Wikipatterns Comments - Part Four - Bad or Anti-Patterns - Wiki vs. KM

This is the fourth of four posts comparing wiki use and knowledge management inspired by reading Stewart Mader’s Wikipatterns. As I wrote in the prior posts, I found it interesting that many of more of the good behaviors, what Stewart calls patterns, were also good KM practices, while more of the bad behaviors or antipatterns are more unique to wikis. Here is his list of anitpatterns grouped by those I feel are found in KM and those that are new to wikis

KM Dejavue
Wikiphobia - there is always resistance to new ways, although people avoided KM even more if it did not align with work
Bean Counter - he talks about charge backs more here but in general ROI concerns can kill a good KM system, on the other hand a good KM system should improve business process measures, it is just that attribution can be contested. I always recommended that ROI measures look at process improvements and not generic “time savings.”
Empty Pages - negative version of seed it with content pattern
All-wiki-all-the -time - the KM champions can get too excited also
Wiki Paint Brush - we usually recommend that the words knowledge management not be used in the title of the system

More Wiki Unique
Do-It-All - relates more to a system with greater individual participation
Over Organizer - the KM users do not actively change the organization but they should be consulted on it and it needs to make sense to them
Wiki Troll - not in KM but in the old forums often found within KM
Sand Box - relates more to a system with greater individual participation
Manager Lockdown - not in KM but it was found in the old forums often found within KM
Too Much Structure - KM provides structure but it needs to make sense to the users and align with how they do work

The group of antipatterns found in KM relate more to any system for handling content while the antipatterns more unique to wikis relate more to a system with the greater individual participation found in wikis.

This concludes my discussion of KM versus wikis based on Wikipatterns by Stewart Mader. As I wrote at the beginning, I found it interesting to reflect on the differences and similarities between a top down system that required bottom up support and participation (aka KM) and a system that requires bottom up support and participation and offers a bottom up structure (aka wiki). I am sure there are many more comparison points. As I also mentioned in my first post, a good general review of the book can be found in Jevon MacDonald’s - wikipatterns - The First Enterprise 2.0 Playbook.