Dynamic collaboration participant-driven agile processes for complex tasks

• Published in: ACM SIGMIS Database: the DATABASE for Advances in Information Systems Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 95 - 115
• Main Authors: Helquist, Joel H., Deokar, Amit, Meservy, Thomas, Kruse, John
• Format: Journal Article Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York ACM-SIGMIS 01.05.2011
• Subjects: Alliances; Collaboration; Complex systems; Decision making; Information processing; Product development; Skills; Studies; Success; Task analysis; Teams
• ISSN: 0095-0033; 1532-0936; 1532-0936
• DOI: 10.1145/1989098.1989104

Groups and decision makers are increasingly running headlong into complexity as interconnections and interdependencies between individuals and organizations continue to grow, decision time horizons shrink and more work is being performed by distributed teams. These factors are driving up overall problem space complexity and limiting the effectiveness of time-tested decision and collaboration processes. Increases in problem space complexity lead to higher equivocality in collaborative processes and associated products. Electronic collaboration support tools and associated process management schemes have proven successful in many challenging contexts. However, current collaboration process management schemes and tools may not be able to effectively handle more complex tasks. We posit that heightened problem space complexity must be addressed with commensurate process and technological support for collaborative efforts. To achieve truly agile collaborative solutions, we propose Dynamic Collaboration -- a process management scheme that utilizes group consensus, and process evolution via iterative process alignment and product refinement phases to meet the challenges posed by complexity and equivocality.