There's lots of discussion about this or that wiki, Notion, etc. but IME this contradicts how knowledge primarily flows in 2022.
Most of the time, when I need to know something, I have a specific question. So I throw some keywords at Google and Google responds (rarely) with the answer, or (more commonly) with a relevant stackoverflow link.
What if you had an internal "stackoverflow", i.e. Q&A platform?
Obviously, wikis and documents still have value. They're important for onboarding new employees and roles and getting everyone to a baseline understanding.
However, 99% of the time, the employee wants to know the answer to an explicit question like "How do I remove a user from X" or "how do I reset/update the Y service". Digging through documentation to construct an answer is a lot of work, and should be cached somewhere other than the employee's brain.
With a SO-style format, you get a) a quick answer and b) context about who answered (without digging through separate history interfaces) and c) an informal log of how processes have changed over time. It's also very easy and informal to add a new question or answer, without worrying about formatting conventions.
At $COMPANY, we tried this and it was a waste of time. The problem is you need someone to answer the questions. So instead of looking at the wiki or asking the relevant engineers in person or slack, you now have to write a question & wait for somebody to answer. Somebody eventually answers but it was wrong and now you're back to slack asking the relevant engineer anyway.
I can see why it could be useful like how StackOverflow has been. But the early days will be painful and unless you're working in a huge company, I don't see this being worth it at all.
Most of the time, when I need to know something, I have a specific question. So I throw some keywords at Google and Google responds (rarely) with the answer, or (more commonly) with a relevant stackoverflow link.
What if you had an internal "stackoverflow", i.e. Q&A platform?
Obviously, wikis and documents still have value. They're important for onboarding new employees and roles and getting everyone to a baseline understanding.
However, 99% of the time, the employee wants to know the answer to an explicit question like "How do I remove a user from X" or "how do I reset/update the Y service". Digging through documentation to construct an answer is a lot of work, and should be cached somewhere other than the employee's brain.
With a SO-style format, you get a) a quick answer and b) context about who answered (without digging through separate history interfaces) and c) an informal log of how processes have changed over time. It's also very easy and informal to add a new question or answer, without worrying about formatting conventions.
Are there tools out there to support this?