Blogging about Blogging :)
Saturday, March 29th, 2008I finally “get” the new Web 2.0 world of Blogs, Wikis and Ticket Trackers, specifically how it helps us run our business. It has taken me almost 2 years to adjust to this new way of capturing, organizing and prioritizing information. Actually, the process has been very helpful to illustrate how difficult habits are to change… and I am very comfortable with technology. Here’s how we have evolved.
Like everyone, we have a decent network with a massive Work Drive where we store all our contracts, marketing docs, production files, etc. It is rapidly closing in on 1 Terabyte of information with hundreds of thousands of files across thousands of folders. Needless to say, the information has grown so significant that even a Spotlight search has a hard time of locating what we need. Navigating folder trees to find what you need 5 folders deep is simply breaking down, because you are often limited to one or two words (folder or file names) to direct your path. Once you find the right file, you then need to open the file to get the full context. After 6 clicks, you may have found what you need.. or not.
Several years ago, we instituted a CRM system (Daylite by Marketcircle) which did three things amazingly well. It organized contacts, sales opportunities and calendars in a way that allowed us to keep track of literally thousands of people and sales opportunities, while “remembering” nearly every conversation we had. Basically it started our Corporate Memory process, so anyone on our team could get up to speed on someone else’s conversations. What it didn’t do so well was manage projects and tasks, even though the toolset has those features. Why? Well, project and task management fall prey to a different set of forces, mainly fluid prioritization and deep interdependencies. I’d be curious to know how many Gantt charts have actually survived intact throughout the entire production process without requiring major surgery. Sure, there are cool tools like Basecamp and Microsoft Projects which help you manage tasks in a timeframe metaphor, but I’ve never found anyone really happy with these toolsets while working in the trenches. It just requires too much maintenance to handle all the moving details.
What we’ve found is that as we’ve grown and become busier, our biggest challenge has been managing priorities for our growing team. Here’s where a new toolset metaphor has emerged, the ticket tracker. The tracker is simpler and more flexible, encouraging sales, marketing and production team members to enter in (heck, brainstorm) different tasks, which are prioritized by management into milestones (Wiredrive version 2.0.4 or Sales Q1). Its informal nature is more inviting for those ‘I don’t know where this fits in, but I don’t want to forget it’ ideas. This more sticky information collection and organization is great, especially as it has become embraced by the whole team. We can all easily see the tasks of others, which adds both more accountability and more assistance.
The other side of the Tracker system is the Wiki. It took me a better part of 2 years to appreciate the value that the Wiki plays. A Wiki is a simple collaborative environment that allows you and your team to add, edit and delete information all in the same “place.” No file distribution is required. No “one or two word” tree structure is used to bury information. Info Navigation is greatly improved by the simple fact that you can type more about the link you are about to present. The free-flowing nature of a Wiki means that I’m more inclined to load in information, make it available to the team and tune it collaboratively. I’m no longer writing docs that stay on the laptop until I get the time to “finish” them before sending around for review by the team, who are usually busy working on other stuff. The Wiki asks less of everyone and provides more… more flexibility and stream-of-consciousness.
This sounds weird, but two of the biggest changes for me in using the Wiki was a great looking design that our production team implemented AND the knowledge that everyone was going to use it to get work done. The look and feel of the tool really does make a difference - it just “feels” better and I have become much more interested in using it. Knowing that there is an audience who will read the information and contribute back also adds the necessary oomph for adoption. A year ago, both of these elements were missing and our earlier attempts at an internal Wiki simply withered. Adoption is key - and a great easy-to-use system with buy-in is the secret.
Blogs are emerging as yet another killer way of organizing and presenting information. Blogs are a touch more structured than a Wiki, with individual stories or entries that stack up on-top of one another. I’ve begun to appreciate how Blog entries with their interlinking categorizations can become a great Customer Care platform. Want to read about the new Features of Wiredrive? Click on “What’s New?” Interested in building a Help Area for Sales Reps or Admins? Use categories to add extra linking intelligence to the article entry. Being able to add your own custom associations for each entry has made the value of navigating a giant information resource much more simpler and more powerful. The blog process means we can communicate more information our clients as well as our team, so everyone wins.
This is also changing our meetings. Now, we spend a few minutes pointing out the new entries in our collection of Blogs and Wikis to the team, to make sure everyone knows what information is made available and where. These tools make managing strategy and tasks easier. For a rapidly growing company like Wiredrive, these discoveries couldn’t have come soon enough. I’m just glad that my transition time only took two years.
What’s next? Professional twitter? Linked-In that actually changes the way you do business? We’ll see!
Regards,
Bill
