Common collaboration problems and what to do about them

Key quotes:

• "Collaboration improves the way your team works together and problem solves."
• "This leads to more innovation, efficient processes, increased success, and improved communication."
• "A team that knows the processes and methods at hand is better equipped to streamline remedies and identify teammates who can help."
• "…to solve business problems and operate productively, organizations need the ability to leverage knowledge across the enterprise with online, seamless, integrated and intuitive collaboration tools that enhance your employees’ ability to work together."
• "A team that knows how to collaborate is comfortable sharing their ideas and adding new processes and tools to the table."
• "So your team is communicating, forecasting change, and problem-solving — but a team can’t do this without the exchange of knowledge."

Key quotes:

• "by Kevin Dunne As teams move toward agile, there is pressure to deliver software more quickly and through collaboration among smaller cross-functional teams."
• "Problem #1: Tests don’t align with requirements or often need to be rewritten As requirements or user stories change within the course of a sprint, testers aren’t in sync with the business analysts or product owners."
• "Testers need to go back to business analysts or product owners for clarification, and often they end up writing the wrong tests."
• "Solution: Involve testers closely in the requirements definition process to make sure testability is considered from the beginning."
• "Problem #3: Testing timelines get squeezed or delivery dates get pushed When testers do not get involved early on, they are beholden to the business analysts or product owners to finalize and deliver requirements in order to start planning their test approach."
• "In this way, code cannot be written on a feature before a test is developed, so if anything does need to be squeezed, the development of feature code can be pushed into a later sprint or release."

Key quotes:

• "I currently work with a team of designers, located in California, Poland and Ukraine."
• "This heavily impacts the flow of how you work together with your team as it affects meetings, response times, and communication efficiency."
• "The time difference between our two teams is 8 hours, so we have at least that amount of time before we receive any response from our Polish teammates."
• "The time difference could be so large that few hours work equally for everyone."
• "Find meeting times that are acceptable for all sides and be sensitive to working hours."
• "If the time difference is too large for instant messaging to work effectively, consider using a less time-sensitive tool like email."

Key quotes:

• "You might think the team’s vision is clear, but when was the last time your remote team members mentioned it? Do they know how their work contributes to the team vision? The Solution: You need a transparent system that gets the team focussed on results — but on a micro level."
• "The new Actioned App provides a system of daily updates that encourages individual productivity by asking each team member to note down the specific actions they’re planning to work on that day."
• "They help your remote team members know each other (and you) much better than they otherwise would if discussions are strictly limited to work."
• "Of course, there are also plenty of times when online chat works well and increases productivity, but in general it can easily be overused."
• "The Solution: Online teamwork works so much better when there are milestones and celebrations in place."
• "For instance, sharing customer feedback or client results can be incredibly motivating as it shows the team the real results of their work."

Key quotes:

• "The approach Jane and her co-authors adopt in their books aims to simplify a complex subject with actionable models, including the UNITE model for collaborative problem-solving: U = Utilize difference N = Nurture safety and trust I = Involve others in creating a clear purpose, values, and goals T = Talk openly E = Empower yourself and others Executives can use these strategies to transform the culture and impact of their organizations from the company culture from the top down."
• "If somebody wants to throw a party everybody says,‘What should I bring?’‘What shall I do?’ ‘I’ll do the decorating!’ And yet, when they come to work, ‘Oh, wait a minute, the decorating belongs to that department, refreshments belongs to that department, so now we need a meeting.’” “We’re wired,” Jane explains, “for collaboration, and it’s our workplace habits, systems, and beliefs that get in the way."