Transcript Document

Groupware
Failure Or Re-alignment
Acknowledgements to Euan Wilson (Staffordshire University)
Another definition
• First and foremost, groupware supports the
efforts of teams and other paradigms which
require people to work together, even though
they may not actually be together, in either time
or space. Groupware maximizes human
interaction while minimizing technology
interference
– David Coleman
• http://www.collaborate.com/publication/publica
tions_resources_groupware_book_section_1_1.
htm
Re-defining Groupware
• Groupware is a relatively new term, first coined
in 1978. The following definitions, the most
commonly used, are presented by industry
leaders:
• Intentional group processes plus software to
support them. Peter and Trudy Johnson-Lenz,
1978
• A co-evolving human-tool system. Doug
Englebart, 1988
• Computer-mediated collaboration that
increases the productivity or functionality of
person-to-person processes. David Coleman,
1992
CASE Study
• SmithKline Beecham
http://www.brainstorm.co.uk/CSCW/Case_stud
y/cs4.html
• .. estimates that every groupware user needs
to access the system for an average of two
hours per day for it to be effective
– At first, many senior managers, who
championed the use of groupware, failed to
show personal commitment in the use of the
system.
• … now faces the opposite problem, where
users are using groupware too much
– … employees receive a barrage of
information from Notes, and by email.
• … This affects the ability of some staff
actually to do their work, we have to guard
against information overload. The average
manager gets such a bucketful of email
every day, that handling it becomes a real
problem.
• And equally they are swamped with Lotus
Notes databases. On my desktop I have 20odd databases, a lot I need to review at least
once a week, and some I need to review on a
daily basis. I can't cope with that
• For example, people were unable to
assimilate the huge amount of
competitive information on rival
suppliers published in one Lotus
database. SmithKline Beecham reacted
by shutting the database down.
SYCOMT Project
• Re-alignment to centralised processes using
Groupware
• http://orgwis.gmd.de/~prinz/cscw96ws/rounce.
html
• … consequence of this dispersal has been the
development of a blame culture
• … in which they don't understand the
pressure/procedures
• facing a highly distributed organisation with
such a complex division of labour is that of
communication, ensuring that work proceeds
smoothly from one phase of activity to the next,
is passed on in a timely and coherent fashion
Conclusions
• the limitations of "shrink-wrap" software
• the level of expertise and experience of
the staff using the system
• the need to provide a simple process to
allow users to configure their work
• a series of issues concerned with
management in a period of change is a
complex and difficult process,
– especially when the changes organisational, technological & cultural are
being introduced concurrently.
Expanded with
• the changes in culture, organisational structure
and technology do not all originate from a
single integrated strategy and inevitably
tensions arise which involve reconciling what
can turn out to be incompatible goals;
• the need for a clearer understanding of the
necessary support at lower-levels for
implementing and managing changes;
• the problems which arise in implementing
strategically formulated change policies in
particular localities within the organisation;
• the practical prioritisation and reconciliation of
long term policy and short term contingencies
Orlikowski, 1992
• http://www.ai.univparis8.fr/corpus/papers/brown/chapter2.html
• describes the unsuccessful attempts to
implement Notes use in a large international
consultancy firm.
• Orlikowski covers a number of reasons, given
by the employees, why Notes wasn't used.
• Follows on from (Grudin, 1989) listed the
potential reasons why groupware
implementations fail.
• The reasons Orlikowski gives for the failure of
Notes fit neatly into Grudin's categorisations.
Both papers are summarised on the next slides
Reasons why groupware
applications fail
• Inappropriate Training Employees couldn't grasp
what Notes was
• No Motivation to do training Employees had low
motivation to understand Notes
• Top down installation Use was management
rather than peer encouraged
• Employees worried about database information
being mis-interpreted No intuition about the
status of `shared information' inside databases
• Violated Social • Worries about security
Security was a `norm' which
Taboos
has to be shown to be
respected - Notes was not
demonstrably secure
• Client lists were employees'
• Threatened
power bases so they didn't
existing power
want to share them with
distributions
others
• Disparity in
Benefit
• Individuals got no benefit from
sharing information, only risks
if information was
misinterpreted Employees
worried about information
being shared and
mis-interpreted.
GROUPWARE & SOCIAL DYNAMICS:
8 CHALLENGES FOR DEVELOPERS
•
http://www.ics.uci.edu/~grudin/Papers/CACM94/cacm
94.html
1)
The disparity between who does the work
and who gets the benefit
Critical Mass and Prisoners Dilemma
Problems
Social, Political and Motivational factor
Exception handling in workgroups
Designing for infrequently used features
The underestimated difficulty in evaluating
groupware
Breakdown of intuitive decision making
Managing acceptance
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Building & Prototyping Groupware
• http://www.hiraeth.com/alan/tutorials/groupware/groupw
are.pdf
• Its is hard
– Interface building + networking
– HCI people know about the former !!!!
– Concentrate on networking
• But it has to be good
– Crash in single-user
• One sad user
– Crash in groupware
• Disaster
– Concentrate on networking
Causes of failure
1.
2.
3.
4.
Hardware failures
Programming errors
Unforeseen sequence of events
System does not scale
• Large number of components
– 1 is more frequent
• Complexity of algorithms
– 2 more likely
• Interleaving and delays
– 3 difficult to debug
• Limited testing conditions
– 4 unexercised
Survival
• Network or server failures
– Robust, reconfigure, resynchronise
• Software faults
–
–
–
–
–
Defensive programming
Use simple algorithms
Verify
Unforeseen sequence of events
Debugging and testing
What’s so hard about Groupware?
•
http://idm.internet.com/features/groupware-1.shtml
• Before you start implementing groupware on
your intranet, I suggest you to take a look at
what makes it so hard to implement, and
sometimes even causes it to fail. What's so
hard about groupware? Very simply, it's
people. They're not only the hardest part,
they're also the most important part. It's
these people issues that make IT folks very
uncomfortable. We can deal with the
technical stuff, but it's just so much harder to
deal with the people issues. That's why most
IT groups are unprepared to implement
groupware, and why these projects are
fraught with risk.
• Groupware projects fail when companies try to
use them after downsizing to replace people
and to improve productivity. That's a mistake,
because groupware only works when employees
feel secure.
• They don't need to get some technology
shoved down their throats to cause them even
more anxiety!
• It's crucial for employees to know that the
organization is implementing groupware to help
them and support them.
• Groupware depends upon sharing, an alien
concept in many corporations today.
• Employees who value their autonomy and feel
that groupware brings Big Brother down upon
them. For them, their schedules become public
knowledge and available for other people to
manipulate.
• Employees and managers who hoard
information and believe that it gives them
power. When everyone has information, they
lose that power and no longer have an edge
over their competition.
• Secretaries and clerks who have everything
under control. Their efficiency gives them
power, but when orderly files no longer matter,
they risk losing their power base.
Factors That Contribute to a
Successful Groupware Implementation
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Change the culture to support collaboration.
Make sure employees feel secure and supported by the
organization because groupware only works when
employees feel secure.
Make it the users' project. Business users should own
it and make the product decisions.
Ensure good communication among everyone
participating in the project. Start the communication
early and keep it up.
The role of IT is to support and coordinate, not to
dictate and control. IT should create and support the
network infrastructure, provide communications, and
provide the resources necessary to make the project
successful.
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Don't dictate or decree anything.
Executive leadership and support can help to start the
change process and can eliminate obstacles. You don't
necessarily have to have executive leadership at the
very beginning when you do pilots, but it can be
helpful later to eliminate the inevitable resistance. If
senior managers make it known that the best way to
contact them is through a specific groupware tool, then
others will start using it as well.
Enroll the thought leaders and influencers early.
Plan for helping people with change.
Help people to see why they should want groupware.
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Have evangelists promote the idea at every
opportunity.
Plan for any training and support that you need. Do
you need more people or specialized training
programs? If so, get them. You won't get the results
you expect unless you anticipate and cover all the
users needs.
Plan for growth and be prepared to ramp up quickly,
just like with the intranet.
Groupware must provide benefits every day to users
and should be so compelling that they want to use it
because it improves their work life.
Apply the lessons learned at each stage to the next
rollout or application.
Measure the results if you can, but don't rely upon
results to sell the project. Many of the results are
intangibles.