[pmwiki-users] ICT innovation in organisations from private context

[marc]

Sjaak Koot said...

> My name is Sjaak Koot and, in the context of my Masters at Leiden
> University School of Management, I am conducting a research project on the
> "Diffusion of applications from a private context to a professional
> context". In other words, my objective is to determine whether there are
> individuals who introduced IT applications (acquired outside the
> organizational context) into the organization; and if so, how this knowledge
> about the new IT application is processed by the organization.

Hi Sjaak,

First, since you are doing you masters then I can be a little pedantic 
;-) Diffusion means spread out over an area rather than in a particular 
direction, so in the context of you title, I would argue that it's the 
wrong word, particularly given your description. I think that a better 
word would be propagation. Thus,

  Propagation of applications from a private context to a professional 
  context. 

and your description isn't required.

> Does anyone have experience of introducing/trying to introduce pmwiki into
> an professional organisation after having it used for private purposes.

Yes, I do.

> I would be interested in postings about cases you perceive as:
> * "successful"
> * "failed"
> * or more "neutral"

It was very successful.
 
> If you were involved in such a situation, I would very much appreciate if
> you could send me an email mentioning:

I'll do it here.

> [1] what you were using pmwiki for in the private context (before
> introducing it to the organisation).

My personal data dump. I used to use a program called 'The Journal' on 
Windows, but I realised that a wiki would ultimately prove to be more 
functional should I be able to find one that met my requirements. After 
a few false starts - dokuwiki was close - I ended up with PmWiki.

> [1]

[2] etc.

> a short story (a couple of lines) summarizing about how the organization
> "responded" to the introduction

The first organisation I introduced PmWiki was a small tech shop (20-odd 
employees) using Sharepoint. Everyone bar the dictatorial CEO/founder 
loathed Sharepoint, but for no other reason that it didn't solve any of 
their issues. Because of PmWiki's price, and a little persistence, it 
was possible to propose running PmWiki in parallel to Sharepoint. After 
one week there was no going back. The tech staff adopted it in no time; 
the admin folk needed a little more hand holding. It's still there.

> [2] your function in the organization,

Half man, half geek. If I said consultant then I'd be considered a 
bottom feeder.

> [3] whether you would be accept a follow-up interview

Yup.

> All the information will be treated confidentially.

No problem, I won't name names :-)

-- 
Cheers,
Marc