·         Participants have a shared need.

·         It’s easy for participants to see what’s in it for them.

·         The information involved is not controversial.

·         A sound business case can be made.

·         Stand-alone implementation is feasible; for example, not requiring connection with other systems.

·         The project yields a good example to use when getting support for other projects.

·        You can open in New Haven.

New Haven? Well, metaphorically: Sixty years ago, producers staged new plays at the Shubert Theater in New Haven, Connecticut, before taking them to Broadway. No critics were in the audience, so if a major overhaul was required before the official release, no one was the wiser. Similarly, if your first prototype bombs, it’s nice to be able to sweep it under the carpet and begin anew.

Document the business case

To maintain focus, the owner of a project should prepare a document in response to these questions: 

• What is the goal of the collaboration?
• What’s the current situation?
• What do expect it to be after the project?
• How will this be accomplished?
• What is the business benefit? (In business terms.)
• Who’s going to take part?
• What might go wrong?
• Is this a one-time project or an on-going process?
• Do we have sponsorship high up?
• Who will participate on the team?
• If it’s a one-timer, when will it be completed? What is the kill date?
• Who is the project champion?

Display your answers prominently on the wiki, blog, or whatever tool is involved. Collaboration demands transparency.

New recruits are refusing to work with organizations that don’t permit them to post a personal profile, use instant messenger, and connect to friends when they encounter a question. Assign them to collaborative teams. Elliott Masie tells of his disappointment with a new hire who had the continual distraction of six friends always a click away on her desktop. How could she concentrate? Then he realized that instead of having one new person working for The Masie Center, he had seven!

Gain team member commitment

It’s great to begin a long-term collaboration with a face-to-face meeting. Either in person or virtual, social bonding comes before business, for that’s the platform on which the work will be built. Begin with games and getting-to-know-you exercises. Give people time to talk and become familiar with one another.

Social connections remain vital throughout the collaboration. People work best with people they know. Encourage people to share information about themselves. Post photographs of participants. Pinpoint their locations on a map.

It’s important that collaborators work under the same set of assumptions. Discuss each of these areas and ask for individual commitment to them.

• Respect the team, and do what is best to accomplish the objective. Be selfless, not selfish.
• Members will be active. If a member spots something to improve the collaboration, she volunteers to do it.
• Members freely share ideas and suggestions. They do not hoard information or keep secrets.
• Members treat each other with respect. The team is committed to continuous improvement.
• Members care for one another emotionally, helping one another over rough spots and fears.
• Use whatever tools are appropriate to advance the project: phone calls, on-line meetings.
• Members trust one another. They “make this marriage work.”  

Be prepared for push-back. Workers who see collaboration as hindering their work rather than supporting it will be reluctant to join the effort. Organizations that are accustomed to a single viewpoint (usually top management’s) can become rattled as other voices begin to speak. It’s useful to recruit a band of early supporters to help sell the value of the project.

The nature of networks

Metcalf’s Law posits that value of a network grows exponentially with the addition of connections. Left unfettered, network nodes reproduce like rabbits on espresso. Think, for example, of the hyper growth of the internet, the web, MySpace, YouTube, and FaceBook. Once business  networks take hold, expect them to grow like topsy, too. Moreover, the denser a network, the faster its cycle time. More connections make it quicker to get from one node to another.

Here’s how this can happen in an organization. The first nodes appear as the company experiments with a few small projects such as coordinating online project groups or making it easier to find information with a “Wikipedia inside.” New hires are accustomed to going wherever they wish in a network; imagine that they begin communicating between silos. HR realizes that the company-pedia can accelerate onboarding new employees. Customer service improves as everyone gains access to corporate resources such as who does what and how to find them. Replacing multiple versions with a single source of information cuts bureaucracy and chops email volume back. The growth of corporate connections feeds on itself.

Maintain Momentum

As the organization’s use of collaborative software crosses the chasm from specialty item to important business process, focus shifts to keeping collaboration vibrant, disseminating lessons learned, and informally benchmarking performance. Companies that have successfully made the transition suggest these practices for maintaining momentum after initial enthusiasm wears thin: