Finally, Effective Advertising for Collaboration

We have many times on this site lamented the number of tools that focus on features and functions -- presuming future users would think "hey, I have put off using collaboration tools waiting for that one feature to come along".  That is not how the world works.  And as a result we see too many collaboration projects conducted by Powerpoint slides shared by email, and those of us in the field know how much is lost in that approach.

BaseCamp though just shared an email with past users titled:  UTS Motorsports builds a race car with Basecamp.  It is a great example of showing what some people created using the collaboration tool for project management.  It talks about how inefficient email was in the early days, and describes how they created status charts to keep the project on track.  In fact, my only complaint is there is no way to dive in deeper to see how they structured the project and the nature of any "messy" discussions the team had on the way to meeting their goals; perhaps there is a need for some confidentiality, or perhaps this is an opportunity to make these emails more of an education tool.  

We need more advertising and promotion innovation like this if we are going to start changing behaviors and get more people to move to the next level of collaboration.

Update on 25 December 2010 by Lokesh Datta

See Related Posts:

• Open Letter to Collaboration Tool Providers
• A Taxonomy of Collaboration Tools
• Keep it simple on the collaboration tools

Comments

[Lorie Vela]

Promotion is as important as making everyone aware of Collaboration itself, as the next step to working team and Enterprise 2.0. Let's not forget that, on top of everything, Collaboration is an attitude and involves organizing a plan and structure in which everyone is engaged to one common goal, meaning all the members are on board, understanding the core of collaboration and trust.