EP47: Michelangelo and the 5 steps to collaboration

Marijn describes his 7-minute wake up with Google and his shower fantasy around Google Routines before realizing that this podcast had started.

Being in lockdown means that you get two whiskies tasted at the end…

Eventually, Steve asks the questions ‘How do we collaborate?’ and stopped Marijn using the standard response ‘It depends’

Marijn takes a customer from Happy to Fear to Content and Amazed

Considering how to collaborate the tools are discussed but are ‘How to Collaborate’ and is it Co-authoring, voyeurism or collaboration… or even stalking…

Points to consider when thinking about collaboration… understanding the exact goal, timeline, and purpose for the collaboration

Before answering How to Collaborate we need a definition of ‘what is collaboration’ suggests Marijn

Collaboration is defined by the dictionary and after a few minutes conclude collaboration is about working together or not!

Both agree that the Goal must be understood by everyone

… but for every meeting we attend is the goal of the meeting clear to everyone…

More Collaboration Statements

Ø The Nature of collaboration involves people with different priorities working together

Ø Collaboration needs a plan… a purpose

Ø Collaboration works best with full and open transparency

Ø The Goal must be understood by everyone

The love-hate relationship between the Office365 team and security is laughed at

Great collaborative decisions are based on strong diverse opinions

And Marijn talks about his tool and capacity…

The definition of collaboration is when everyone agrees to disagree!! So Collaboration is about managing the process and configuring the tools that drive continually improved decisions

Business need to discover the art of using the tools

Michelangelo directed the brush maker to give him the right tools to create the Sistine Chapel [Assumed]

… some quotes [ I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free | Genius is eternal patience.]

Following the logic of a diverse team causing great collaboration, Steve talks about Spotify and how they create squads with diversity and alignment creating collaboration

Collaboration needs the courage to understand something is hard alongside people who are driven to just make things happen.

Marijn works out that the A-team was a perfect collaboration of A bunch of people with their own skill sets and a common goal

Moving to the tools Steve asks how you drive adoption with so many diverse tools… and Marijn says MS teams is not always the answer

But leaving the business to decide the tools leads to 50 people collaborating on a single OneNote file which include multiple PowerPoints and spreadsheets… not exactly a low-risk solution

43 minutes the 5 step approach Marijn asks what is the 5 step approach to successful collaboration

1. Ask how the team creates their ideas today… see how they work

2. Understand process and timelines for collaboration and how they communicate

3. Tools that best support this

4. How do you collate the answers and output?

5. How do you apply the changes and new ideas?

A podcast that is Back to Basics which is a key attribute of Continual Improvement so going back to ask, How, Why, and What we collaborate