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We use the Markdown file method extensively at our company. see: https://github.com/dwyl?&q=learn https://github.com/dwyl?&q=learn But just asking/reminding peo

We use the Markdown file method extensively at our company. see: https://github.com/dwyl?&q=learn https://github.com/dwyl?&q=learn But just asking/reminding people to capture learning/knowledge in Markdown is not enough to ensure that it actually happens. If the organisation does not have a learning and sharing culture at all levels having markdown files falls apart quite fast! see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_organization https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Learning_organization People first need to unlearn what they were taught in formal education. In school we are told not to share our homework with others and the mindset of individualism persists in most workplaces. We need a way to measure and reward people for their contribution to the collective knowledge.

pmontra 7y ago
Doing homeworks together was ok, sharing answers to tests was not. Anyway, the goal there was to score individual students, the goal here is to build something together. Of course some people want to outshine coworkers or try to become not replaceable, so they won't share anything unless forced. This is probably your point. A way to measure people's contributions could be counting how many times those lines in the wiki were copy pasted to solve problems, but in general it's not easy. We could count commits to markdown but as in code, two lines could be worth more than one hundred.
- nelsonic 7y ago
  Yeah, agreed. But sharing the answers is exactly what is needed in companies/organisations. I've worked in companies where people hoard data and solutions to problems because it gives them power/influence/job-security. As for tracking commits, if the metric becomes a goal it becomes useless. People will game the system to have more commits, or worse, write a bot to break up their contributions into as many commits as they can get away with. One line can indeed be worth more than 100 if the line fixes helps fix some production bug. The biggest issue I have is people fixing things and not documenting the fix. Our metric of "success" for our shared knowledge is how many people outside of our company/org find our stuff useful. But this is not always possible in secretive or highly competitive industries. Kathy Sierra said "out teach your competitors". https://youtu.be/Dsryx3Ra5pU https://youtu.be/Dsryx3Ra5pU I totally agree with this mindset. https://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/09/you_can_outspen.html https://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/...

pmontra 7y ago

Doing homeworks together was ok, sharing answers to tests was not. Anyway, the goal there was to score individual students, the goal here is to build something together. Of course some people want to outshine coworkers or try to become not replaceable, so they won't share anything unless forced. This is probably your point. A way to measure people's contributions could be counting how many times those lines in the wiki were copy pasted to solve problems, but in general it's not easy. We could count commits to markdown but as in code, two lines could be worth more than one hundred.

nelsonic 7y ago
Yeah, agreed. But sharing the answers is exactly what is needed in companies/organisations. I've worked in companies where people hoard data and solutions to problems because it gives them power/influence/job-security. As for tracking commits, if the metric becomes a goal it becomes useless. People will game the system to have more commits, or worse, write a bot to break up their contributions into as many commits as they can get away with. One line can indeed be worth more than 100 if the line fixes helps fix some production bug. The biggest issue I have is people fixing things and not documenting the fix. Our metric of "success" for our shared knowledge is how many people outside of our company/org find our stuff useful. But this is not always possible in secretive or highly competitive industries. Kathy Sierra said "out teach your competitors". https://youtu.be/Dsryx3Ra5pU https://youtu.be/Dsryx3Ra5pU I totally agree with this mindset. https://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/09/you_can_outspen.html https://headrush.typepad.com/creating_passionate_users/2005/...