When information gets lost in digital collaboration
The use of digital collaboration tools exploded since the beginning of the COVID-19 crisis. But a lot of people are now realising that the quite spontaneous use of these tools is creating some kind of mess in which information gets lost. Strong governance is essential for effective digital collaboration.
Digital collaboration saved us
With the COVID-19 crisis and the imposed teleworking, a lot of organisations suddenly (re)discovered plenty of tools for digital collaboration and communication. Never before, co-workers made so much use of these tools to easily communicate, share and collaborate.
But in some cases, it created a big mess
Digital collaboration tools helped us a lot to overcome these exceptional weeks. But, at the same time, one might start to feel uncomfortable with the amount of information that has been scattered all over shared spaces, chats,... It’s becoming cluttered tangle and no one has a good view of it.
It’s one of the main pitfalls of digital collaboration tools. They are easy to learn and simple to use, but without any governance, information gets quickly scattered all over the place. Think about video discussions generating decisions or agreements which are not documented somewhere in a structured way. Think about documents that have been exchanged somewhere in one of the numerous chats. It’s a nightmare when you need to retrieve them.
Strong governance is a must for effective digital collaboration
Whatever the digital collaboration tools you use, there is a need for strong governance on the way to use them. Be it on the company or on a project team level, participants must agree on a minimum of collaboration principles. Here are some examples of best practices:
Make sure documents are stored in a clear and secured content structure in your shared digital workplace.
Make sure you have clear governance (roles and responsibilities) on the way this content structure is set up and managed. Don’t let every user create channels and workspaces as they like.
Each video call in which decisions or agreements are made should result in a write up which is stored in an agreed place in the content structure.
Documents should not be shared in a chat. When referring to a file or document in a chat, don’t put a copy of the document in the chat channel but use a link to the shared document in the content structure.
Make sure you have a clear view of your security settings and how these are applied. It’s very easy to add someone to a chat or a channel, without realising that this provides this person access to documents or conversations you did not have the intention to share.
Thanks for reading and good luck in your virtual workspaces! Feel free to contact me if you need some help with setting up your digital collaboration governance.
