http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/chatterbox/archive/tags/documentation/default.aspxTags: documentationenCommunityServer 2007 SP2 (Debug Build: 20611.960)http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/chatterbox/archive/2008/10/31/don-t-overlook-the-obvious.aspxFri, 31 Oct 2008 17:02:00 GMTf90a95a0-00e2-4810-8af8-0bbdde08f853:37816Lindsey Robbins0http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/chatterbox/rsscomments.aspx?PostID=37816http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/chatterbox/archive/2008/10/31/don-t-overlook-the-obvious.aspx#comments<p>Being in the business of explaining technical things, it’s easy to skip the obvious and jump to the difficult stuff. After all, since we can make educated guesses of what people will struggle with; why not jump to explaining that content? However, doing so can be a trap. Recently this happened to me in my internal team documentation efforts.</p><p>A while back, I<a href="http://forums.blackbaud.com/blogs/documentation/archive/2008/05/28/wikis-need-some-love-and-best-practices.aspx" target="_blank"> blogged on my experiences with wikis</a>. In addition to my outside experience, I finally figured out a way in Microsoft SharePoint Server 2007 to setup a team wiki. We have to do some manual creation of navigation but overall it meets our needs for internal team knowledge management.</p><p>When I “launched” the wiki in a brief demo to the team, it went pretty well. And for the most part people have figured out where it is. However, time passed and I forgot one key thing. People needed to know <b>how to use the wiki</b>. It’s not that the wiki is all that difficult or complex but it’s still a process unfamiliar to people. I completely overlooked the obvious.</p><p>Now, I have a page set up with answers to the following common questions:<br /></p><ul><li>How do I use the wiki?</li><li>How do I add a new page?</li><li>How do I edit a page?</li><li>How do I add a picture?</li><li>How do I search for information?</li><li>How do I edit the navigation?</li></ul><p>Sure, I may be someone who loves technology and will play with it until I figure out what’s going on but not all users are the same. I think it’s a valuable lesson for social media, technology, <b>and </b>software. It’s easy to assume that users can figure out the basic processes and workflows but then when you do that you create easy stumbling blocks that might discourage people from using your new tool. I’m glad I went back to do my how to guide. It’s not thorough or complete but it’s a start. Next up is a wiki page on how to blog. I really want to get my team more involved in blogging since I’ve heard what valuable things they have to say and would love for them to share it with you all too.</p><p><b>Have you ever overlooked something obvious in your social media or technology efforts? </b><br /></p><img src="http://forums.blackbaud.com/aggbug.aspx?PostID=37816" width="1" height="1">social mediaChatterboxtoolsaudiencerecommendationtrainingdocumentation