Jane McConnell shares concrete numbers on adoption of enterprising blogging. To quote: The figures in this year's report clearly show that senior managers in many large organizations are using blogs to improve communication flow, to break through some of the barriers and silos. However, there is still a lot ...
Articles tagged: Collaboration
More advanced steps to a good intranet wiki/blog
Mark Morrell writes about further steps to a good intranet wiki/blog. To quote: In BT anyone can start a blog or create a wiki article internally about their views and opinions and can contribute to other blogs or wiki articles if they wish to. To get started all you ...
Video interview with Sabre on their online social tools
Sabre Holdings is one of the largest travel services businesses in the world, quietly connecting travel agents with airlines, as well as running major sites such as Travelocity. Sabre Town, their enterprise social space, provides a ...
The culture of collaboration and what it means for your intranet
Maish Nichani writes about the culture of collaboration, and its relevance when planning projects. To quote: Many organisations are waking up to the fact that collaboration is a key piece of the intranet puzzle. I have spoken to many such people in charge of collaboration in their organisations and what ...
Gold winner: COWI (Denmark)
[caption id="attachment_3888" align="alignnone" width="600" caption="COWI's project sites have enabled faster and more effective working across teams and departments, while maintaining compliance with the organisation's strict methodology."] Post 9 of 10 in a series of blog posts giving more insight into this year's ...
Organizational collaboration: four foundations – overview
Michael Sampson talks about the four foundations of organisational collaboration. To quote: 1. Summarized Expertise ... Who are the people in your organization, and what are they good at? 2. Correlated Knowledge ... What is known about a particular topic in your organization, and who has demonstrated knowledge in a particular ...
Intranet strategy with collaboration products ensures fresh content
Jessica Scarpati writes about collaboration on the intranet, drawing on the opinions of a few in the industry. To quote: Building an intranet to house static content such as an employee directory and benefits forms can make a portal as dated as a corporate brochure. Making unified communications (UC) tools ...
Using the intranet to access collaboration tools
Collaboration tools are spreading through organisations. Wikis, team spaces and discussion groups are being used in ever-greater numbers. For many staff, this means they are involved in several different collaboration spaces. This might include a project space for their current work, another for a committee they are a member of, as ...
Collaboration: questions to ask
Staff and business areas often identify a need for collaboration tools, without knowing what the best solution would be. They may have some familiarity with a handful of tools, but not know how others work. As discussed in the earlier article Successful collaboration requires support, there needs to be a ...
Mitigating enterprise collaboration risks
There are many perceived and actual risks when collaboration tools are introduced within organisations. This table lists some of the key risks, and outlines options for mitigating or eliminating them. (Thanks to the participants of our 'Succeeding at collaboration' workshops for their input on this list.) RiskOptions for mitigating the risk Inappropriate ...
Book review: SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration
Michael Sampson's first book, Seamless Teamwork, was a masterpiece of step-by-step instructions for teams using SharePoint. Working from a very practical starting point, it gave teams clear instructions on which elements of SharePoint to use, and how. By design, this book was very much "in the trenches", focusing on getting ...
Feedback on the first “Succeeding at collaboration” workshop
We had a ball at the "Succeeding at collaboration" workshop in Canberra this week. This is some of the feedback from participants: "Great - directly applicable to me & particularly valuable for sparking ideas." "Very relevant, well pitched, excellent!" "Good, interactive, plain English, sensible stuff!" "Good common sense practical advice, but packaged in a ...
Yesterday’s collaboration workshop in Canberra
Talk about collaborating on collaboration! I ran the first of our "Succeeding at collaboration" workshops yesterday in Canberra, and discussions were vigorous and insightful from the outset. At some points I could barely get a word in edgeways, which is exactly what you want when so much great experience is ...
Collaboration workshop comes to Melbourne (10 September 2009)
We're steadily working our way through Australia, and have just announced a Melbourne date for our Succeeding at collaboration workshop (10 September 2009). As usual, there are only 10 places, so these will ...
Cutting through the hype of social media
When discussing intranets and related enterprise-level software, it’s easy to get caught up in the technology. There are many features and components, so much whizz-bang functionality. It can be difficult to stay on target and focus on a piece of technology that will simply do a job that needs doing, ...
