WikiWatering

Last edit February 16, 2004
WikiWatering is deliberately selecting what you believe are pertinent topics for the community and creating branches (WikiWords) primarily for the sake for showing the community (or nurturing) all the possibilities of wiki. WikiWatering helps people see the power of a wiki, and thereby helps the wiki grow. Not being able to envision the variety of ways a wiki can be used seems to be one of primary reasons WhyDontOthersGetWiki.

Although I prefer WikisInTheWild (a collective free flowing consciousness), like this one, I find that in the early stages wikis need some "gardening". Like plants, it's important that you have fertile soil. I liken fertile soil to a community that is willing to share and communicate (few wikis can grow in barren soil). This wiki thrives because it's a community of developers... and we can be a noisy bunch. ;-)

I generally use the following steps:
  1. Till the soil by expressing the need for communication, such as: the need for a forum to discuss pertinent issues; the need for "persisting thoughts", so that we don't lose information in this brief random conversations we have with one another; the need to a complete perspective on ideas and issues; etc.

  2. Plant the wiki A brief orientation to wikis and how they work.

  3. Water the wiki Sprinkle it with some pertinent topics. It helps if you talk with others first to get some ideas and encourage them to wikify a topic.

Hmmm...this section could possibly be refactored to "starting a wiki" or something.

-- AntonyWilson

We have two wikis at work, one for managers and one for developers (one wiki for both might work; YourMileageMayVary). I "water" it with the following topics, respectively:

Managers' wiki - Focused on coherency and unified vision.
  • The organization's TopTenRisksList - Works well for addressing, prioritizing, and mitigating critical areas.
  • The Training initiatives - Provides everyone with the complete perspective of the skills needed.
  • Management techniques - There are certain "rules of thumb" which are not usually written anywhere but are essential to managing the organization.

Developers' wiki - Focused on technical growth and sharing.
  • Emerging software techniques - a knowledge base for software technologies (XP, RUP, OO techniques, etc).
  • Software Tools' bugs and gotchas' - we need to share this kind of info.
  • Brownbag lunch presentations - Informal technical talks and presentation at lunch.
  • TechnicalDebtList for software builds, etc.
  • BookReferences and recommendations - Encourages learning and sharing of view. Save people money too!
  • Book reviews - good for interactive reviews.
  • Requirements gathering/analysis - Although we don't currently use the wiki for this, I think Wikis offer a great end-user interaction tool for requirements and use cases. Doesn't require a CASE tool.

-- AntonyWilson

When you say that you "water" it, do you mean that you go in and make changes on a fairly regular basis? How do you encourage others to read it, and write into it?

CategoryWiki CategoryGardeningMetaphor