Put Someone in Charge

Once you have parameters for what the wiki will accomplish, and how, decide who will be responsible for maintaining the content. At least at first, the wiki administrators will be one or two people among the end users and developers who set it up. Socialtext's Brainard calls these administrators "gardeners" because they help the wiki grow, weed out outdated material and help new users.

Wiki gardeners should keep a close eye on how the wiki expands to ensure it stays true to its original purpose. "Maintenance is critical," says library technologist West, who has created — and describes herself as a happy end user of — many wikis. "The person building the wiki needs an organizational sense of how to present the information or no one will be able to find anything."

Because a wiki is not meant only to be used for information storage, but for conversation and reference, gardeners should not be shy about pruning to keep lists and entries from becoming unwieldy.

Each of the hundreds of wiki communities within EMC has an administrator, says CIO Pagliarulo. "Each community has policies, processes and guidelines for how it should be used. An administrator ensures the data is clean and gets purged at appropriate intervals."

Know Your End Users

In the city of Arvada, Hovet's plans for a "one-stop shopping" wiki for project charters and guidelines hit a snag when the wiki was opened to managers and project managers across the whole organization. "We wanted everyone to contribute to the content and help shape our best practices," says Hovet, "but other city staffers did not adapt well."

Getting people to learn and understand a new technology turned out to be harder than the IT staffers anticipated, Hovet says. The city was rolling out new project management processes at the same time as it launched the wiki. A cross-section of city project managers felt all that newness "would have been intimidating for staff," she says. "This was two years ago when the mention of the word 'wiki' earned you funny looks. Now it's more of a mainstream tool." Hovet's team put project documents and other information on the city intranet instead. But Arvada's project management team still uses the wiki.

Once you've agreed on the wiki's purpose and you're done developing it, you need to get people to use it. Among ways to get the word out, managers can mention wikis in their communications with the company, whether that's via e-mail or newsletter, or at company meetings. Brainard says you can even use the wiki to publish company blog content for employees to read as a way to increase visibility and adoption.

Hovet didn't promote Arvada's first wiki very widely. But she now has plans to make the wiki software available on the city intranet, and at that point, she intends to spread the word. "We normally do a lot of promotion with new software," she says. "I hope our implementation of wiki technology on the intranet will allow all employees to participate in conversations about topics that affect their employment with the city."

SIDEBAR: Mistakes That Can Sink Your Wiki

1. An unclear purpose. Jeff Brainard, director of product marketing with wiki vendor Socialtext, finds from observing his company's customers that wikis fail when their scope isn't clearly defined.

2. An anything-goes attitude. You want to encourage users to contribute and discuss wiki content, but someone has to make sure it stays relevant. Wiki administrators must keep pages and entries clean and orderly or the wiki won't be useful. When you have a list of bookmarks and links, "people always add, but never subtract," says Jessamyn West, a library technology consultant. "You end up with an appallingly large list and unhappy users."

3. The wrong software. It may be tempting to download free software and build your own wikis. But before you do, say experienced wiki creators, make sure someone has the time to maintain the pages. Similarly, don't jump into a contract to have a vendor host your wiki if you can effectively manage it yourself.

4. Ignoring feedback. Usability is critical to wiki success. Experts advise that you start a wiki with a small group of users, and that you pay attention to what they say about how the wiki looks and functions. — ML