Canberra collaboration workshop sold out, now a Sydney date (August 25)
Our first Succeeding at collaboration workshop, scheduled for Canberra has been a big hit. We've now organised a date for Sydney (25 August 2009). We expect this to fill, so you'll want ...
FOI and implications for collaborative, crowd sourced environments
Matt Hodgson explores FOI implications for collaborative tools within government agencies. To quote: I heard a story recently about a boss who was afraid to use a wiki, even inside the walls, because it didn’t fall under the strict editorial control processes normally required for their conventional paper documents or ...
Collaboration in Australia
Matthew Moore and Keith De La Rue have launched a survey to understand usage of collaboration tools within Australia. To quote: We are researching the use of collaboration tools in Australia. “Collaboration” is a buzz term at the moment, and we want to get behind the hype to discover how ...
Will social media kill off the intranet in years to come?
James Bennett has written an extensive article on the impact of social tools on intranet-based communication. To quote: The intranet currently forms an integral part of the internal communication strategy in most organizations as an information provider and collaboration tool. But social media also allows collaboration, dialogue, documentation and much ...
Insights from the e20 challenges at J&J
Abigail Lewis-Bowen has written about her experiences of enterprise 2.0 at Johnson & Johnson. To quote: Coach Leaders ahead of time about the essence of communicating with these tools: praise the good, ignore the bad, be prepared to accept criticism, and never come across as critical or negative. Doing so ...
Introducing the Enterprise Wiki Software Guide
Stewart Mader has published a new Enterprise Wiki Software Guide, providing a brief summary on key enterprise wiki tools (both free and commercial). To quote: Choosing the right wiki for your team, project, or organization is essential. The right tool will help catalyze adoption, encourage continued use, and help people ...
SharePoint roadmap for collaboration: Michael’s second book
Michael Sampson has pre-announced his new book called SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration. To quote: SharePoint Roadmap for Collaboration is the indispensable guide for the CIO and IT department about what to do after installing the software. This book takes everything that I teach in my SharePoint Roadmap workshop -- about ...
Why businesses don’t collaborate – new research report
Stewart Mader has published some research into why businesses don’t collaborate. To quote: Many businesses think they collaborate. But content professionals today are tugged in multiple directions, and expected to multi-task their way through an increasing amount of work with the help of software tools designed to make them more ...
Five wiki gardening tips
Matt Wiseley has written about wiki gardening. To quote: I wrote a few months ago about keeping the chaff out of your site with a regular Wiki Spring Cleaning. This is just one in a set of activities often referred to as Wiki Gardening. Now that it is actually ...
When it comes to enterprise 2.0, every vendor wants to own the user
Interest in enterprise 2.0 and collaboration remains high within organisations, despite the economic downturn. The range of tools in the marketplace is growing, and capabilities are improving. So far, all good. The challenge is, however, to work out where to fit these tools in the enterprise landscape. Most organisations have a ...
JetBlue’s test group helps enterprise wiki adoption
Stewart Mader writes about a case study of wiki use in JetBlue. To quote: The software selected provided a vehicle for JetBlue faculty to talk to one another, not just about process improvements in learning & development, but also to share photos from family vacations, weddings and birthdays. The thinking ...
A case study of enterprise wiki usage
Matthew C. Clarke has published an extensive enterprise wiki case study, covering the work done at CorVu. To quote: CorVu produces software that assists other enterprises to implement their strategy and to track their performance against that strategy over time. CorVu has a variety of channels for making its internal ...
Steps to a good intranet wiki/blog
Mark Morrell has written a post on 5 simple steps to a good intranet wiki/blog. To quote: While talking to people after presenting ‘Adding value to your intranet - Intranet governance at BT‘ at Intranätdagarna 2009 in Stockholm last week it made me realise some simple steps could help an ...
Collaboration anti-culture: can It get any worse?
Michael Sampson has written about cultural barriers to collaboration, giving a real-life example. To quote: "Collaboration" will fail at your firm, because of lack of freedom. Eg, you two are hand-slapped for going to talk to other people at head office (talk!). Collaborative activity doesn't flourish in tightly controlled environments ...
Expert session: succeeding at collaboration (Canberra, 28 July 2009)
We've just announced a new expert session on succeeding at collaboration, to be held in Canberra on 28 July 2009. SharePoint, wikis and blogs are bringing collaboration capabilities into many organisations, and are spreading ...
