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1.
The Dangers of Pushing
Collaboration Too Far
Michael Sampson
2.
About Michael
• Collaboration Strategist
– Author
– Workshop Leader
– Analyst
• Work with end-user organisations
• Making Collaboration Work
– Culture
– Governance
– Adoption
12.
Our intranet allows
us to find experts.
But that could mean:
Our staff are undertrained.
We have hired the wrong people.
Our knowledge management system is broken.
There are unclear expectations about job roles.
People aren’t willing to make decisions.
13.
1
Adding more people increases
communication demands
(and decreases time available for working)
14.
Frederick Brooks (1975)
The Mythical Man-Month
number of people
n(n-1)
=y
2
channels of communication
15.
Frederick Brooks (1975)
The Mythical Man-Month
number of people
5(5-1)
= 10
2
channels of communication
16.
Frederick Brooks (1975)
The Mythical Man-Month
number of people
40(40-1)
= 780
2
channels of communication
17.
1
While crowds may have wisdom,
they can also stimulate madness
18.
Tapping the wisdom
of the crowd
But “following the crowd” isn’t always positive:
Financial crises
Investment bubbles, e.g., housing, Internet
Riots
Groupthink
23.
2
If the culture isn’t collaborative,
new technology won’t help
24.
Groupware will .... not mysteriously transform
organizations from collections of highly
competitive loners to well integrated,
cooperative groups of collaborators. Without
careful planning for its introduction and the
changes that this will entail, the impact of
groupware will likely be quite limited. Successful
groupware implementation will require both a
careful assessment of the fit of the technology
to the organization and a well designed training
program to introduce this new technology and
its potential to the organization members.
25.
Powerful VP in a discussion forum
“I think that’s a dumb idea.”
More broadly: “You aren’t paid to think.”
26.
2
“Collaboration” will be different
for different organisations
27.
Sharing not-fully-formed ideas
Openness to the ideas of others
Shared exploration of decisions
Shared risk and reward
28.
Apple
“We want excellent products. There is
no problem with shredding someone in
pursuit of excellent ideas.”
29.
Pixar
Specially designed building—to create chance
encounters and serendipitous meetings.
And cross-training (common language)
30.
2
A culture that values efficiency above
all else will be poor at collaboration
31.
in-person online
comprehension
trust
low cost
social capital