Collaboration exists when two or more individuals or groups work together toward a common goal or purpose. Two key factors in successful collaboration are effective communication and diversity awareness so that creativity, flexibility and innovation flourish. Recently, I had the opportunity to become a “fly on the wall” during a collaborative effort at my workplace.
A work group (Users) in need of a new application to more effectively perform their function had been working with an information services work group (Developers) for over a year. This project recently hit a “road block” when the Developers presented the program for testing and the Users discovered that it did not meet the requirements they believed were specified during the analysis and design (A&D) or the requirements phase of the project. Needless to say, the groups went back and forth and no one was happy. The turn in the road came when a new business analyst was assigned to the project who scheduled a meeting between the Users and the Developers. The business analyst facilitated the meeting where the original A&D and requirements documents were reviewed to find out that what the Users said/meant was not what the Developers heard/understood. Below are the demographics of the two groups:
The Users group
- 30 – 55 years of age
- two men, three women
- four Caucasian, one African-American
- total of 24 years of experience with the software program
The Developers group
- 26 – 31 years of age
- three men, one woman
- three Caucasian, one Asian-American
- total of 31 years of software development experience
The perspective of the Users group stems from their experience working with the software and intuitively knowing what they need to more efficiently perform the daily activities of their job. The Developer’s perspective is grounded in their expert knowledge of software development and the “behind the scenes” workings of the software program. Although it seems these perspectives are complimentary and provide a foundation for a successful collaborative exercise, communication at the onset of the project was not as clear as all involved had believed. During the meeting facilitated by the business analyst it became clear that both groups did not “speak” the same language during the A&D and requirements phase of the project. The Users spoke in terms of results of their data input and what they expected to be displayed on screen. The Developers listened with the intention of providing the results within the parameters of the software programming. The facilitation uncovered the miscommunication and during the review of the requirements and business rules, each group had the opportunity to clearly express their desire and expectation as well as ask questions for clarification. At the end of the meeting, both groups left feeling the project was headed in the right direction and that their needs would be met. Clear communication and awareness of the other group’s perspective facilitated by the business analyst were key factors in this collaborative effort.
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