A model for implementingEnterprise 2.0 tools

The collaboration cycle

Jørgen Dalen and Anne Zanussi

About the authors

Jørgen Dalen

User experience specialist in Halogen ASwww.twitter.com/JorgenDalen

Anne Zanussi

User experience specialist in Halogen ASwww.twitter.com/zanussi

About the presentation

This presentation describes a model for collaboration in an enterprise setting as a cycle

The main argument is that all the steps of the cycle must be supported by various tools for collaboration

If you want a more detailed description, see this article: http://www.halogen.no/academy/fagartikler/the-collaboration-cycle/

Why is collaboration described as a cycle?

We believe that value creation in knowledge intensive companies is a cyclical process:

1. a person shares an idea

2. the idea is improved by others through collaboration

3. the result of collaboration is then again shared and thereby adds value to the system, increasing the company’s total body of knowledge

Our motivation

We created this model to better understand the functional role of “Enterprise 2.0” tools (wikis, instant messaging etc) in workplace collaboration and to help implementing them in an enterprise setting

The holistic perspective

Often, projects focus strongly on certain aspects, like findability, collaboration or archiving…

…we want to stress that value creation does not belong to either of these, but in their successful combination

The collaboration cycle

The collaboration cycle by Jørgen Dalen and Anne Zanussi

Example: from finding to sharing

…and now to some examples on how tools can support the different steps!

In this scenario, we have supposed that the user has some kind of problem that has to be solved…

…and that “to find” is the first step that involves the use of a tool

The collaboration cycle: find

Often, you don’t know if it is a person or a document you need

Find people and documents both through search and navigation

Use the same taxonomy for both people and contentSearch Navigation (intranet portal page)

Persons (domain experts)

Documents (best practice)

Consolidated search

The collaboration cyle: choose

You must find the right person to collaborate with…

Possible to choose employee based on competence and role

Competence and role

The collaboration cycle: connect

Immediate contact is possible (for instance IM available from search result)

Presence indicator visible whenever a person is displayed in the solution

Presence indicator (and assistant)

The collaboration cycle: relate

Name and kind of relationship

Easy to create a relationship to other employees

Possible to specify what kind of relation (profession, unit etc)

Possible to monitor activities of the relation

The collaboration cycle: collaborate

Workspaces must cover the needs of both small and large groups

Be suitable for both formal and informal collaboration

Structured workspaces for large projects Informal collaboration (Yammer)

The collaboration cycle: share

Sharing must be easy!

Easy to upload documents

Content should be open if there are not strong reasons to limit access

Reward employees that contribute with content

Activities, and not only documentation itself should be shared for added findability!

Want to read more?

Here is the full article about the collaboration cycle:

http://www.halogen.no/academy/fagartikler/the-collaboration-cycle/

Thank you!www.twitter.com/JorgenDalen

www.twitter.com/zanussi