Project managers can benefit from a powerful web service called wiki. Wiki, which means quick in Hawaiian, is simply a website that allows people to edit its contents. One common wiki application is the free internet encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Unlike traditional static web pages, that can only be read, a wiki can be readily accessed by everyone, everywhere and they can add, edit, delete, append and update content.
Project managers can utilize this tool to transform the project office into a live and ubiquitous environment. A project wiki can facilitate the following tasks:
- Project Meeting Agendas and Minutes
- Collaboration on Project Documentation
- Solicit and Keep Track of Ideas
- Project Dashboard (Project Vital Signs)
- Calendars
- Project Photo Albums
- To-Do Lists
- Establish a Project Office Intranet
Project Transformation
To demonstrate the power of wikis, a project manager can post to the wiki a proposed meeting agenda, inviting direct input from team members, thus saving tedious e-mail messages and phone calls or preliminary meetings. Once the meeting is conducted, proposed minutes are posted for input and comments, almost eliminating the need for a PM meeting scribe. In one case, this resulted in reducing e-mail traffic volume by 75%, and slashed meeting time in half, thanks to group input and collaboration.
Table 1 shows a comparison between traditional PM emphasis and the one offered by the wiki collaborative environment.
| Table 1
|
|
| Traditional PM Emphasis
|
Project Wiki Emphasis
|
| Centralization
|
Decentralization
|
| Authoritarian
|
Collaborative
|
| Hierarchy Organization
|
Flat Organization
|
| Project Manager
|
Project Team
|
| Permission Required
|
Empowerment
|
| Central Files
|
Project Intranet File Cabinet
|
| Hard Copy Documents
|
Documented Digital Media
|
| Limited/Restricted Access
|
Organized/Unlimited Access
|
| Local Access
|
Global/Live Access
|
| Rigid PM Policies
|
Flexible/Adaptable Policies
|
| Limited Communication
|
Unlimited Communication
|
We should stop viewing projects as merely an opportunity for management authority but rather model them and interact with them as empowered teams in a live and realistic view. The proposed transformation is shown in the following figures:
Image:Project_wiki_1.gifImage:Project_wiki_2.gif
Source: Project Management Wiki! Everything, Everywhere and Everybody’s Project By Dr. Kifah Jayyousi
A Picture says more than 1000 words - Wiki collaboration
Source: wikinomics.com by Anthony D. Williams
Interesting Article regarding file-oriented and document-based vs. web 2.0 and wikis.
