Change Communications

A collection of thoughts and experiences related to communication and change

Process: wikis a solution?

I recently stumbled across an interesting quote by Clay Shirky:

“Process is an embedded reaction to prior stupidity”

Clay goes on to explain:

“When I was CTO of a web design firm, I noticed in staff meetings that we only ever talked about process when we were avoiding talking about people. “We need a process to ensure that the client does not get half-finished design sketches” is code for “Greg fucked up.” The problem, of course, is that much of this process nevertheless gets put in place, meaning that an organization slowly forms around avoiding the dumbest behaviors of its mediocre employees, resulting in layers of gunk that keep its best employees from doing interesting work, because they too have to sign The Form Designed to Keep You From Doing The Stupid Thing That One Guy Did Three Years Ago. “

He then goes on to explain how the flexibility provided by a wiki in the hands of a healthy community allows you to dispense of the “armour” of process.

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