Since the start of the year we (Connected) have been slowly starting to adopt collaboration as a means of operating the company. This came out of the realisation that traditional project management techniques of timed-tasks, set-in-stone milestones and rigid development specifications were hampering what we delivered to our clients when any methodology we use should enhance it. Yes, it makes life *simpler* but at the cost of *mechanising* the process which we felt stifled creativity and brought undue and wholly inappropriate pressure on our operational delivery arm.
It has been a rough ride so far, milestones have slipped and tasks occasionally are left undone but, and it’s a big but, the quality of output has gone through the roof and we also seem to have a far better *team* understanding of what we have to do. This sea-change in approach started off with the selection of Basecamp as our project tool and very quickly we found our client buying into the approach and collaborating much closer and far more effectively.
Which brings me to a lovely definition I read recently that covers collaboration, posted by Mark Elliot (who wrote a thesis on the subject) I thought it was worth repeating
*coordination* is required for all collective activities (bringing the parts together in a way that yields synergy)
* cooperation* employs linear procedures to leverage collective potential (if each participant does exactly ‘x’, then a predictable ‘y’ is the result)
*collaboration* is different in that through nonlinear creative processes (no one knows exactly what they have to do until they do it, and even then the outcome is unknown) a shared understanding is created amongst the participants – one unique to those participants and that collaboration.
By way of example;
coordination = a web search: bringing together parts of the web in a way that creates meaning, i.e. synergy.
cooperation = social bookmarking: if many people tag their webpages using a particular platform, and a particular procedure, a resource much larger than any individual could develop may be generated
collaboration = Wikipedia editing: read an entry, contribute in any number of modes (form, content, discussion, etc) and from an infinite number of perspectives (the multiplicity of opinion and creative volition) one becomes part of a highly complex negotiation of a shared understanding (no one owns or comprehends the whole but contributes a part of it).
Thank you Mark, it was very illuminating
Tags: collaboration, coordination, cooperation