DEVELOPING COMPLEX COLLABORATIONS: BASIC PRINCIPLES TO GUIDE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

People have worked together since the beginnings of human time. Since then the forms of collaboration have barely changed. While a group of laborers building the pyramids of Egypt might seem to bear little resemblance to a team of machine operators working in a plant, they actually have much in common. Both groups are made up of people of similar backgrounds with clear loyalties and interests, interacting face-to-face to perform relatively well-defined tasks in pursuit of a shared goal.