Managing the Work

Collaboration. How do we do it? How should we do it?

Illustration by John Ueland for TIME

• Email?
• In-person meeting?
• Web conference?
• Teleconference?
• Wiki?
• Spreadsheet?
• Survey?
• Google doc?

The answer depends on the need to collaborate, right? It should be a no-brainer that the right mode of collaboration should be determined by what needs to be accomplished, the timeframe, the parties involved and even the type of documentation and tracking required. And the more moving pieces, the more important it is that the right process and communication method is selected.

However, what about user adoption? How about what’s really effective to move the ball forward? Specifically, how do we weigh the relative values of real-time vs. a-synchronous collaboration?

TIME Magazine writer Joel Stein wrote a fun opinion piece on the topic titled “Call Me! But not on Skepe or Any Other Videophone.” He gives his first-hand experience with “real-time” collaboration and gets some experts to weigh in on user  adoption.

His conclusion was in line with the comment from Sherry Turkle, an MIT professor of the social studies of science and technology, who vouched:

“…it turns out that time shifting is our most valued product. This new technology is about control. Emotional control and time control.”

So, read Joel’s article and feel free to share your perspective here. Real-time? Or on your own time?

Since the dawn of the Web 2.0 era, we’ve come to work in what’s been affectionately termed “enterprise 2.0.” Now that Web 2.0 tools like LinkedIn, Instant Messaging and Twitter are part of the everyday office experience, there’s a new way to look at collaboration. Let’s take a look at what “collaboration 2.0” means and how it can help your team. 

Some of the biggest concerns of today’s office include looking to do more with less – trying to manage and achieve more in these lean times. Along those same lines, people need to communicate and have real-time insights and collaboration to get work done more efficiently – sometimes across departments and time zones. These Web 2.0 tools are informing the way we communicate with each other both outside of and within the enterprise. In today’s global economy, teams are dispersed around the world and collaboration now means working across time zones, borders and even collaborating with outside vendors.

There are now even more Web 2.0 tools out there that are tailored to the enterprise – from Google Docs, Salesforce.com, to Daptiv PPM – that will help your office work from the same materials concurrently instead of emailing various drafts that will leave a confusing paper trail. Today’s collaboration tools also give you the ability to manage projects in a smart way and track progress in real-time, against alignment with business objectives – even as those business objectives change (check out SuccessFactors’ efforts in Business Execution).

With more technologies available today we have the ability to collaborate in new ways that were not possible even several years ago. What shape has collaboration 2.0 taken in your office? Are you still at the conceptual phase, or has your organization made big strides? Has the shift toward dynamic, real-time collaboration been a rough one, or effortless? What are the variables at play in your teams?

We look forward to continuing the conversation and hearing your insights.

Did you know that MTWblog is on Twitter? Yep, stay in touch with us via @MTWblog. We follow and engage with some interesting, smart people and organizations that share our mentality about collaboration and ‘managing the work’ and who frequently share interesting comments, links, and anecdotes. Some have even appeared as guests in this blog.

Image courtesy of Tony Gigov

We started a list to give you more people to follow and an incentive to join the Twitter community if you’re not already there! Take a look at the list below and let us know if there are any ‘must follow’ Twitter streams we’re missing:

Collaboration & Team Stuff

• @AllCollaboration – Site for original research, opinions, ideas on collaboration
• @LDatta – Lokesh Datta, a seasoned problem-solver and action-oriented strategy adviser to executives of Fortune 500 to startups at All Collaboration.
• @YoriNelken – Founder and CEO of TimeBridge; collaboration expert.
• @Econsultancy – Econsultancy provides information, training and events on best practice online marketing and e-commerce.
• @olivermarks – Oliver Marks writes the Collaboration 2.0 blog for ZDNet.
  
• @deblavoy - Deb Louison Lavoy help people solve hard problems by improving the culture and tech of how we engage collective intelligence.
• @ProjectRecovery – Michiko Diby  puts her master’s degree in conflict resolution to good use, with sound advice for anyone that leads a team, especially project managers
• @pmtips – PM Tips discussed Project Management, Collaboration and Knowledge Management.

Project management

• @TheICPM – Twitter handle for The International Community for Project Management
• @andrewbuck – Strategic and Unconventional thinker. Program/PMO and Process Management veteran, published author and trusted advisor.
• @JenniferWhitt – Founder of PDUs2Go.com, provider of self-paced courses for project managers to earn PMI PDUs. She is a speaker, trainer, Certified Performance Coach, author and president of Optimo, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in team and leadership enhancement as well as project management.
• @meridith – Meridith Levinson writes about career and project management stories for CIO.com.
  
