Along with my Web 2.0 Primer i worked on a guide to collaboration technologies along with other editors of the wikinomics project.
It is important for people, companies and organizations to continuously understand that the communications technology they choose always has a profound effect on how they will interact with other people. Email for example is a medium that tends to burn trust - and trust is an essential resource in any relationship. What do i mean? I mean that you can choose technologies that burn trust but are highly efficient (for you) or you can choose tools that work slower, or don't allow multitasking but build trust in a relationship. The choices - and risks are yours. So here is my guide to face-to-face, email, phone, sms, IM/chat, wiki and blog when they should be used and why.
In a world of email, Wiki's, teleconference, web conferencing, etc. etc. - it is valid to ask - is there any longer any need for face to face working? Of course there is! How dull would life become if we spent all our time in front of a screen or talking on the 'phone?
I spend much of my time at present helping organisations and their staff improve their performance through what we call e-Working - using all of the above tools, to do what they might do whilst taking up space in an expensive office - to do the same, and more, whilst at home, on the move, or in places close to their customers. In one organisation, we have reduced operational costs by almost 40% by reducing the needs for office space and facilities.
To what extent have they eliminated face to face contact? Well, typically they still work in the office for 30-40% of their time. and the reason - well, many of the people they need to interact with are not yet familiar with virtual working. in any case, when we are meeting people for the first time, kicking off a new project, negotating a contract ... there are important and powerful reasons to do it face to face. The chemistry is just not the same on line. Most of us get a buzz out of meeting people face to face - meetings are just richer when all the senses come into play.
I fully expect that as more of us become familiar with the use of virtual collaboration tools, we will do less and less face to face. However, except where geographical barriers make it impossible or just too expensive, I fully expect that we will still spend a significant amount of our time in face to face contact with friends, collagues and business partners.
A common hearing is the follwing: Face to face meetings are very useful in kicking off certain programs or projects. Afterwards, the on-line meetings and tele-collaboration run a lot easier. It can overcome some barriers when working remotely.
Email is by far the most commonly used and most widely adopted tool in on-line collaboration. Indeed it is so ubiquitous the questions is only when should i not use email?
Email can be a threat to business efficiency. The time spent in front of a mail client is huge for many employees in today's organizations. Nowadays however people are led and managed by their email, and perhaps led to easily.
As time management principles are indicating: we tend to do the most urgent things first, not the most important things. Email is an exponent of this.
When to use email
- one to many, where everybody must recieve the same message. Email is the ultimate memo medium.
When not to use email
- to send messages to people who don't need to see them. (beware the reply all) Imagine you send out a mail to 100 people with an invitation to a special kick off lunch. They all use the reply all button to thank you for organizing and they add some kind words. Even if it takes only 1 minute for each person to check those emails and delete them, it costs your organization more than 166 Hours.
Email etiquette guides
Don't assume that people know how to mannage email because most don't. Every company should have a guideline about how and when to manage emails.
- the perfect thing to put in your company email etiquette guideline is whom to CC when. For instance, not to CC your boss the first time you catch a co-worker making a mistake.
- the other thing to put in email guides is how to filter email, because this imposes structure and priorities on how folks manage email. Example: all personal emails from family etc. should be filtered directly into a personal folder and not linger distractingly in the inbox.
- turn those damn notifiers off. almost nobody in the office should hear noises or see pop-ups when emails come in.
- twice a day is enough. Most people need to work on checking email less often.
the next email
An intRAnet differs from the intERnet, by being quite literally, inside an organization. Intranets are separated from the internet by firewalls and other security measures. In the most broad sense of the term, intranet applies to the whole IT network, but more specifically it applies to software platforms or applications that are specifically used for collaboration, knowledge management, communication and planning. Most web based services can be deployed "behind the firewall" for better security.
Phone is used for remote, synchronous and verbal communication.
