Internal Knowledge Bases: Give your Teams some Space

[#1]

Each conversation ever:

- Teodora, is there information about...

- YES.

With more than 900 Confluence pages behind my back, believe me, I know stuff. And I write stuff. 

I'm standing right behind the idea of providing a detailed, well-explained information flow to my coworkers, and help them achieve more and search less. From product development to marketing assets and event organization, the adequately structured internal knowledge base can save time, unnecessary efforts, and a good amount of nerves. And the moto of my shared Confluence Spaces is always, "If it looks too obvious, you should probably write it down."

What makes the right Internal Knowledge Base?

Don't underestimate the details

Always strive to give your team knowledge about every piece of the project. It may seem too much, but the value for each person hides in a different spot.

Use the full potential of your Confluence

If you feel like you need a new Space for the project that you are working on, create one! Keeping several well-ordered spaces is more comfortable than trying to rename and reorder pages to fit in your new project.

Keep it organized

Don't spare characters and keep your spaces organized better than your wardrobe. Confluence is preventing you from naming more than one page with the same name not to stop you from being productive but to allow the creation of easy to find, well-structured pages and spaces.

Always know that it worths the efforts

You'll ask yourself at least once if this content would help someone. The answer is Yes, even if you don't receive a pack of candies at your front door. 

For example, I'll guide through my Atlassian Summit 2019 project and share my building blocks for setting up a good internal information space.

• Always use Confluence macros like Page Tree, Task List, Calendars, Status, etc. Visibility, easy navigation, and project state are the keys to a readable and understandable knowledge base.

• Break it down to the smallest piece. Have dedicated pages and sub-pages for each initiative, topic, or discussion. 

• Involve each team member with the process and encourage them to contribute to your Confluence Space. Show the Dev Team your marketing initiatives, or give the Marketing Team play with the demo environments. Remember: a scaling project always needs a pair of fresh eyes, and a scaling knowledge base should work for anyone.

• A final note on today's article: Always check your Space permissions! The first rule of the book "People are not reading my Space" is, "People may not be able to find your Space." 

Are you struggling with your external Knowledge Bases? Check out my previous article about Mapping the Knowlege: From a Blank Page to Successful User Guide.

[Donnie Grooms]

This is great. Thank you for sharing.

[Teodora _Old Street Solutions_]

I'm glad you enjoyed it @Donnie Grooms :)