Workshop exploring collaboration

1. Collaboration Workbook
Craig Brown
Heart of Agile | Collaboration
1st Conference| 2019 edition

2. Welcome & Briefing in
Part 1
Part 2

3. Better
Collaboration
https://is.gd/bettercollab

4. Results!

5. Our approach

6. Key ideas

7. Hypotheses
Hypothesis Insight
We think Collaboration is headed the way of
cliché and even worse, words used to intimidate
and control people into submission.
Maybe
Through these sessions we have discussed this and find people recognise the threat, but
generally people don’t admit this to being the case in their local context.
We think people have a fuzzy idea, and this
fuzziness leads to sub optimal results. We think
reflecting on collaboration with the type of
questions we ran through today will help you
pull apart and understand collaboration better.
Yes.
People who participate in this session (9/10) say it was very worthwhile. This suggests to us that
taking time, not just to increase collaboration, but also to think about what needs doing and
develop a plan is a valuable use of time.
We also think that by doing this you’ll be able to
form a more concrete view of what activities
will make for a better collaboration roadmap
Yes
We consistently hear people tell us that taking tome to reflect on this topic is useful and has
improved their perspectives and plans.
We also see common trends across the survey participants that align with leadership and
management literature.
We think many people will say one thing is
important, but will actually be spending their
time on other things
Maaaaaaybe. YMMV.
We did think that people would say one thing was important, but be doing something else. We
saw some variation in thoughts and actions, but essentially this hypothesis wasn’t proved out.
We think this is something to watch, and by having a reflective session on where you are and
where you want to go will help shrink any potential gaps on this front.

8. Method

9. Survey
Survey outline
Context setters/warm up
• Tell us a story
• Why is collaboration valuable
Main survey body
• Benefits of collaboration at different contexts
• Where are we today, what does better look like, and better again
• Costs of collaboration at different contexts
• Describe system conditions for you that foster and discourage
collaboration
• What will you do?

10. Bucketing
We sorted the responses into buckets!

11. Charts
We made some charts

12. Not good
end up in boring meetings
it doesn't
people talking
getting different team to interact
with another team
collaboration is mainly
informal/subversive
Working together for a common goal
common goal, at the same time
(synchronization), mutual
dependency
work on google drive
work on my workbook, look at
other's answers when finished
non active discussion
different people work together
delegated, adhoc and enthusiastic
Ritualised around planning &
retrospectives & stand-ups
strong in teams at the coalface but
weak at higher levels
common issues sharing
common goal happy to help culture
accountability
saying hi to people on my team
share information common goals of
the day (I think, very unclear writing)
teamwork
People taking more responsibility,
talks, asking questions, getting
involved
co-location, open discussion
Calling a meeting, reading
confluence articles, reaching out to
people directly or via group emails
People coming together to work on
problem/fire fighting
Acceptance of different ideas,
learning from peers, lunch together
meetings, brainstorming in groups
Fun, accelerated improvement,
happy culture, buzz/noise
Some brainstorming, sharing, new
ideas, active listening, boundaries,
problem to address
working in a team valuing everyone’s
voice and opinions
sometimes with purpose, or without
A group of diverse minds in the same
place working on the same problem
provide solutions/suggestions for
other areas, dedicate part of my
time to help others outcomes
Trust, Understanding, Openness
respect for people
helping not only when it's been
asked for but when I understand it is
needed. ex. if from my experience I
notice that my colleague Analysis
approach will fail then my
collaboration is to share my similar
experience with him/her.
An opportunity to learn and share
knowledge
cross functional teams come
together in a time of crisis to solve
problems
Everyone has a role, Not hierarchy,
Anyone can ask anyone for help
Pairing
Openness - work & status is visible,
Give and take, sharing skills
unselfishly, Common goals &
ownership, Easy access to people
(physical, phone, video)"
Team members having a
conversation on the hour to resolve
issues
high trust, transparency, openness,
empathy, curiosity, directness,
honesty
Competition Compliance Cooperation Collaboration Co-creation
What does Collaboration cost us?

13. What do we want to do?
And then we made charts
Sample 193

14. 25
7
7
5
5
5443
2
2
2
1
4
Time
Energy
Emotional-…
Vulnerability
Ego
Mental-Energy
Conflict
Empathy
personal goals
control
listening
Knowledge
Goals
None
Cost to Me
18
5
5
4
3
3222
1
1
1
11
Time
Conflict
Risk&Waste
Emotional-…
Empathy
Mental-Energy
Motivation
Vulnerability
Goals
Dependency
Mgt control
Ego
Knowledge
None
Cost to my team
8
6
6
2
3
1
4
Low Quality
Time
Engagement
Higher priceTrust
Privacy
None
Cost to customers
15
12
6
4
33
3
2
1
Money
Time
Market-
opportunity-…
Staff-
engagement
Mgt-maturity
Power-
structures
Team-
structures
Mgt-Control
Training
Cost to Organisation
What does Collaboration cost us?
+ Energy

15. 0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
1
System conditions that encourage collaboration
Shared Purpose
Respect
Co-location
Appreciation
Autonomy
Aligned approach
Making Progress
Nurturing
Feedback
Structure
What Systems things should we address?

16. Lessons
Hypothesis Insight
We think Collaboration is headed the way of
cliché and even worse, words used to intimidate
and control people into submission.
Maybe
Through these sessions we have discussed this and find people recognise the threat, but
generally people don’t admit this to being the case in their local context.
We think people have a fuzzy idea, and this
fuzziness leads to sub optimal results. We think
reflecting on collaboration with the type of
questions we ran through today will help you
pull apart and understand collaboration better.
Yes.
People who participate in this session (9/10) say it was very worthwhile. This suggests to us that
taking time, not just to increase collaboration, but also to think about what needs doing and
develop a plan is a valuable use of time.
We also think that by doing this you’ll be able to
form a more concrete view of what activities
will make for a better collaboration roadmap
Yes
We consistently hear people tell us that taking tome to reflect on this topic is useful and has
improved their perspectives and plans.
We also see common trends across the survey participants that align with leadership and
management literature.
We think many people will say one thing is
important, but will actually be spending their
time on other things
Maaaaaaybe. YMMV.
We did think that people would say one thing was important, but be doing something else. We
saw some variation in thoughts and actions, but essentially this hypothesis wasn’t proved out.
We think this is something to watch, and by having a reflective session on where you are and
where you want to go will help shrink any potential gaps on this front.

17. Insights
• We could do with help mapping out a pathway to better
collaboration
1.We have a shared view on the
value of collaboration in the
abstract;
• Shared mission, alignment in priorities, flow and a culture of
respect and learning
The priority areas we think have
the most impact for good
collaboration are;
• Making time and mustering the mental and emotional
energy to deal with the things that impede better
collaboration
If we want to break beyond our
current levels of performance the
barriers we need to overcome are;