Co-ordination < Cooperation < Collaboration

This is one way a work group can improve their interactions and hence become a high performing team. Individuals and Interactions are crucial for a team to have a chance of being a successful agile team. I often see teams that are full of great individuals yet the team is not performing as well as they could be. One common cause of this is that they are all working as individuals and not interacting effectively. These work groups can become great teams by progressing themselves from Co-ordination to Cooperation to Collaboration. 

Co-ordination

Dictionary Definition: the organization of the different elements of a complex body or activity so as to enable them to work together effectively.

The working definition I use: Pursuing individual success over team success, by staying well out of each other’s work. i.e. Team members working on separate user stories within the same iteration. 

Symptoms at Stand ups: 

• Many user stories in progress.
• Reporting their status to the ‘leader’, not the team.
• No interest in user stories that are not their own.
• No concern regarding delivery of user stories that are not their own.

Cooperation

Dictionary Definition: the action or process of working together to the same end.

The working definition I use: Pursuing team success, by working as individuals. i.e. Team members working on separate tasks within the same user story. 

Symptoms at Stand ups: 

• Few user stories in progress
• Present their information to the team.
• Asking questions about user stories that they are not working on.
• Interest in the delivery of user stories that they are not working on.
• Rushing to select the most interesting tasks for themselves. 
• Rarely offering to assist each other.

Collaboration

Dictionary Definition: the action of working with someone to produce something.

The working definition I use: Pursuing team success, by working as one. i.e. Team members working on the same task within a user story. E.g. Test Scenario workshops, design workshops/sessions, pair programming, pair testing.

Symptoms at Stand ups: 

• Few user stories in progress
• Present their information to the team.
• Regularly offering to assist each other, especially when a user story is at risk.
• Requesting the team input into selecting the next task that will best help the team achieve its goal. 
• Regularly offering to pair with each other, and regular acceptance of those offers.
• Useful discussions often break out. It is sometimes hard to keep the stand up short because there is some much input and interest is effective plans and strategy.

Collaboration improves creativity

Effective collaboration results in something far greater than any contributor could achieve by themselves. Here are some creative collaborations, were I believe the result was superior to the input of any individual: Monty Python, Pink Floyd, The Beatles. They all bounced ideas off each other, helping each other to reach great heights. When separated they were all still great individuals yet failed to reach the dizzying heights they reached when collaborating.

Collaboration improves reviews

It is hard to provide an effective review without in-depth understanding of the work being carried out. That is why it is difficult and sometimes ineffective to review each other’s work when team members are just cooperating with each other. When team members collaborate with each other they are able to review as they progress, and/or review the work with deep understanding that results in superior feedback and hence a superior result. 

Collaboration improves planning

Planning is only as good as the input it receives. When team members are collaborating they are more invested in the work, and hence more motivated to provide input. Additionally they are more motivation to ask the tough questions at stand ups, that help teams deliver when the going gets tough.

Summary

Team members should aim to always be Cooperating and often be collaborating.