In a collaborative environment context is everything. Not every initiative can be successfully addressed in a de-centralized collaborative setting. The tools and technologies of collaboration are application specific. There is a regrettable tendency to take the toy of the month and try to make it the universal answer for whatever obstacles are presented. As one who has had the use virtually every collaboration tool almost as soon as they were available, I would say there are two keys to determining what tools to use and how. First is to recognize what is temporal basis for your collaboration (real time vs batch). When real time is required it is typically much more costly and is less effective than more traditional methods. The second key is to determine the true cost to implement. Most sucessful technological collaboration efforts ride on an infrastructure that already exists, rather than being implemented to enable collaboration. Useful? Yes, but context is everything.
Collaborative My Rear End
Just because the "tech marketing" folks call texting, IM, and twitter collaborative software doesn't make is so. I find I have differing response levels. It's easier to blow off someone you know only through texting, IM, or twitter that if you know them in person. It's also easier to blow someone off using texting, IM, or twitter than in person. Why do you thinhk so many people break up a relationship via some form of written message then face-to-face.
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