• @jghmesa – Jeff Hodgkinson is an expert Portfolio, Program, and Project Manager.
• @thelazypm – Peter Taylor is a “lazy” but effective project manager.
  
• @TheGreenPM – The Official Twitter Page for The Green PM – Fresh Perspectives on Project Leadership – Project Management Maven, blogger, and social media noob
• @PMVoices – The Twitter handle for PMI’s Voices on Project Management blog, a place for all things PM – covering, talent management, leadership, innovation, programs and portfolios and more.

In the third quarter of 2009, The New York Times reported that “worker productivity in the United States was less robust than previously thought in the third quarter as workers earned more money and output rose at a slower pace.”

With reduced resources, companies were sure to feel the squeeze of production pressure – a situation that thousands of managers and teams have dealt with throughout the past year. With Wall Street economists expecting unemployment insurance claims to drop by 20,000, companies are finding new ways to make the most of their resources, encouraging collaboration and maintaining a stream of productivity.

According to the Labor Department, productivity in Q4 of 2009 rose by 6.2 percent (about .2 percent higher than predicted). Innovative technologies and collaborative excercizes are allowing companies to find new and innovative ways to manage the work, be resourceful and work as a team for the sake of production.

As mentioned in The Times, “Productivity often rises at the end of recessions as companies ramp up output before hiring new workers. Rising productivity can raise living standards in the long run. But it can also make it easier for companies to postpone hiring.” Clearly  a balance is required in order to stimulate the economy to full recovery.

Has your organization put a heavier emphasis on productivity lately? The challenge to increase efficiency and performance is one that top companies should strive for, no matter what the economic climate.

Gartner recently released a report indicating that a fifth of enterprises will hold no IT assets by 2012 as cloud computing, virtualization and mobile working practices become commonplace.

The topic, sure to draw mass concern from IT professionals, is a hot button as large corporations are beginning to test the waters of cloud computing. Here’s what other people have to say about the future of IT:

THINKstratagies reported that large corporations are becoming increasingly frustrated with the long deployment cycles, high costs, complicated upgrade processes and IT infrastructure demanded by traditional software applications. Many, they say, are realizing that the future of IT is moving away from data center, system and infrastructure management and more toward business process improvement.

Paul Wilkinson from Extranet Evolution stated that Gartner’s research suggests businesses will be looking for applications that can be managed either by their hosting partners or by the vendors themselves and which can be easily accessed by employees from laptops and/or smartphones. Wilkinson explains that we are not yet at a stage where sophisticated applications such as CAD or BIM applications can be easily managed on a cloud-based architecture, so the Gartner vision may take a little longer to materialize across various sectors.

In May, 2008, Gartner, Inc. predicted that social networking technologies, Web mashups, multicore and hybrid processors and cloud computing would be amongst the ten most disruptive technologies that will shape the IT landscape over the next five years. Less than two years later, Gartners looks to be on track.

The Cloud Computing Journal polled many of the leading on-demand infrastructure experts, IT industry execs and commentators on about the “The Shape of the Cloud To Come.” The follow excerpts came from the interview:

• “Improved understanding of process and governance risk will shift the preferences of IT owners and regulators away from the cost and inconsistency of on-premise IT, and toward the auditable and highly professional security practices of cloud-service providers.” – Peter Coffee, director, Platform Research, Salesforce.com
• “Cloud Computing will certainly fuel the SaaS business. More and more Desktop applications will turn into Services or at least hybrid online/offline apps that live in the Cloud. Developers can rely on Infrastructure-as-a-Service and Platform-as-a-Service, and concentrate on building more sophisticated and powerful network-centric applications.” – Markus Klems, research assistant, FZI Research Center for Information Technology

The Collective (a blog about ‘higher intelligence’) explains that if we plan on getting to a zero footprint of IT assets, cloud technology definitely seems to have the best chances to get us there; but that would also assume we are talking public cloud technology, and not private. They say that for the time being, many may choose to attempt a hybrid cloud in order to help bridge the gap.

In the words of The Collective, the clock is ticking, so people need to get moving if we are going to meet a 2012 time frame.

The beginning of a new year is a good time for reflection and reassessment: Am I satisfied with my work? How are my team members doing? What should I change about the way I go about my job? Am I performing at my peak? Habits to break, new goals to set…. And leadership is an area where most anyone who manages other people or who leads a team, a department or an initiative….can find room for growth. Even for those of us that only manage ourselves and interact with peers, leadership concepts definitely come into play when collaboration and teamwork is necessary.

