Page 225 - MS Office 365 for Dummies 3rd Ed (2019)

Trends in today’s modern workplace
In a Harvard Business Review article entitled “Collaborative Overload” (https:// hbr.org/2016/01/collaborative-overload), managers and employees are reporting that the time they spend in collaborative activities has increased by 50 percent or more. That should be good news were it not for the fact that on average, employees spend 80 percent of their time in meetings, on the phone, and responding to email. This means that for most of us, we have very little time left to do focused, critical work of our own.
According to a study from Intuit (https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/24/news/ economy/gig-economy-intuit/index.html), 40 percent of the workforce in 2020 will be freelancers and consultants. The Internet has given rise to a gig economy where the barrier for entry in the consulting gig is low. Sites like Upwork and Freelancer are filled with workers from all part of the globe offering a wide variety of services: designers, developers, writers, accountants, and so on.
Today’s business casual is a far cry from what is was ten years ago. The modern office today is more fluid and flexible. If you’re looking for proof on our asser- tions, check your Instagram freed for ads on yoga pants for the workplace.
Collaboration questions to ask yourself
To determine which tool in Office 365 should be used for collaboration, you need to first understand how you collaborate. Here are some considerations:
» Who are the people you collaborate very closely with on a daily basis? These could be people within or outside your organization with whom you share information that’s not ready for general consumption. You work with these people regularly to produce an output to serve the organization. This is your inner circle.
» Who are the people you collaborate with generally and communicate with more openly? Again, these could be people within or outside your organization from whom you don’t necessarily need to get input to produce a product, but may be important as a source of input for ideas and recommendations. These could also be customers you provide support for. This is your outer circle.
» What toolsets do the people you collaborate with use? In our experience, we’ve found that developers tend to prefer team chats while executives prefer email.
The answers to the questions are a good starting point for determining which tool (or a combination of tools) to use in Office 365.
CHAPTER 16 Choosing the Right Collaboration Tool 209