Wiki for Architecture Documentation & Managing Your Project

The idea of using a Wiki to manage coordination and artifact development as part of your software development is not new. The concept and tools have matured to a point where even the most monolithic organizations involved in development of large software intensive solutions are using this.

The goal of using a Wiki is simple: keep artifacts current through collaborative ownership.

The multitude of successful open source projects using a Wiki based approach is the best justification why a community based approach works. Additionally, a perspective from academia centric sources, with associated analysis, will help you build a business case.

If you're considering pursuing a Wiki based approach consider the following resources:

• Experience Using the Web-Based Tool Wiki for Architecture Documentation (thorough and free report based on actual project experiences - SEI). Blurb.
• On-line collaborative software development via wiki (from Proceedings of the 2007 international symposium on Wikis - ACM)
• Using Wikis in Software Development (IEEE Software)

Constantin Kostenko
Firebrand Architect®
SoftwareArchitectures.com
FirebrandArchitect.com