Michiko Diby has been running a series on leadership on her Preventing Project Failure blog based on the book The Leadership Secrets of Colin Powell starting out with the importance of being RESPONSIBLE and being ACCESSIBLE. Two sentiments with which we wholeheartedly agree.

Lesson #1 includes a checklist:

Lesson #2 provides 4 easy steps to being accessible:

We will let you check the details of those steps and the rest of the series on your own. There is something for everyone, with leadership topics ranging from simplification to optimism and ego.

Though Michiko’s specialty is troubled IT projects, given her  master’s degree in conflict analysis and resolution and her experience as a program officer  in international development, her blog is worth a frequent visit for anyone who leads, collaborates, or manages.

Follow Michiko on Twitter @ProjectRecovery

Satish Kumar is an analytical, results-driven marketing professional with 15 years experience in management consulting, product management and business intelligence experience. Satish is the Senior Product Marketing Manger at Daptiv.

Claiming that 2009 has been a tough year for individuals and firms would be a gross understatement. On a positive note, it has forced these parties to get smarter about what they do. “Do more with less” has become the mantra for survival in this period of economic uncertainty. We would all like to put 2009 behind us as we welcome the new year. However, the economy is not out of the woods yet and the 2009 mantra will still hold true for 2010 and beyond.

How can/should firms and individuals “do more with less?” This is a question that I believe is in the minds of many firms. Some have figured it out and are thriving, while others are still trying to figure it out. I firmly believe that the solution lies in being smart about the work we do. But, what does “working smart” truly mean? Is it the same for individuals, groups and firms?  Let us examine this in some detail.

In the bestselling book “7 Habits of Highly Effective People,” Stephen Covey talks about beginning with the end in mind. Although Covey talks about it in the context of having a ‘personal mission statement,’ I think it is also pertinent to working smart. When you begin with the end in mind, you essentially have a clear understanding of the end goal/objective. However, this in itself is not sufficient. Individuals need to put together a plan of action to achieve the goal. This plan of action will often involve communicating and collaborating with other individuals.

There are two more items that I believe are important to working smart. First, monitoring the plan on a regular basis and, second, reporting back to management on the work that is being done. These help an individual take corrective action if the plan is off-track, or provide guidance if the end goal changes (which is sometimes the case). To summarize, an individual that works smart would do the following:

1. Strive to clearly understand the end objective
2. Develop a plan of action (don’t forget to communicate and collaborate)
3. Monitor progress on a regular basis
4. Report to and get feedback from department head

Are we done? No, we almost forgot the most important ingredient that makes all this happen in an easy and efficient way and that is (you guessed it):

Technology

While there is no substitute for the cognitive abilities of the human mind, it would be foolish to ignore the information technology tools at our disposal. The confluence of Web, multimedia and various electronic devices (mobile phones, netbooks, computers, etc.) has provided us with a rich set of capabilities that could prove to be an able partner in our goal to work smart. The key is to pick the right technology solution that weeds out the complexity and allows us to work the way we want, only smarter!

Let us now kick it up a notch and try to understand what it takes to build departments that “work smart.” Experience tells us that departmental work is a synergistic view of work done by individuals. We could summarize that a smart working department would do the following:

1. Strive to clearly understand the departmental objectives
2. Develop a plan of action at the departmental level
3. Communicate and collaborate within the department and with other departments
4. Monitor progress on a regular basis
5. Report to and get feedback from executive management

Communication and collaboration increase in importance, and reports become more complex due to aggregation and the demands placed by executive management. The importance of picking the right technology solution becomes even more apparent in this scenario.

“Work Smart”

We have finally arrived at the last section of this article, which deals with firms that “work smart.” Before we discuss firms that “work smart,” it is important to understand successful firms. If firms aren’t successful, nothing else matters. I define successful firms as those that generate long-term sustained profits. In order for firms to be successful, they need to have a successful strategy. Successful strategy hinges on two basic questions:

1. Where to compete?
2. How to compete?

Myriad books have been written on strategy, which is a separate topic in itself. For now, I will assume that the firm under consideration has a successful strategy in place, and the organization is in alignment with the strategy. All that is left is “execution” and the ability to successfully execute or lack thereof can make or break a firm. Therefore, at the firm level, it is all about making sure that execution is on track and is aligned with the strategy. How does a firm go about doing this?  The answer to this question lies in business performance management (or corporate performance management). Without delving on the topic of BPM, the executive management would focus on the following:

1. Define Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
2. Link KPIs to departmental objectives
3. Monitor KPIs using scorecards and dashboards and take corrective action as needed

Business intelligence software has proved to be invaluable in building scorecards and dashboards, while providing real-time insight into business performance management.

