Lex Slaghuis, Presenter Observations and experiences on wiki concepts within a large local Dutch government agency are discussed. An analysis of current collaboration processes is presented with five recurring collaborative patterns. These patterns were identified by clustering the collaborative 'issues' of employees. The patterns are of interest as they seem to influence each other as well as they provide quick and easy overview of the organizational collaborative processes. Some of these patterns also appear to relate to typical wiki capabilities, such as RSS-feeds and link indexing.

1. A wiki formulation of
collaboration strategy

2. Context
– Government agency for urban city planning
– Close Partnering with other division requires
new types of working:
• Planned introduction of flexworking
• and teleworking
• across multiple locations.
– A wish for stronger support of collaboration
and knowledge processes

3. About me: wikiwise
• wikiwise was asked to explore the possibilities of
wiki and other new technologies to enhance
collaboration practices
• wikiwise believes usage of the different
communication channels / collaboration tools are
highly related and have significant impacts on
productivity
• Evaluating tool usage and satisfaction with
employees, provides an interesting start for
improving collaboration practices

4. Wiki approach
– +-20 personal interviews
• Starting point for workshop sessions
– 6 weeks of workshops with employees (no
management)
• Evaluation current collaboration practices in a
group setting
• Experiencing new technologies and relating it to
current collaboration practices
– This talk only discusses ʻmost importantʼ
tools : No intranet, phone, sms, etc.

5. Networkdrives & Documents:
highly used and lowly valued
ʻI never can find ʻI make little use of
documentsʼ others shared
documents on the
public driveʼ
ʻIf you want a quick and ʻThe P-drive exists
complete overview out of hundreds of
youʼll need the actual main folders…ʼ
paper files of the
projectʼ
ʻThere is a lack of
(document) structure ʻThe public drive is my
within projects. This personal memory… The
makes easy knowledge public drive is probably
reuse difficultʼ used the wrong wayʼ

6. Networkdrives & Documents:
highly used and lowly valued
ʻI never can find ʻI make little use of Finding information
NEEDS
documentsʼ others shared
documents on the
public driveʼ Staying up-to-date
ʻIf you want a quick and ʻThe P-drive exists Abundance of
FULFILL
complete overview out of hundreds of (digital) information
youʼll need the actual main folders…ʼ
paper files of the
projectʼ Wrong, outdated or
untimely information
ʻThere is a lack of
(document) structure ʻThe public drive is my
within projects. This personal memory… The
makes easy knowledge public drive is probably
Use of E-mail for sharing
reuse difficultʼ used the wrong wayʼ documents

7. E-mail:
highly used and lowly valued
ʻI try to use e-mail as little
as possible. Instead I drop
ʻOn average I have 100 by colleguesʼ
unread e-mailsʼ
ʻWhen I have
ʻE-mail is being read so deadlines, I only read
fast people actually my e-mail once a
miss / oversee stuffʼ weekʼ
ʻFortunately they
ʻI only read the havenʼt found my e-mail
subjectlines, but if address yetʼ
people send three e-
mails, it is probably
important. They better ʻThis type of e-mail I do
call me or walk by in that not read. Instead I save it
casʼ (John, 400 unread e- in a mailfolder for reading
mails) at a more convenient
momentʼ

8. E-mail:
highly used and lowly valued
ʻI try to use e-mail as little Finding information
NEEDS
as possible. Instead I drop
ʻOn average I have 100 by colleguesʼ
unread e-mailsʼ Staying up-to-date
ʻWhen I have
ʻE-mail is being read so deadlines, I only read
fast people actually my e-mail once a : Abundance of
FULFILL
miss / oversee stuffʼ weekʼ (digital) information
Wrong, outdated or
untimely information
ʻFortunately they
ʻI only read the havenʼt found my e-mail
subjectlines, but if address yetʼ
people send three e-
mails, it is probably
important. They better ʻThis type of e-mail I do Use personal
call me or walk by in that not read. Instead I save it Communications for
casʼ (John, 400 unread e- in a mailfolder for reading
mails)
knowledge questions
at a more convenient
momentʼ

