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MediaWikiin the Corporate Environment
Daniel J. BarrettAuthor, MediaWiki (O’Reilly, 2008)
Director of Knowledge Management, VistaPrint.com
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About VistaPrint
Web-based e-commerce1600 employees, 6 countriesHypergrowth
Rapidly growing company35,000 orders per day16,000,000 paying customers
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About VistaPrint
Nobody has time to document
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Once upon a time…
25 new college hiresLittle documentationWhat to do?
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Enter MediaWiki
Hugely successfulChanged corporate cultureLessons learned (6)
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Lesson 1:It’s not about the technology
Drive adoption Make it work
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Why do intranet projects fail?
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Don’t start bypicking the system
Even if you love wikis
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What we did
Requirements analysisWhat problems are we trying to solve?
Business caseHow much $$ will it cost?How much $$ will we save?
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Lesson 2:Know strengths & weaknesses
MediaWiki is not for everyone
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Use MediaWiki for…
Informal knowledge-sharingQuick turnaroundCommunities of like-minded peopleGlobal communitiesEase of administrationReliability(Highly technical users)
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Barriers to adoption
Ownership and access control Non-WYSIWYG
TablesNumbered lists
Case-sensitivityFile handling (e.g., screenshots)
General content management
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What we did
User testing (can they learn it?)Built extensions for tables and imagesIntegrated with Microsoft SharePointTaught the benefits
Hands-on training with laptops
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Lesson 3:Know the culture
Internet:“A new site? Cool!”
Corporate:“I’m too busy to learna new system.”
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Compare…Internet:
Self-selecting audienceAdventurous
Corporate:Required audienceBusyYour project is not on their minds
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Cultural change
Direct,unambiguous,in-the-moment,repeatedfeedback.
How do you change people’s behavior?
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What we did
A system for busy people“2 minutes a day”
Frictionless UI“Doesn’t get in my face”
Cultural changeIn-the-moment feedback by dedicated staff
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Lesson 4:Pre-structure the wikiPrior to rollout:
Create stub articlesInterlink (“See also”)Categorize
…and THEN let people in
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Why pre-structure?
No “blank slate” effectStart with good organizationReduces friction
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What we did
Interview long-time employeesWhat do new hires need in first week? Month? Three months?Create topic listOrganize and categorizePopulate wiki with stubsOpen the doors
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Lesson 5:Integrate with legacy systems
MediaWiki can be a portal to:DatabasesBug-tracking systemsRevision control systemsPersonnel informationRSS
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Authentication extensions
Active Directory (LDAP)KerberosMany others…
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What we did
40+ custom extensionsEmbedded SQL queries in wiki pages
Instant reporting infrastructure!
Bug-tracking links and reportsSubversion access
Pull code snippets into the wiki
Active Directory personnel data
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Lesson 6:Measure your results
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Integrate with Active Directory
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Roll up by office, etc.
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Other possibilitiesWeb statistics
Awstats, etc.
System maintenance costs(Virtually none, except for improvements)
Measure reduction in email attachmentsvs. increase in wiki links
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Success!Huge adoption rateTrue behavior changeMany non-technical users“We LOVE the wiki.”
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Questions?