In summary, working smart could be distilled down to a few key points:

1. Having a clear understanding of the work that needs to be done at all levels of the firm
2. Using a ‘Plan, Do, Check, Act’ type of a process to assess work at all levels
3. Utilizing information technology effectively to support work

Yori Nelken founded TimeBridge in 2005 to make life easier for busy professionals by providing an intuitive Web application that helps schedule and run great meetings. In this post, Nelken shares his expertise in how to run efficient and productive meetings.

I work in an office, so do you. I sometimes work remotely, you sometimes work remotely. During the work day you and I likely meet with coworkers, consultants, board members, engineering teams, clients and accountants among many many others.

In these meetings, we constantly find ourselves wrangling and moderating personalities, work styles, expectations, schedules and budgets. The idea is that by coming together and huddling around a conference table, or more often these days a conference line, we loop everyone into an important process that could not otherwise be handled efficiently by email or simple phone call.

In an age where ubiquitous personal technology is sometimes seen as leading social disconnect, an unnecessary negative stigma is attached to meetings. The reality is that these collaborative sessions are fruitful places where decisions can be made and work can get done. Meetings are necessary and important – whether or not they’re remote or in-person. While smart phones and laptop computers can lend to personal productivity and connectedness, they can also disrupt the meeting and collaborative nature of meetings.

So, no matter where your meeting is being held or how many people are dialing in, it should be noted that both meeting attendees and organizers have a responsibility to each other to keep meetings meaningful. Here are a few suggestions for you to run better meetings:

Attendees

• First off, be on time
• Be prepared to participate
• Be ready to discuss without sarcasm, interrupting or foul language
• Be up-to-date on agenda items
• Notify the organizer if you’re running late
• Do not Tweet or text message about a meeting during the meeting or after
• Turn off cell-phones
• Avoid leaving or signing off early early for “other commitments”
• When an in-person meeting is adjourned, clean up after yourself

While much of this seems like basic manners, an engaged and polite attendee is as important as a well-planned meeting. Being unprepared, aggressive or tuned-out disrupts the workflow and productivity and wastes time for everyone from the meeting leader to your teammates, clients and colleagues.

Organizer

• Be on time!
• Specify the type of meeting – brainstorm or task-oriented – so attendees know what is expected of them
• Work out logistics and meeting materials well ahead of the meeting
• Make sure all attendees have agendas – where appropriate, allot time for each item where immediate action is needed
• Make sure all attendees have been introduced if they are unacquainted with each other
• Stay on topic and address all agenda items
• Engage attendees attention and participation with relevant discussion and driven actions
• Be clear and concise to avoid wasting attendees’ time
• Summarize actions and decisions so everyone leaves with a fresh overview of the meeting

It may seem obvious, but besides organizing and handling logistics, the meeting leader has a great deal of responsibility for keeping the meeting moving. Don’t be afraid to assert your authority as the meeting leader and use digression on where to focus the discussion to stay on the agenda. You want your attendees to remember the decisions and the task at hand rather than the time wasted on an out-of-control meeting.

No matter where you fall on the issue, meetings aren’t going away. Do your part to ensure that they’re always meaningful.

TimeBridge merges the best of the desktop with the rich experience of Web services to make it easier to find a time to meet, set an agenda, coordinate logistics, conduct a phone or Web conference and document and share decisions and actions.

Seldom are people able to identify the long-term implications of game-changing innovation when unveiled, but if we’ve learned anything throughout the past several weeks of hype surrounding the release of the iPad, it’s that originality in technology is alive, well and demanded from customers.

However, the most interesting inventions are not necessarily those that are most profitable, have the highest adoption rate or survive to see a second or third edition. The most successful innovations are those with the highest demand – innovations that solve problems we did not know we had.

Forrester Research noted that all successful IT innovations must satisfy four cascading criteria: 1) technological advantage; 2) economical advantage; 3) compatibility with vested interests; and 4) ability to encourage development of complementary elements. Although IT-focused innovations represent only a slice of the pie, this criteria provides a map to guide the success of nearly all new products.

But innovators are young, hip and “in” with the latest trends, right? Even if product strategy is under your wing of responsibility (likely is not), are you able to put your finger on what your customers want? More importantly, how do you know what they need?

Enter the era of the increasingly enabled, vocal and ready-to-help customer (hand-in-hand with their virtual soapboxes). As Dion Hinchcliffe notes, “The general concept is that managing customer relationships in the classical way, meaning transactionally and one-on-one can be greatly improved by making the relationship less structured, more participatory and created around an open community model.”

