A study published in the McKinsey Quarterly in October suggests both why productivity improvement is needed in the collaborative work world and ways to bring it about. Collaboration can be improved by understanding the requirements for specific tasks, identifying which tasks create the most value for the organization, and identifying any inefficiencies and wasted effort that may be reducing the productivity.
Why is productivity improvement needed? McKinsey's researchers estimated that at least 20 percent and as much as 50 percent of collaborative activity results in wasted effort. Even if we are on the low end here at the SAP Community Network, that is still a lot of expensive effort for naught, so it behooves all of us to ensure that our collaborative work adds value.
So what are the objectives of our collaboration here at the SAP Community Network? SAP's concept of co-innovation - customers and partners working together with SAP to bring about solution improvements - is a key area where we are seeing the value of effective collaboration. The SAP Mentor initiative is one way that SAP is fostering closer relationships among thought leaders including customers, partners, and SAP employees. The ASUG Influence program is another successful collaboration model, as well as several recent collaborative books produced by members of our community. The use of web technologies such as the wikis and the Collaboration Workspace support this kind of teamwork. Perhaps you can think of other such successful collaboration initiatives in our community.
Thei McKinsey research team documented 10 forms of wasted effort in collaboration, including:
- Divergence/ wasted effort due to politics or mismatched goals
- Misunderstanding
- Undercommunicating
- Interpreting communication or artifacts
- Searching for information or the right resource
- Wasted motion in handoffs
- Excess processing or creation of excess artifacts
- Translation/ conversion to new outputs
- Waiting for reviews and approvals
- Incorrect use of methods and technologies
One of the forms of waste that may sound familiar is what McKinsey called "interpretation" waste, such as when the content of digital communications is reworked for different distribution channels and different audiences. Co-authored documents such as wikis can help reduce this kind of waste. Some of the forms of waste may sound familiar to you when you consider the collaboration that is ongoing in your workplace and other organizations; I encourage you to take a closer look for improvement opportunities.
Our use of web technologies here in the SAP Communities has us well positioned for effective collaboration, but it is in all of our best interests to watch for inefficiencies that can creep into our processes and undermine our efforts.
I would like to acknowledge the researchers and authors of the McKinsey study, James Manyika, Kara Sprague, and Lareina Yee, and extend my appreciation to the McKinsey Quarterly for granting me permission to quote their work.