Moderating internal discussion forums, blogs and other social media
When starting intranet-based online discussions in an organisation, whether they are forums, blogs, comments on articles, or internal Twitter-style tools, how should you go about moderating them and maintaining their effectiveness? Where do you begin with writing policies and guidelines on use? Should you even monitor the discussions at all? ...
Visualization: Wikis in the enterprise
Ross Dawson posts a nice visualisation of wikis in the enterprise. To quote: Today we are continuing our series of visual representations of social media tools inside organizations, taken from our Implementing Enterprise 2.0 report. The diagram below was used in the chapter on wikis in the enterprise, to ...
10 tips for a successful wiki
James Everett has written a post outlining 10 tips for a successful wiki. To quote: There are dozens of different wikis, from free open source models to commercial enterprise packages. Use your list of criteria to research the available options and evaluate each to see how it fits your team. ...
New report: Governance and support for SharePoint team sites
I'm pleased to announce the release of our latest report: Governance and support for SharePoint team sitesA best practice case study Microsoft SharePoint is now rapidly spreading through organisations. In terms of team collaboration, this is meeting a very real need. If unmanaged, however, this explosive growth will generate ...
Reviewing intranet-based collaboration setups
Maish Nichani has provided a set of guidelines to review intranet-based collaboration, building on our Intranet Review Toolkit. To quote: The ability to form groups and collaborate on the intranet is key to making the intranet a place for ‘doing work’. A well-planned collaboration setup allows staff to use the ...
Video: Use a wiki to plan meeting agendas, record minutes
Stewart Mader has posted a video that discusses using wikis for meetings. To quote: A wiki can help your team make meetings shorter and more focused. How? By letting everyone track progress of projects and action items online, so they can focus meetings on just the items that need in-person ...
No collaboration without communications
Organisations are rushing to jump on board the web 2.0 bandwagon, which seem to offer a collection of affordable tools to collaborate and share knowledge. While many organisations are currently experimenting with social media tools, strong successes are still relatively rare. Consider the following scenario: an organisation introduces collaboration by piloting ...
Integrating social tools with the EUMETSAT intranet
In 2008, the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) won a commendation in the Intranet Innovation Awards. Their AJAX-based ‘Intranet Newsflash’ delivered quick bulletins of news and critical messages to users, regardless of the page on display. EUMETSAT’S intranet innovation doesn’t end there, however. A wiki for new ...
UX design for collaboration 2.0
Matthew C. Clarke has written an article on designing "collaboration 2.0". To quote: I want to start this discussion by proposing a model for collaboration1 that links the various elements of collaboration, comment on the so-called “collaboration software” currently available, and make some tentative suggestions about IA and UX requirements ...
We need to find the business value in collaboration
Managing collaboration takes a lot of work. Rolling out the tools is easy, whether it's team spaces, wikis or blogs. To ensure that they are successful is another matter. If collaboration is to succeed across the enterprise, organisations will need to appoint at least one full time person (probably two) ...
Where should collaboration sit?
Jane McConnell asks the question: where should collaboration sit? To quote: I recommend placing collaboration within the intranet landscape. That's to say, making the intranet the front door into collaborative spaces (even if they are built on a different technology). This reinforces the role of the intranet as a business ...
Collaboration and social media terminology?
Terminology is always muddy in emerging fields, particularly where product innovation outstrips theoretical thinking. This is very much the case in the spaces of "collaboration" and "social media". While this is hard to avoid, it's extremely problematic. Very different approaches and tools are lumped together, people discover they aren't talking about ...
Intranet mantra: connect, communicate, collaborate
Sara Redin has written about Nycomed's intranet strategy of connect, communicate, collaborate. To quote: If questions such as “Why do you need an intranet” stops you cold, maybe you should find a good mantra that simply describes the purpose of the tool so that any stakeholder can understand it. A ...
Tools for remote teams to keep in touch
As working lives get busier and more flexible work options open up, a way to keep in touch with remote colleagues is needed. Colleagues might be working from home, in a different state or 'on the road'. Feeling part of a team It is difficult to replicate 'water-cooler' chat with remote staff ...
Untangling collaboration spaces
An all-too-common scenario: Collaboration spaces, such as wikis or SharePoint team areas, have multiplied across the organisation. Now numbering in the thousands, some are hugely successful but many are not. Confusion and pain has oustripped the value offered by the collaboration spaces, and things may be getting worse not better. How to ...
