Real Collaboration Challenges

(esp as relate to use of WikiForCollaboration Ware)

some Context: sometimes I start planning all sorts of new Collaboration Ware products, but then I start to ask myself are these really addressing key barriers to effective Team Work? Usually the answer seems to be no.

Some non-techies just won't even read a wiki: "I already have EMail and MsWord."

Some people (including techies) don't even read their email on a timely basis.

• or they read and don't reply

• or they reply but not substantively, completely.

Sometimes tricky to know when to spin off a new page - pages can get too long and broad-in-scope

Hard to communicate changes in a page to someone: e.g. changing a spec for a developer

Multiple changes to the same page get glommed together.

Some people are used to communicating only orally, so some info doesn't get spread widely enough. Then you start assuming when you hear something that other people know and agree already...

=== But really the biggest issues can't be solved with software ===

No explicit Mission, Shared Vision

No authority. Too many people who can Say No to anything.

non-Team Work Context-s

often the bigger issue is Power and Personal Agenda-s

A friend says: I think the biggest, attack-able problem in the world today is how to get large groups of people collaborating (Collective Action) in ways that sidestep problems of Perverse Incentive-s (Pathological). Replacing traditional organizations (BigWorld), basically. I think everybody should be working on this.