The Underscore Archives

Iwein Dekoninck wrote:
> Hullo,
> 
> We've got a fair number of new starters at 3Sixty at the moment and
> we've realised just how much knowledge about how we do things is stored
> between our ears, rather than somewhere more accessible to others.
> 
> What we'd like to do is have some kind of massive FAQ/knowledgebase type
> thing going on. The main requirements for me are bloody great search,
> very easy to add KB article, tagging/categorising, and auto-compiling of
> lists.
> 
> Would anybody have any recommendations as to what off-the-shelf package
> to use?
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> i
> 

When I used to work for a very large Civil Engineering firm about 10 
years ago they had probably the most usable approach to knowledge sharing.

The system basically comprised of static pages for things like where the 
toilets where, and a staff directory.  On each staff member's card was a 
list of skills and project that they had been involved in.

When you got stuck on an issue you'd find somebody with the right skills 
or who'd been involved in similar problems and phone them up.  Of course 
you have to get people to ask for help

Later while working for a small web design office I set up a mediawiki 
install for a knowledge base.  Nobody used it but me.

I think you'll find staff culture is a lot harder to overcome than 
getting the right software.

W