Social CRM replacing traditional CRM

Customer relationship management, or CRM, has been around for a long, long time. Since before the days of the first customer service hotlines, companies saw the value in supporting their customers’ needs. With the introduction of the Web, companies began mining those relationships for insight on product development. Now that social media and networks are pervasive in the mainstream, average consumers expect deeper and more frequent interaction – enter the era of social CRM, a strategy built around collaboration and customer engagement, rather than the traditional operational customer management.

Breant Leary explains, “Social CRM is growing out of a completely different need – the need to attract the attention of those using the Internet to find answers to business challenges they are trying to overcome. And nothing captivates the attention of searchers like relevant, compelling content.”

So how does this equate to innovation? Companies who are adopting such technologies are providing a direct portal to communicate with and learn from their customers – garnering end-user insight about solutions to problems and recommendations for products, subsequently catalyzing “why didn’t I think of that” innovations.

What does this mean? It means the people who are most involved with your product want to tell you what they like, do not like and where improvements can be made. In simple terms, think customer service meets research and development meets absolute stake-holder honesty.

The challenge then is transforming your community of customers into tangible members of your organization – although some customer communities may self-organize, the vendor or organization has the opportunity to create a forum for interaction, collaboration and innovative idea generation.

So how do you get started? What are the best tools? How do you know if social CRM is right for you? How do you know if your organization is ready for the weight of a collaborative customer community?

We’ll highlight great case studies of customer communities and social CRM platforms at work – detailing how they were implemented, the results companies have experienced and insight about the future of the customer’s virtual influence.

Interested in breaking into the field of project management? According to oDesk, the number of PM jobs posted online more than doubled between January 2009 and January 2010. ProjectTimes predicts that 2010 will continue to provide opportunities for project managers: “Enterprises will be in search of PMs that have a broad range of technology and process improvement experience. They’ll look especially for PMs with knowledge in tuning and making legacy technology perform to its highest ability for customer satisfaction.”

The topic, ‘How to get into the project management field?’ recently garnered a large amount of interest within the Project Manager Networking Group on LinkedIn. We wanted to share some of the insights provided by the group members themselves: true professionals immersed in the daily ins-and-outs of the project management world.

Think of hiring a project manager like hiring a heart surgeon – it isn’t about the degrees or where the surgeon went to school. What you really want to know is how many successful surgeries did they do! While the education factor is a great thing – get out and do projects. Use what you have learned and do it – in any way you can. While education matters – experience and success matters more.

I am using Linkedin as my networking resource to find opportunities. You are definitely spot on, you do need the experience but a Masters Degree will help as well.

1. Look at getting into a PM master or certificate program. I know some PM certificate programs are offered part time at night or online. This will take a bit of time though.

2. Get involved with the Project Management Institute (PMI.org) and your local PMI chapter. They can be a valuable resource for advice as well as educational courses and PMP exam prep course.

3. Develop a plan on how you will be able to write your PMP exam for certification. It seems that most employers are starting to require this certification.

4. Look into volunteering or a junior project management positions. [If you are] new in the PM field, you’ll probably need to be mentored or start off with small projects.

5. Start networking with fellow project managers and the business community. This will help you get your name and face out there.

I believe obtaining technical skills in the area which you are targeting to get into project management will be crucial too. If you have enough experience in those skills, you can plan to move into project management and that would work well for you.  Certifications may help to give you the start but real project management experience cannot be replaced with certifications.

1. Find a PM mentor – it could be someone you work with. I’ve found people who have a lot of experience are more than happy to share their knowledge with someone willing to learn/listen.

2. Get involved in the PM community. PMI has chapters all over the world which provide the opportunity to network with people in your same position up to senior PM professionals.

* As we’ve seen with the success of social networking tools such as LinkedIn – it’s who you know.

3. Get certified. Even if you don’t have the experience to take the PMP, you may be qualified to take the CAPM – Certified Associate of Project Management. Check PMI’s website for more info on this certification.

One way is to become a Business Analyst (BA) first. This role is key to the PM and in many cases, the PM does the work of the BA as well, so having this experience can get you closer to a PM position.

Run a charity project from start to end – don’t just volunteer for short time – learn how to recruit volunteers and convey the message so they do what you need them to do. Half the time, PMing is getting people to do what you want them to do.

I completed my MBA in Project Management and could not find a position in the field either. I accepted a consulting position which allowed me to reconstruct our CRM and Marketing programs. I also started a company with friends from diverse backgrounds. It is proving to be a learning experience in both the Program Management and IT fields, as well as rewarding.