The right tools for collaboration
Every morning Claromentis Brighton staff have a meeting that helps us to stay on track, be aware of any high workload concerns or potential deadline issues – and generally keep each other informed of what’s happening. On Mondays these meetings are necessarily a little longer – most days they can be done and dusted in 30 minutes.
What interests me is that as a company that actually creates information management software and collaboration frameworks we still seem to need a multiple of formats, environments and tools to keep track of everything.
1. We start the meeting around a large screen format of our own intranet calendar for the week, going through client visits at our office, who’s out and related time bound events that calendars were designed to show. On the agenda AOB allow each person to add anything for discussion.
2. We then move over to 2 whiteboards that use felt pens and magnets to summarize on one board all the new intranets and systems we are installing, and on the other all the bespoke development projects we have ongoing with our clients. This is strictly a stand up meeting, which is very helpful to keep things fast moving and focused. As each project is summarized it gets a physical magnet in column one – colored according to a simple traffic light system. Other columns reflect responsibilities, alpha and beta deadlines, urgency levels for priority task selection and a whole host of other data.
collaboration meeting
Often people will refer to our project management software to get deadline and assignment information as needed in the meeting.
3. Before concluding each person gets about 30 seconds to say what they are doing today, and request cooperation from anyone else.
When necessary we will have our colleagues n Russia and Australia join us on video conference, but 99 percent of the time this is a fairly local event.
So my observations are :
1. Its an evolving meeting, everyone can suggest better ways to do things and I think that’s very important – no-one should view themselves as a prisoner, and everyone finds them useful.
2. We seem to need one part when we are sitting down, then a second part when we are all standing up. I have no idea why.
3. We require our calendar ( software ) , whiteboards ( hardware ), pens, magnets, erasers and project management software to get the job done. Together with blank notebooks.
4. Everyone turns up with a pen and paper, hardly anyone writes anything down.
5. Some people bring task lists from their own desks, which often seem to be quite literally written on the back of an envelope.
6. Even though we are all really busy and all trying to collaborate – some people just talk more than others.
So my question is – is this meeting format, which we have evolved into over a long time – simply a good way to deal with the fact that all people are different both in the way they absorb information and interact with others? After all our own project software has Gantt charts, document management, assignments and traffic lights – but you can’t stick magnets on it and if you talk to it it doesn’t answer back.
Our meetings are designed to request and receive participation – you do have to say what you are working on, and everyone will certainly listen to you. Maybe that’s the point – anyone can look at a programme plan and miss a lot of pressure points that the people will chose to talk about when given the opportunity. And that is what collaboration is all about – helping each other through issues, communicating with clients and getting the job done to the highest possible standard given the available resources and time lines.
And I enjoy them!
