Today we are witnessing first-hand a global revolution of collaboration and innovation, uniting creative minds across vast expanses of space and time. People from all walks of life now have access to the tools and channels necessary to communicate and collaborate in nearly every mode of value creation imaginable, and it is profoundly changing the world as we know it. A new surge of interest has been rightfully placed on better understanding the underlying dynamics of the collaborative pursuit, so that the best possible conditions might be facilitated. But how can one reasonably hope to observe such a complex, multifaceted social process?

The conditions for effective collaboration cannot simply be front-loaded into project planning, nor can they be programmed into weekly team meeting protocols. Rather than launching a missile at a predetermined target, managing for collaboration is more like launching a ship toward a distant port. The successful navigator constantly checks the ship’s bearing and corrects course as necessary. Greater accuracy and effectiveness are made possible through the invention of tools and techniques which provide greater insight into the forces of both man and nature alike. What new metaphors or mental models are waiting to be discovered which might allow us to better reason with the dynamic – and sometimes chaotic – nature of collaboration?

The purpose of this research project is to analyze and track several core characteristics of effective collaboration as exhibited by interdisciplinary design teams over the course of a 10-week project. Data composites representing these core characteristics were then encoded into a visual narrative for each team, revealing a new, holistic perspective of multivariate data, evolving throughout the project life cycle. This technique not only offers a diagnostic window into the collaborative dynamics of a team in flight, but also moves complex nonlinear issues into a visual dimension, which is better-suited for reasoning with problems which are systemic in nature. It is also critical to recognize that this technique is not meant to captain the ship. It does not quantify performance, and it will not guarantee success. Rather it provides new layers of information to aid in the interpretation and negotiation of the collaborative journey.

Conference Presentations

We had the good fortune to share our work at the following events:

“Evaluating Collaboration in Design Teams: A Multi-Method Approach” – American Evaluation Association’s (AEA) Evaluation Conference 2010, San Antonio, TX; November 11–14, 2010

“Illustrating Collaborative Dynamics” – Southeastern College Art Conference (SECAC), Richmond, VA; October 22–23, 2010