The Confluence

Confluence

By definition, the word Confluence is a good description for the purpose of a wiki. As found in Dictionary.com Confluence is defined as follows:

Confluence [kon-floo-uh ns]

1. a flowing together of two or more streams, rivers, or the like.

4.  a coming together of people or things, Concourse.  

Synonyms: union, joining, meeting

Confluence is also a collaboration and documentation tool created by Atlassian.

I became familiar with Confluence upon my arrival to a new job back in 2012. 

With a goal of creating a single source of truth in any department or business coupled with publishing information from various sources into one wiki, one cannot help but see the genius of the word as it applies to the software. 

Not only is a wiki useful for building a single source of truth, with Confluence by Atlassian; true collaboration is fostered within the team structure. This is a great example of the ‘coming together of people’.

All mighty rivers start small.

Trace any river back far enough and one will discover the source, typically a stream or creek which in turn is fed by a spring.

A few years ago, deep within the IT department I work for, the use of the Atlassian wiki; Confluence, was given life. The spring murmured quietly within the confines of a select grouping of cubical walls. The purpose: to share tribal knowledge for other team members to access.

Where there is a water source, there is life.

Soon, others residing in neighboring cubicles overheard ‘it’s in the wiki’ comments and learned of this spring. Later the decision to turn the spring in to a well was made, thus the use of Confluence grew. In time, the need to expand the use of the wiki was realized, thus a river formed.

The river vision

We have all experienced the headache of tracking email threads, disorganized share folders or drives, and questioning if the true document version is being reviewed.  The desire to unify information hidden deep within the shared drives and create a single source of information was conceived.  Enter ‘EITDocs’.  

As more members of the IT department requested use of the well, it was inevitable that the well would no longer contain the Confluence spring. In 2012 the well walls were taken down allowing the river to flow. 

Growth

All rivers generate community, and currently in the company I work for, the Confluence of the IT River with the business stream has been realized. It is easy to see why this has happened. With the collaborative and single source qualities of Confluence becoming popular, business members have come to the riverbanks and launched their boats. Business and IT can collaborate on projects, approve designs, and provide support articles within the knowledge base.

Now both business and IT are able to experience the power of Confluence, the coming together of people or things.