Wiki myths, wiki reality
Dorthe R. Jespersen has written an articles on wiki myths, wiki reality. To quote: Although wikis have gained substantially in popularity since they first appeared some ten years ago, many enterprises still begin their wiki projects with unrealistic expectations. While researching the impact of wikis during recent work on the ...
CoPs 101
Kim Sbarcea has pointed to some very useful introductory resources on communities of practice. To quote: Once again, I find myself in need of explaining CoPs (communities of practice) to people I’m working with. I’ve been working with CoPs since 2002 in the same organisation. There’s been the usual ups ...
Social computing behind the firewall – best buy’s video case study
George Dearing has posted a link to a video case study of Blue Shirt Nation, the social networking initiative at Best Buy in the US. To quote: With all the talk about the inability to show demonstrable ROI in social computing, it’s refreshing to see a company lay out the ...
Five common collaboration tool errors
Matt Moore has written about five common collaboration tool errors. To quote: The New New Thing Error. Deciding to deploy something because it is new rather than based on its merits to meet your purpose (N.B. You do have a purpose don't you?) Warning Sign:"One of our directors read about ...
Trends that will affect enterprise collaboration
Shawn Callahan lists six trends that will affect enterprise collaboration. To quote: Increased complexity. The world is getting more connected in all sorts of ways. We know more people, we visit more people, organisations are partnering, flights are increasing, information networks are getting more joined up and so it goes. ...
Book review: Seamless Teamwork
Seamless TeamworkMichael Sampson Team-based collaboration is now a key part of project delivery in many organisations. Despite this, success can be hit-and-miss, with some teams prospering and others not. Tools such as SharePoint are spreading rapidly through organisations. While these can bring significant new capabilities, they are not simple tools, ...
Is there a groundswell of demand for collaboration tools in your agency?
Craig Thomler asks: is there a groundswell of demand for collaboration tools in your agency? To quote: In my travels and conversations with peers I've become aware that many of them are seeing needs emerging within organisations for better collaboration tools - people are seeking better and more cost-effective ways ...
Three tiers of collaboration
There are many elements of collaboration, and we often encounter the "blind men and the elephant problem". We're all talking about collaboration, but we're actually discussing different parts of the animal. Some people are referring to technology when they talk about collaboration, others are looking at the "collaborative culture" within organisations, ...
The beginnings of a theory of participation
Stuart French has outlined the beginnings of a theory of participation. To quote: Below is my first try at mapping the interactions between these concepts and uses the actual labels used by the participants in the study. There is minimal theory in this framework. Each link is based on evidence ...
Make your intranet 2-way using ideas
Allen Huish writes about making your intranet 2-way using ideas. To quote: The concept is a great, practical development of web 2.0 - let anyone in your community create an idea and then let anyone else vote and comment on it. Then promise to do something about the ideas that ...
Juice and Jitter
Nathan Wallace, following on from winning an Intranet Innovation Award this year, has generously shared more information on his work: Juice: An innovative and user-centric approach to IT equipment and new starters. Jitter: Experimenting with microblogging in the enterprise. (You can also see a video interview with Nathan, talking ...
Collaboration framework
Shawn Callahan has outlined a collaboration framework, providing a practical process and describing the necessary business environment. To quote: Organisations need simple ways to create a common understanding about what needs to be done. Our collaboration framework aims to provide two perspectives: the dashed oval represents the collaboration environment—the container ...
Do collaborative online groups need to be successful?
Craig Thomler asks the question: do collaborative online groups need to be successful? To quote: My personal experience of collaborative communities over more than ten years of operating and participating in them is that they all ebb and flow over time. Often only a few individuals are required at their ...
Implementing enterprise 2.0 in the real world
Now that the hype of enterprise 2.0 is starting to settle, it's clear that there are many valuable approaches that can (and should) be put into practice. Intranet and information managers are busy, however, pulled in many directions by different stakeholders. Resources are limited, and senior management visibility is often low. ...
A scenario-based approach to evaluating social software
Tony Byrne has written an article on their scenario-based approach to evaluating social software. To quote: Explicitly or not, different Social Software products target different use cases. Understanding the business scenarios that fit better or worse for the different packages enables you to see deeper into their relative strengths and ...
