Pillar 1: Shared Access to Team Data, Feb 3

(PDF, 6 pages, 87 KB)

“A secured place is provided for storing data, documents, discussion threads, and other interesting things. Each person on the team can access the shared data, add new data or documents, and edit or revise existing data or documents depending on their level of access to the shared area.”

The first pillar of IT-enabled team productivity is shared access to team data. Every person on the team needs to be able to view and work with the documents, ideas, mind maps and resources that other members of the team have prepared and contributed. Without this common pool of information, the work of the team is hindered.

It is vital to note upfront that this discussion of the 7 pillars is about information technologies and systems that enable teams to be productive, rather than the more commonly discussed human and relational factors vital for team productivity. I have deliberately not used the terms “collaboration software”, “groupware” or “teamware” for this discussion, because those are widely used to refer to a raft of different things. I would venture to say, however, that if an organization fully embraces the 7 pillars that I am outlining, they will have a collaborative software “environment” to facilitate team productivity. And I think that’s the goal.

The Situation Today
Team members today use a multitude of separate tools for providing shared access to team data.

• Word documents that people are writing are sent out for review by email. You have to be on the distribution list to get it. Or newer technologies, such as file transfer over instant messaging, are used.
  
• Emails are traded between different subsets of the group. Everyone stores the discussions in a uniquely named folder in their email client, or alternatively just deletes the message because the information has been committed to memory.
  
• Organizations using Microsoft Exchange may set up a Public Folder for hosting email discussions. This creates a permanent record of discussion items.
  
• Editions of documents are stored locally on hard drives or in private folders on the network file server. Each person has their own way of establishing a folder hierarchy for the project—some put everything into a single folder, whereas other “more organized” individuals create a number of separate sub-directories in which to store related documents. Of course, if there are two or more “more organized” individuals on the team, they will each see a different thread on which to base the relatedness claim.
  
• A shared folder on a network drive is created, and different members of the team start to populate it with documents from their local hard drive. Given the way that each person has saved the document to their local drive, multiple differently named copies of the same document end up being added into the folder. But no one knows that.
  
• Meeting minutes are distributed by email, along with a list of action points allocated to each team member. Some people file them, some people delete them, while others just ignore them.
  
• Organizations that use Lotus Notes for more than just email have one of the more mature platforms for shareable access to team data. A discussion database can be used for threaded discussions, with differing levels of access given to certain groups of documents. A bespoke database can be created for storing documents, meeting minutes, links, and other useful things.
  

Negative Effects on Team Productivity
The use of multiple separate tools for providing shared access to team data has a plethora of negative effects on team productivity.

• People waste time looking for the latest stuff. It is unclear whether the most recent version of a document is in their email, on a shared folder on the file server, or in their local folder used for storing files distributed over instant messaging. After searching for 10 or 15 minutes to find the latest edition, they may feel compelled to call the original author and check to see whether they have the most recent version. Time is lost on coordination and searching.
  
• People have to do their stuff at their desk. Since access to much of this shared data is predicated on being at their computer, team members have to physically be at a certain place to get the work of the team done. This means that a team member can’t shift to a quiet meeting room for focused concentration on a specific team task, they can’t use downtime on the train for getting things done, or they can’t work from their home computer because access to their local drive on their work computer is not possible.
  
• Extra manual steps are required for keeping external team members in the loop. Where the team includes people from outside the organization, someone on the team needs to remember to send them the recent happenings of the team. It is unlikely that the external person will be given access to files stored inside the firewall, to Public Folders on Exchange, or that IT will permit the replication of the team’s Notes database between two organizations.
  
• People can only do work when connected to the network. With the exception of those organizations using Notes, which does and always has provided an intelligent way of delivering disconnected usage, most of the products on the market today lack offline capabilities.
  

The Ideal Future Situation
The ideal product or service that facilitates shared access to team data needs to provide the following capabilities:

• Support for multiple types of data. Different types of documents and different sets of data are all supported within the shared area. Word documents, pictures, threaded discussions, and mind maps can all reside side-by-side, and can be viewed side-by-side, not in some artificial “folder” paradigm.
  
• Single workspace packaging of the shared data. The differing types of shared data are accessible through a single main screen. There is only one place to go to view the team’s data, not a number of different and separate places.
  