9. Personal Communications:
highly used and highly valued
ʻIt is very simple. If you
ʻDuring team meetings
have a lot of meetings
visits to seminars are
youʼll get a lot of e-mail
discussedʼ
because you are not
directly availableʼ
ʻAround here
knowledge sticks to
ʻI like to call around
people. Not systems
not exactly knowing
or processesʼ
what I am looking for.
ʻA lot of knowledge
That always provides
sharing happens in
interesting infoʼ
workshops and
seminarsʼ
ʻSpecific training is
available, but not when ʻDropping by is easy…
you need itʼ Or just ask colleguesʼ
who are nearbyʼ
ʻPeople use old procedures ʻWhen people skip the
when they missed the team meeting, I need to
specific team meetingʼ update them personallyʼ

10. Personal Communications:
highly used and highly valued
ʻIt is very simple. If you
ʻDuring team meetings Finding information
NEEDS
have a lot of meetings
visits to seminars are
youʼll get a lot of e-mail
discussedʼ
because you are not Staying up-to-date
directly availableʼ
ʻAround here
knowledge sticks to
ʻI like to call around
people. Not systems
not exactly knowing
what I am looking for. or processesʼ Disturbing collegues
FULFILL
ʻA lot of knowledge for trivia
That always provides
sharing happens in
interesting infoʼ
workshops and
seminarsʼ Too much details
ʻSpecific training is during meetings
available, but not when ʻDropping by is easy…
you need itʼ Or just ask colleguesʼ
who are nearbyʼ
Collectively a very
ʻPeople use old procedures ʻWhen people skip the inefficient means of
when they missed the team meeting, I need to
specific team meetingʼ update them personallyʼ collaboration

11. Towards a collective efficient and
productive organization
Network drives
and documents
wiki
E-mail Documents
Documents
Personal Relations, trust Unstructured
communcations and complex Knowledge /
knowledge trivia

12. Towards a collective efficient and
productive organization
Network drives
and documents
Collectively
efficient wiki
E-mail Documents
Documents
Individually
efficient
Personal Relations, trust Unstructured
communcations and complex Knowledge /
knowledge trivia

13. Towards a collective efficient and
productive organization
Network drives WANTED:
Documents
Documents
and documents
Collectively
efficient wiki
shift
E-mail Documents
Documents
Individually
efficient
Personal Relations, trust Unstructured
communcations and complex Knowledge /
knowledge trivia

14. Towards a collective efficient and
productive organization
Network drives WANTED:
Documents
Documents
and documents
Collectively WANTED:
efficient wiki Unstructured
shift
Knowledge /
trivia
E-mail Documents
Documents
shift
Individually
efficient
Personal Relations, trust Unstructured
communcations and complex Knowledge /
knowledge trivia

15. How to stop transferring documents by
e-mail and start collaborating on
documents in the appropriate way
• Option 1: Stricter procedures around the shared
drives
– Limiting use by rules and regulations would meet a lot
of user resistance
• Option 2: Replace shared drives with a DMS
– Seduce users with versioning, automatic metatagging
and powerful search

16. How to stop dropping by for trivia / start
sharing unstructured knowledge in most
useful way
• Option 1: Stricter procedures around personal
communication
– Limiting use by rules and regulations would meet a lot
of user resistance, especially as personal
communication is very popular
• Option 2: Use Wiki for sharing unstructured
knowledge
– In a wiki try-out workshop session, the team
evaluated wiki as useful solution

17. Results of wiki try out
Ideas for wiki by the employees of the Opinions on wiki by the employees of
DRO the DRO
ʻwikiʼs use is
ʻRelaxed, informal
decentralizedʼ
environment online
for the different
teams.ʼ
Wikiʼs can be used
directly and
instantly.ʼ ʻIncrease reuse by
central storage of
knowledgeʼ
ʻʼWriting in a wiki is
does not feel the same
as writing a report.ʼ
ʻPlace for passionate
discussionsʼ

18. Conclusion
• Discussion of collaboration processes by
employees can result in a collaboration
strategy for the organization
• This strategy ʻcontains recognizable
observations, valid solutions and has
acceptance amongst employeesʼ
• Many organizations can use wiki to reduce
overload of both e-mail and personal
communication

19. Question: What are your experiences
with shifting tool usage?
Transactions
SMS
Collectively
efficient Network drives and Chat
documents
Phone
wiki
Individually Twitter
efficient
E-mail
VOIP
Personal Video Conferancing
communcations

20. Intro
• Collaborative tool usage
• Case: DRO – Dutch knowledge intensive
governmental organisation
• Outline:
– Context
– Approach
– Findings
– Conclusion