This project was both rewarding and frustrating. I worked with a small core team of two people, and I think we did an excellent job of “dividing and conquering” to get such a large project done in a relatively short time. But I really wanted this project to benefit from collaboration and inputs from our larger HRIS strengthening team. By the end of the writing time, most team members had contributed in various ways, through old-fashioned review and commenting, feedback meetings and contributing items to fill in the gaps. So I think in the end, it is a strong product that does accurately reflect the entire team’s expertise.

What frustrated me about the process, though, was that it was so tough getting to that collaborative end result. I knew it would be difficult to get everyone to participate as we are always pressed for time. I had tried from the start to set up processes to facilitate reviews as we wrote. The idea behind this was to spread the work out, make it easier for people to take part as they had time available and prevent the core team from having to face a mountain of work just as the deadline loomed.

Unfortunately, the “review as we go” idea fizzled. Everyone knew our timeline, and I guess it is human nature to push things to the last minute, especially when other demands seem to be more pressing. Everyone came through in the end, and I suppose that is the important thing, but once again I am left wondering how we can make this kind of collaboration easier for everyone involved.

Would it be better to micro-manage a whole lot more, making specific review assignments and setting deadlines within deadlines along the way? I don’t favor this approach because it goes against my philosophy of letting my co-workers figure out for themselves how best to complete their work, but I can’t think of any other way to avoid the procrastination syndrome. We are a virtual, far-flung team, so frequent face-to-face meetings to review jointly aren’t practical, and I don’t think meetings are the most effective use of everyone’s time.

This is something I will continue to grapple with, I’m sure.  In the meantime, here is some interesting reading on the subject:

• The Gov 2.0 Collaboration Project addresses barriers to collaboration in government, a work environment that is similar to ours.
• Leading Virtually addresses some common challenges and solutions for virtual teams.
• Here is an interesting description of “virtual distance” at the blog The Future of Virtual Teamwork.