How Fortumo Engages Everyone to Optimize the Team Knowledge Together

Fortumo (acquired by Boku in 2020 and since folded into the Boku brand) helped digital companies acquire, monetize and retain users via telcos. At the time of this interview it had 7 offices across the globe and more than 70 team members, and kept its team knowledge base current with three habits: new hires fix the onboarding documents, every team runs light periodic reviews, and anyone can edit. We talked to Anni, then Customer Relations Team Lead, about how it works. If you copy one habit, we recommend starting with the first.

Culture from day one: new hires improve the onboarding documents

Anni named “culture” as the main reason everyone takes part in improving the team knowledge base.

The process starts as soon as a person joins the team. Instead of only reading through the onboarding documents, new hires at Fortumo are encouraged to report and improve whatever is outdated or missing in them. That turns every new hire into a chance to improve the knowledge base with a fresh perspective.

As a new team member at Fortumo, you immediately feel that the team needs your input instead of only working on assigned tasks. Down the road, reporting issues to keep the knowledge base up to date becomes a habit and part of the team culture.

Periodic review with the whole team

As time passes and the team evolves, some of its knowledge becomes outdated. Without updates, a knowledge base becomes a ghost town that no one visits because the information is not reliable.

At Fortumo, reviewing documentation is part of everyday processes: it is just the way they do things. The team fixes issues on the go, and in addition every team organizes periodical documentation reviews and cleanups. There is not a huge process behind it, as the goal is to cut away the bureaucracy and make things as easy as possible. Otherwise, it would become a burden instead of common sense.

Everyone can contribute to the team knowledge base

Fortumo promotes an open working culture, and there are no limitations on who can update the team knowledge base, because everyone is more knowledgeable than someone else in specific areas. Every team member is encouraged to update it whenever they see something wrong or outdated.

We asked why they are not worried about someone messing up the team knowledge base. Anni replied, “It’s all about the trust and working towards a mutual goal. We hire the right people who match our culture: proactive and helpful. Everybody sees the benefit of up-to-date documentation, so for us, it’s rather a common sense that everyone participates in making things better.”

Because contributing starts on day one, people at Fortumo look information up when an issue comes up and give feedback to improve it, so the knowledge base grows collaboratively.

What we would copy first

Anni ties all of this to culture, but the habits are not equally easy to borrow. We recommend starting with new hires fixing the onboarding documents: it needs no change to permissions, and a new hire is the one reader who still notices what is missing. Open editing depends on the trust Anni describes, and periodic reviews depend on someone putting them in each team’s calendar, so add those once the first habit sticks.