Do public social networks have a place in government offices?
Craig Thomler asks: do public social networks have a place in government offices? To quote: With these mediums we put appropriate policies in place, sometimes train people on acceptable conduct and rely on trusting individuals to do the right thing, to act in their own self-interest (continued employment) and back ...
Study Confirms Our New “Connectedness” Is A Mixed Blessing
Sarah Perez reports on the latest Pew Internet & American Life Project report on connectedness. To quote: To all those who feared that technology pulls people apart, a new report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project on the American family reveals the opposite is true: today's families are ...
What makes a Wiki?
Gadgetopia has written a post asking: what makes a wiki? To quote: Way back in the day, when wikis were new and I was messing around with early versions of Twiki (we had to GlueWordsTogether to make links…), wikis had some prety clear differentiators. I agree that the lines between wikis ...
Don’t forget external collaborators
Collaboration tools are now being deployed widely within organisations, with a particular focus on team and project collaboration. What is all too often forgotten, however, is that there are potential collaborators outside the organisation as well. Two worlds of collaboration Most of us are now involved in some form of collaboration on the ...
Micro-blogging in the enterprise: an idea whose time has come?
Ross Dawson asks whether the time has come for micro-blogging in the enterprise. To quote: So something like Twitter combines elements of the best of both worlds. It’s like email in that it’s broadcast, though you choose who you receive messages from, and you don’t need to read everything. You ...
British Airways: Crew Community Forums
At the beginning of my recent round-the-world trip, I went straight from touching down at Heathrow to the British Airways head offices nearby. Ignoring 24+ hours of jetlag, it gave me an opportunity to hand over the trophy for ...
Best-practice approach to SharePoint team spaces
SharePoint is rapidly spreading through organisations at the moment, and in terms of team collaboration, this is a good thing. There is a very real need to be met, and it will require a mix of tools, including team spaces. That being said, we've argued before that the unmanaged spread of ...
Should knowledge workers have enterprise 2.0 ratings?
Andrew McAfee asks: should knowledge workers have enterprise 2.0 ratings? To quote: So one approach would be to graph where everyone stands within the organization along six dimensions: authoring, editing, interacting, tagging, uploading, and positive feedback. A simple radar graph would instantly show were an individual is on each, based ...
Wikis Not Word! Gaining adoption through psychological warfare
Seth Gottleib has written an unusual post on building wiki adoption through psychological warfare. To quote: Your company has a perfectly good wiki but your (otherwise intelligent) co-workers insist on emailing you Microsoft Word documents to review. Your gentle guidance has been ignored. Your snarky comments have been equally ineffective. ...
Seven personal skills for effective collaboration
Shawn Callahan has outlined seven personal skills for effective collaboration. To quote: It's easy to talk about what collaboration is or is not or the types of collaboration. What's difficult is to change your practices (read behaviours) to improve your chances of an effective collaboration. Here are seven personal ...
Enterprise social Software technology
Tony Byrne has written about enterprise social software, from an analyst perspective. To quote: While agreement around the core concepts of "social software" has remained elusive, the underlying phenomenon is quite real. To date, industry analysts have quite properly focused on the cultural and organizational aspects of social software technologies ...
Collaboration: leading by example
Collaboration: by stealth or by design, to a few or to all, in some form or other organisations are getting into it. Those that do, realise that there is more to collaborating than the mere introduction of tools. There is undoubtedly a large amount of online chatting, blogging and social networking ...
Two uses for wikis
Wikis are gaining rapid adoption with organisations at present, driven in part by the very visible success of Wikipedia, and other similar sites. While organisations are still learning how to use wikis in practice, it is clear that they can offer considerable benefits. Wikis can be used in many different ways, and ...
Close team spaces when projects end
Establishing team spaces for projects can be one of the most productive uses of collaboration tools. Projects have a lot of information to share between team members (and beyond), and collaboration can provide new ways of meeting this need. Projects are also nicely ‘bounded’, with a defined membership (the project team), ...
Intranets can’t just be about conversations
Alex Manchester argues that intranets can't just be about conversations. To quote: Intranets can be fantastic connectors for employees. I mean, let's break the word down: intra (inside) net (network). To use them solely as top down information dumping grounds, as inferred above, is a waste and a misuse. I ...
