Book review: Collaboration Roadmap

Written by James Robertson, published February 7th, 2012

Categorised under: Book & product reviews, Collaboration

Collaboration and social tools are becoming the “new normal” within organisations, sitting alongside established corporate platforms such as the intranet. Yet while the technology is becoming widespread, there is strangely little discussion about how to ensure adoption and success.

It seems like there is an assumption that if collaboration tools are deployed within an organisation, they will be instantly used by all staff in the most productive way possible. This is clearly not the case, a lesson that wasn’t learned from the era of Lotus Notes, and is presently being replicated in the current generation of tools.

This makes the new book by Michael Sampson, Collaboration Roadmap, particularly important. This is the latest masterwork from the undisputed thought leader in the collaboration space, and it provides an insightful view of how to make collaboration tools work.

The book starts by exploring the technology options, through the lens of Michael’s models, including the Seven Pillars and Four Connectors. These help to understand the strengths and weaknesses of different types of collaboration tools, and how they can potentially fit together.

Much of the rest of the book focuses on how to strategically approach deployment and adoption, starting with creating a compelling vision, through to governance and engagement.

Be warned though: this book will make you think. Michael’s greatest strength as an expert and author is creating models and frameworks for collaboration, and this book is packed with them. I would encourage most readers to dip into sections as required, and to use each model at the point of need to guide design and planning.

In short: there’s no other book like this. If want to do collaboration successfully, get this book.

Tags: Collaboration