• Checking for document uniqueness. When multiple people try to add the same document or text into the shared area, they receive a notification that the document already exists, albeit under a different file name. The system checks for duplication beyond a merely superficial file name comparison, eg, a checksum routine. Different versions of documents, however, can be added.
  
• Users can set access privileges for documents. By default, anyone in the group can view any document or data element in the shared area. Individual content contributors can, however, restrict access to a subset of team members for a duration of time or until a specific milestone is reached.
  
• Support for disconnected usage. Team members can access the shared documents and data while offline and disconnected from the corporate network. Changes or additions made while offline are synchronized back to the master shared area when a network connection is next available.
  
• Digital rights managements. Every piece of data added into the shared area is perpetually tied to a set of access rules. In other words, if a Word document is detached from the shared area, the set of access rules that specifies who can read and edit the document remain enforced. Access to documents can be revoked for a specific person on the team at any point, for example if they leave the project or the project is discontinued. This protects the intellectual property of the organizations involved.
  
• Active archiving of documents and the team space. Older and un-used documents within the shared area are automatically archived to a specific sub-area of the shared space.
  

Positive Effects for Team Productivity
If team members have shared access to team data in the way outlined above, the following productivity benefits accrue:

• No process time is wasted in checking for the most recent version of stuff. It is very clear what is new and current.
  
• No time is wasted checking multiple team data stores for different types of documents, and trying to cross-reference each store for a single overall view. It is all in one place.
  
• Team members can work from anywhere. They can access all of the information they require when connected to the network in the office, at Starbucks, or when they are disconnected on the train or at home.
  
• External people are automatically included in the shared area, thus eliminating manual efforts to keep them up-to-date. Effective digital rights management plays a big part in assuaging concerns over intellectual property rights.
  

Technologies to Consider
The following list is of key products and services to consider when aiming to gain productivity benefits from shared access to team data. Please note that this list is not exhaustive, and the following products do not necessarily deliver all of the capabilities outlined above.

• Lotus Notes and Domino. The product is widely used, has a definite future, and a strong and loyal base of business partners who support customers in the field. See www.lotus.com.
  
• AfterMail. AfterMail integrates with Exchange, Domino and other Internet-compliant email servers to capture a copy of every message sent or received. The copies are stored in a relational database, and a unique copy of every attachment is also stored. The capability to provide shared access to a specific subset of emails and documents is the one that stands out to me. This access can be via a Web browser (and thus potential supports cross-organizational teaming initiatives), or via an RSS feed to an RSS newsreader. The product appeals to me for its ability to deliver shared access without asking end users to change the way they use email today. See www.aftermail.com.
  
• Groove Virtual Office. Compared with AfterMail, Groove is at the opposite end of scale in terms of impact on the end user. Users must have the Groove Virtual Office installed, must do their work in one of the Groove shared spaces, and must use a Windows PC. If those restrictions can be embraced, the Groove Virtual Office offering delivers on the requirements for shared access to team data. See www.groove.net.
  
• Xythos WebFile Server and Document Manager. Among other things, the Xythos offering centralizes files in a shared document management system that is accessible from multiple locations. The documents can be edited without removing them from the centralized location. See www.xythos.com.
  
• Interwoven WorkSite. Although it is heavily focused on legal firms, WorkSite provides many of the capabilities required for shared access to team data. The soon-to-be-available offline access client will further flesh out WorkSite’s capabilities. See www.interwoven.com.
  

What’s Next?
This concludes my discussion on the first pillar of IT-enabled team productivity. Next time I will be discussing pillar 2: ubiquitous access to the team data, people and applications. The 7 pillars work together to increase team productivity, so the above discussion probably seems lacking in some areas. I aim to resolve those areas of limitation by the time that all 7 have been explored.

If you want to discuss any of the points I’ve raised above, then please drop me an email or leave a comment. Thanks for reading.

Yours in pursuit of greater team productivity.

Comments

[Chris Duncan]

You've posted some thought-provoking ideas here Michael and I look forward to reading the rest of this series. I'd just like to mention that a UK company, called PopG, have developed remote access services for Groove. Check out http://www.popg.net

[Michael Sampson]

Chris, thanks for your feedback ... appreciate your words. Yes, I know about PopG; thanks for adding it to this page. I should have mentioned it here, although do make reference to it ... but not by name ... on Pillar 2.