Rules of engagement
To recap over previous posts, we have spoken about having the right culture, engaging your staff in wiki use with WIIFM, defining what goes into the wiki and why (visibility, version control, document management). In this post I will look at the rules of engagement.
Even though you may be seeking to develop an open community, every community needs some rules to abide by.
Wikipedia has an excellent etiquette page that any new wiki owner should take a look at. There are a number of rules in there that are worth at least thinking about in the context of your own wiki.
Corporate policies and guidelines also need to be understood and adhered to within the wiki space. If your current corporate policy does not cover the use of wikis it may be time to see if a new policy is required, or, can existing ones be extended.
Ensuring information is shared and the wiki is used as proposed is also important. Use the change agents to help move conversations and decision making processes out of Email and into the wiki. Dont maintain Email and wiki conversations, the rework will only double your work effort, and confuse people as to where to look for answers.
Rules of engagement is something we did not think about until it was really to late, laying out these ground rules early on I think would have helped with my take up rates as staff would have had a clearer understanding of how to use the wiki, not just why.
Next up, maximising wiki value!