It is observed more and more that people shy away from calling somebody, but rather use asynchronous communication tools as IM and Email. However, the directness of communication via phone can avoid a lot of conflicts and misunderstandings. Via phone, there is still a certain degree of non-verbal communication, which is (almost) completely lacking in the other mentioned tools. Active listening, a quality improving technique in conversations, is not easily done in asynchronous communication.
In global organizations, time zone differences can be an important obstacle to phone usage.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telephoneexternal
link
Web conferencing is used to conduct live meetings or presentations over the Internet. Web conferencing tools are ideal when running remote meetings. This can go from a 1-1 to a mass meeting with several hundreds of participants. In many cases this is used in combination with audio conferencing tools.
The main advantage of running such meetings with both tools: it avoids travel, and as such costs. The main disadvantage is the lack of face to face communication, and by consequence almost complete lack of non-verbal communication. Note that in most cases this does not include video conferencing.
One may ask - how easy is it to set up or join a web conference? And, in what circumstances is it preferable to an audio conference? the answer to the first question is that using sites based on such tools as IBM/Lotus' Quickplace, it's dead easy! It is necessay for all participants to be enrolled, but that's a one-time simple operation. Such sites are excellent community workplaces. They enable threaded discussions, news streams, planning meeting agendas, supporting the group during their meetings and keeping track of the 'business' of the group. Of course, the big benefit of a web conference over a pure audio conference is that text, gbraphics and other images can be shared amongst the group during the conference. Some tools have an on-line 'whiteboard' that facilitates interactive graphical 'scribbling' by the group.
For details see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_conferencingexternal link
I often marvel at the number of colleagues and groups I belong to who still use email in order to set up meetings. How long does this take when there are more than two or three people involved? the answer is - too long!In fact, often longer to set up the meeting than to hold it! Tools like Outlook Calendar make such things simple: they enable us to view a whole group's calendars and identify slots where the meeting could be scheduled - BUT ONLY IF THE WHOLE GROUP AGREES TO USE IT SENSIBLY! It only takes one person not keeping their calendar up to date, or not making it 'open' for others to see, to wreck it for everyone. Of course, some people are sensitive about having their calendar open for everyone to view. They should remember that not ALL appointments need to be viewable - it is quite proper for some parts of the day or week to be marked as 'private appointments' or for certain times to be marked as not available for meetings. It's not necessary to make your calendar so open that others can book time without your permission. They can identify when you are free and invite you to attend a meeting - still giving you the option of sugggesting an alternative time, or even declining the meeting altogether.
Google Calendar is another Wiki tool that works well for sharing of Calendar information for business and personal scheduling.
Also known as IM or Chat, instant messaging is used a lot in global organizations, though like so many other tools it can be misused, abused or used ineffectively. Like email, it can benefit from being supported by an etiqueete guide that advises on good practice for use of the instant messaging (IM) tool in the particular organisation.
Where IM comes into its own (and has a big advantage over email) is in situations where one is remote from an individual or group of individuals who have specific knowledge that we need to tap into instantly - if we call them on the 'phone and they are in a meeting or busy, then the cal will likely go to voicemail. Similarly, email may not receive their attention for sveral hours or even a day or longer. On the other hand (and providing they are on-line) then our IM query will pop up on their screen and the chances are (if we have established a good working relationship) and don't constantly bombard the individuals with futile messages) that they will briefly interrupt what they are doing to give us a response. This can save huge amounts of time and/or re-work. One way to look at it is as a replacement for the kind of office banter that goes on when face to face in the office. "Who can remind me how to do x in Excel?" "What is our curreny policy in the company on y?" For virtual collaborators it can act like the virtual water cooler, enabling folk to participate in a bit of social banter when thy sign on in the morning - catching up with their buddies, or maybe just notifying their colleagues that they are on-line. Most instant messaging systems willl enable you to view your 'buddy list' and determine whether they are on-line, and also to put a 'do not disturb' or 'not available' sign against your name.
For more details see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instant_messagingexternal link
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