Experiences with a Wiki to Support Architectural Knowledge Sharing

Abstract

Wikis are becoming increasingly popular knowledge management systems in both software engineering research and practice. In this experience paper we explore the applicability of wikis in the software architecting process, a process which is knowledge-intensive in nature. To this end we report on our experiences with creating and using a wiki environment in the architecture department of a large organization. Next we compare this wiki to existing tools for architectural knowledge management. It turns out that whereas existing tools are stronger in codifying specific architectural knowledge concepts, a wiki prevails as versatile and all-round knowledge management environment. To assist researchers and practitioners in setting up such an environment, we conclude this paper by proposing a number of dos and donts for wiki usage in the software architecting process.