Chapter 1: Groupware - The Changing Environment

By David Coleman

ISBN# 0-13-727728-8, Copyright 1997, 720 pp.
Now available through Prentice Hall

1.3 The Challenges of Groupware

Groupware supports this new way to work by providing tools to solve "collaboration oriented" problems. However, groupware functions in a sauce-technical environment, so focusing exclusively on the technical issues is a sure way to a very expensive failure. The most important lesson to learn when working with groupware is that while the technologies and infrastructure are new and interesting, they are only one part of the picture. Focusing on the people issues, the "sauce" part of the system, dramatically increases the potential for success. Remember, people systems are much more complex than technical systems.

When addressing technical challenges, a technical solution must be found. However, even if the technology solves the problem, works well, and is rolled out efficiently, support from the corporate culture is essential to the implementation's success. Further, even if the culture supports the groupware success, but there is no economic justification for a groupware solution, the implementation will fail. Finally, even if technology, culture, and economics combine to support groupware, the success of a project can be destroyed by politics.

Taking these issues into consideration, we have developed the following formula for success with groupware.

The further to the right a factor is in this equation, the greater its potential impact on the success of the project. It is important to address each of these factors in any groupware implementation.

1.3.1 Take the Groupware Challenge

Using this criteria, we have developed the following table to objectively calculate your organization's potential for success with groupware. For example, if your organization has a full client-server architecture and all the enabling technologies for groupware then give yourself a 10 on a scale of 1 - 10. Organizations with very limited infrastructure or only a few computers would get a much lower score, perhaps a 1 or 2. In the following example, XYZ Company, their technology usage is fairly mature, so their technology score is 8.

In the example above, XYZ Company is a manufacturing organization of the old school.

Culture:

XYZ uses technology for solutions and the people are only there to implement the technologies. Thus, their culture does not focus on solutions for human issues and XYZ Company gets a 2 for Culture.

Economics:

XYZ is the dominant player in their market niche, therefore, there is no real economic need to use groupware. It's the if it ain't broke, don't fix it school of thought. But executives are aware that groupware has enabled a competitive advantage at some of their competitors, so XYZ gets an Economics score of 5.

Politics:

XYZ is a snake pit filled with back stabbing, power hungry executives, any of whom might shoot down a groupware project on a whim. XYZ gets a Politics score of 3.

Scores below 60 are poor, those between 61 - 80 are fair. Scores above 80 are good and indicate a greater likelihood of groupware success. XYZ Company ends up with an overall weighted score of 39 points out of a potential 100; not very good. Groupware will not succeed in this organization unless some drastic changes are made. Insofar as change is a constant, changes will certainly occur. The question for XYZ is, will those changes be the right ones. Again, returning to the table above, XYZ is quickly able to identify the most problematic areas in order to address the right issues.

Another way to look at this score is as a snapshot in time. At this time, XYZ has a score of 39 and is not ready for groupware. But changes in their market niche could jeopardize their position as market leader, causing their Economics score to zoom to 10. This kind of market shift would impact the other criteria as well, perhaps bringing Politics to an 8 and Culture to a 6. Now, XYZ's total point count is 82, a much better score reflecting an environment where groupware has an excellent chance for success. Now use the table below to compute your company's potential for success with groupware.

Let's take a look at a company that did it right. The Oticon A/S case study (see page # for a detailed account of Oticon's experience), which Tom Peters also talks about in his books, shows how a company can implement large scale changes successfully. I fill out the chart for Oticon, based on the company conditions in 1992 to see how ready they were for groupware and how to rate their chance of success.

Given the fact that Oticon was faced with a change-or-die situation, they get a 9 for economic incentive. Because this was a political decision and the Oticon CEO was able to convince his executive committee to get behind him, I would give the political factor a 10. This gives Oticon a score of 67 between politics and economics alone, which means that on our scale, they already have a fair chance of success with groupware. Also, Oticon's culture, just like most others is resistive to change. However, they are getting a good strong push from management because of the urgency of their situation. Therefore, I give them a 6 for culture. Because they moved to new building which was built to support this technology, and have implemented a new computing and network architecture to support their new processes, I give them a 9 for technology. The result, a score of 88, reflects an organization with a very good chance of success with groupware.

A score of 88 is a very high score. Working with the people in my classes, we have found scores in the 90's but rarely. My own organization, Collaborative Strategies got a score of 82, 6 points below Oticon! I guess we did not have the same do or die situation.

1.3.2 20 Rules For Success with Groupware

1. Find a groupware champion! The higher in hierarchy, the better. Get management's hands on the keyboard. By getting top management involved, they see the benefits, and you get a lot more support!

2. Groupware changes the corporate culture. Plan for it!

3. Pick a pilot project rather than trying to roll groupware out to the whole organization.

4. Pick a bounded project with a group that is supportive of both technology and innovation.

5. Pick a project with visibility and financial impact

6. Realize that training, maintenance, and support will be the majority of the cost, rather than the initial cost of the software.

7. Measure productivity factors before and after the project has started. This is a good way to cost-justify groupware!

8. Pick groupware software based on a specific business problem that needs to be solved and has not been solved successfully using traditional methods. Corollary: Don't pick the groupware first and then find a problem.

9. Make sure you have adequate planning, support, training, and maintenance for your project.

10. No single groupware product can do it all. Don't expect it to!

11. Don't expect software vendors to offer you all the services you need for groupware. You may need to use internal people or consultants to ensure your project's success.

12. Groupware is not a quick fix! As part of a re-engineering effort, it may take 2-4 years to see the results.

13. Listen to the people involved in the pilot project. They are experts on what needs to be done and can often suggest ways to better the process.

14. Don't be afraid to make changes! A pilot project is an experiment. Learn as you go.

15. Make sure the software you pick fits with existing systems. Try to amortize your LAN investment by connecting to your mainframe or other legacy systems.

16. You can't change people overnight. Be prepared for resistance!

17. People take time to change. Organizations take even longer!

18. It takes courage to change a corporate culture! Applaud those who are willing to change.

19. Be careful about paving the cow path. There is no point in automating a very inefficient process. There are no big productivity wins here!

20. Groupware can be very political. Make sure it is a big win!