Is your project dying without collaboration?

Okay, I must admit the title does sound a bit drastic, doesn’t it? And what on
earth am I talking about, right?

I’m talking about what I believe to be the pulse and lifeblood of any project,

the culture and collaboration. I’m talking about the people in the project.
After all, we wouldn’t be on a project unless we had the necessary skills.

Culture and collaboration can make or break you, especially in a fast paced
methodology such as Agile.

Why is it so important? Let me ask you if you have ever been on a project that

has any of these symptoms:

* People conduct most of their conversations via email, which tend to blow out

into flame wars and everyone’s inbox becomes spammed on a daily basis

* The times that people do get together have an air of nervousness about them. To
put it simply, people are afraid of each other

* People become afraid of asking each other questions and suddenly you find
that work takes longer, details get missed, or things on the project begin to
fail

Any of this sound familiar? Do you have your own points you wish to add?

What are the effects of these things happening? The following happens:

* Motivation disintegrates
* Commitment disintegrates
* People begin to feel depressed coming to work
* Productivity goes into cardiac arrest

If this is the case on a project you are on, then your project may quickly

deteriorate and at worst… flat line.

So, what do I mean by culture and cultivation? Let me break it down for you.

It’s not rocket science, but it is all about the soft skills:

(These are taken from Schneider, and I don’t mean Rob Schneider LOL)

Collaboration: “We succeed by working together”

* Affiliation
* Synergy
* Trust
* People
* Diversity
* Teams
* Interaction
* Partnership

Cultivation: “We succeed by growing people who fulfil our vision”

* Purpose/Faith
* Dedication
* Let Things Evolve
* Subjectivity
* Creativity
* Grow

If you are on a project where you are at risk of flat lining, do something about it as fast as you can.

Speak with your project manager, if you are the project manager… workshop it and put together a team charter.
If all else fails, speak with a consultancy (we’re always around) and have them come in to help you.

Peter Koevari – Senior Consultant – Revolution IT

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