track:

That’s what Martin Leyrer wrote in a post responding to Day 8: Meeting Agenda. He says:

You can’t change the way people think/work by offering yet another tool. IMHO you won’t get “better” meetings by offering a Wiki.

Here’s my response:

You’re absolutely right – you won’t get better meetings just by offering a wiki. You’ll get them by:

• Holding a BarnRaising so your entire group starts using the wiki together, which gives them an all-important chance to get used to editing one document together.
• Changing habit from one person recording minutes to everyone contributing minutes – this compels people to pay close attention in the meeting, and they will contribute notes on the topics most relevant to them, which will get them more engaged.
• Recording and tracking action items on the wiki, so that people can check status there in stead of using meeting time. I’ll talk more about this in the next video.

It’s important to understand that merely making a tool available won’t ensure that people use it, or use it in the most productive ways. With wikis, it’s not about technology. They’re simple, logical, and easy to use. It’s about people. They have to be guided to understand the wiki, overcome obstacles to using it, and find the best uses for their needs.

During each meeting, people can take notes as items are discussed, effectively taking meeting minutes right on the wiki. Instead of having one person responsible for minutes, have everyone contribute. You’ll get a more accurate picture of what was discussed and decided, and people will be compelled to keep using the wiki as they invest time and knowledge in it:

Instead of emailing a meeting agenda, put it on a wiki page and email people a link to that page. If changes need to be made, anyone on your team can do so and everyone will have immediate access to the same, up-to-date version:

A wiki can help your team make meetings shorter and more focused. How? By letting everyone track progress of projects and action items online, so they can focus meetings on just the items that need in-person discussion:

Industry Week reports on the results of a study on wikis in business by the Society for Information Management’s Advanced Practices Council (APC):

When considering use of wikis, CIOs should keep in mind that in reality, a large number of companies may already have employees using wikis for work purposes without the authority to do so. Perhaps a better question than whether unsanctioned use of wikis should be tolerated is: “How and what can be done to ensure employees use wikis productively and for the larger good?” [Read more]