Mare Nostrum

How not to collaborate

People in the software business often describe collaboration as if it were a completely technology-driven process. While you might think that's just self-serving marketing, I can say that, working from the inside of multiple companies, it's more of a subcultural thing. If people don't use collaboration tools in the way that you expect, maybe the tools are badly designed.

However, people matter--perhaps more (egad!) than the technology, which can certainly make collaboration easier. Software can encourage or suggest better behavior. It can't make people better, however.

A prime illustration is this this post from Babsonknowledge.org. (Thanks to Mike Gotta for the original pointer.) You might title this piece, "How not to collaborate." After someone produced a new source of critical information of genuine value, a manager nixed the project:

The article was never published. The company executive whose approval I needed admitted that the article was accurate but said he didn’t want the public to get the impression that things happen in such an informal, ad hoc way at the company. Although he didn’t say so, I think he was also uncomfortable about casting disobedience in a positive light.

I'm not aware of any software that will cure a manager of insecurity.