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Q5 How Can You Use Collaboration Tools to Improve Team Communication? 47

Criterion for Team Success Requirement
Complete the work, on time, on Communicate (feedback)
budget Manage many versions of content (iteration)
Manage tasks (on time, on budget)

Growth in team capability Record lessons learned
Document definitions, concepts, and other knowledge
Support intra–team training
Meaningful and satisfying Build team espirit
Figure 2-6 experience Reward accomplishment
Requirements for a Create sense of importance
Collaboration IS

used to manage the project. Schedules, tasks, budgets, and other managerial data are examples
of project metadata. Both types of data, by the way, are subject to iteration and feedback.
Collaboration information systems procedures specify standards, policies, and techniques
for conducting the team’s work. An example is procedures for reviewing documents or other
work products. To reduce confusion and increase control, the team might establish a procedure
that specifies who will review documents and in what sequence. Rules about who can do what to
which data are also codified in procedures. Procedures are usually designed by the team; some-
times they need to be adjusted because of limitations in the collaboration tools being used.
The final component of a collaboration system is, of course, people. We discussed the im-
portance of the ability to give and receive critical feedback in Q1. In addition, team members
know how and when to use collaboration applications.

Primary Functions: Communication and Content Sharing

Figure 2-6 shows requirements categorized according to Hackman’s three criteria for team
success (discussed in Q2). For doing the work on time and on budget, teams need support
from their collaboration system to communicate, to manage many versions of content, and to
manage tasks. We will discuss tools that support each of those requirements in Q5 through Q7.
Notice that these requirements support iteration and feedback, as you would expect for an IS
that supports collaboration. Figure 2-6 also shows requirements for growth in team capability
and for creating a meaningful and satisfying experience.
As you will learn, there are numerous alternatives for constructing an IS to meet those re-
quirements. We will investigate three in Q8. You will then have the opportunity of creating an IS
for your team in Collaboration Exercise 2 on page 74. Doing so will be greatly beneficial because
it will teach you firsthand the role of each of the five components and it will also give you a result
that you can use with other teams, in other courses, and, of course, during your career.
Figure 2-7 lists the four purposes of collaboration activities discussed in Q3 and summa-
rizes IS requirements for collaboration systems for each purpose. When you construct your own
collaboration IS, first determine the type of effort you are engaged in and then use Figure 2-7 to
help you determine your requirements.

Q5 How Can You Use Collaboration Tools
to Improve Team Communication?

Because of the need to provide feedback, team communication is essential to every collabora-
tive project. In addition to feedback, however, communication is important to manage content,
project tasks, and the other requirements shown in Figures 2-6 and 2-7. Developing an effective