We installed a new Exchange server not too long ago (Dovecot & Procmail are more my style, but you can't win 'em all). We didn't buy Exchange for its l33t MTA, but for its collaboration tools, and for those of us with a good mobile data plan (or deep pockets), push email via ActiveSync.
For whatever reason, it's down again which gives some pause to wonder about what could have been.
Email is an incredibly powerful communication tool not likely to displaced by twits, txt or anything else in the near future. It fails as a collaboration platform however, and it's not hard to see how.
Imagine I send an email to the product team in charge of widgetX. What proportion of the team will read the email? What is the potential for understanding? How many will file it for later reference? What's the probability that someone will reply to a subset of recipients thereby excluding others from the conversation? Pretty high I'd say.
Now imagine I post my thoughts to the widgetX product team wiki space, from where they're syndicated to team members. Assuming the same proportion of the team read the entry, has the collaborative nature of the wiki improved the potential for understanding? Probably.
There's no need for each team member to file a copy, as the wiki platform is the reference. And unless by design, no team members will be excluded from the conversation.
An organisation which claims to be an innovator really ought consider the impact of email-centric systems on both knowledge management and collaboration. It turns out the easy default ain't that easy.
Feed
Comments are now closed.