Government in a Wiki World, Part 2

Wiki forces are upon us. With the wiki concept, an individual posts an idea publicly. Then over time, subsequent contributors add to, adjust, or take away from the idea iteratively. Over time, with input from many players, what starts as a primitive idea can grow into a well-developed statement. The most dramatic example of the power of wikis is Wikipedia.

Recognition that collaborative efforts can lead to great results is growing in both the public and private sectors. What distinguishes the wiki approach from previous collaborative initiatives is that contributors to the process can be “amateurs” rather than professionals. Anyone can contribute. The contributions of some may be modest, focusing on the correction of spelling and grammatical errors. The contributions of others may be deeper â€" for example, they may focus on developing and refining foundational ideas. The Wikipedia experience has shown that well-articulated and valuable insights can emerge through this process.

Government agencies are mulling over the wiki phenomenon to determine its value in the public sector. Its value can be seen at three levels of operation:

• Project level: In building new systems, requirements can be harvested through wiki exercises. That is, a primitive statement of system requirements can be posted publicly. Customers and technical people can be asked to build on this primitive statement in order to create a full-blown set of requirements that reflect both customer and technical sensibilities.

• Intra-agency level: When an agency plans to launch a program that will change how it operates, inputs from employees and contractors handled through wiki processes can help the agency to formulate the program architecture more quickly and comprehensively than by setting up a task force to do the job.

• Inter-agency level: Government agencies tend to operate as stove pipes. However, this can lead to poor results, as the 9/11 catastrophe showed us. Because US intelligence agencies did not share their knowledge and insights regarding terrorist activity, the US was unable to anticipate and prevent the 9/11 attack. Government agencies can establish wikis to span organizational boundaries. The intelligence community did this after 9/11 when the created Intellipedia, three wikis that solicit contributions from employees of 16 intelligence agencies. Early results from this effort are encouraging.

There are two basic advantages to a wiki approach. First, because it is carried out in a virtual environment, it can be implemented quickly. There is no need to assemble committees of experts who deliberate indefinitely. Second, because it solicits input from a wide range of contributors spanning organizational boundaries, it has the potential of generating solutions that are both deep and broad.

Government should experiment with cross-boundary collaboration at the project, intra-agency, and inter-agency level. The tendency of bureaucracies to operate inside boxes is well-known, as are the perils â€" particularly the curse of parochialism. However, in exploring the strengths of collaborative action, government should avoid marching around with the wiki tool in search of applications. First, it should identify situations where collaborative inputs would help it function more effectively. Then it should determine whether a wiki approach is appropriate to engender meaningful collaboration, or whether some other approach is better. Finally, it needs to address the details of implementing a wiki solution â€" Are we able to establish a wiki platform? Will our organizational culture promote meaningful participation by the intended audience? As wiki solutions to problems emerge, will they be taken seriously by the agency’s management?