Collaborating Effectively

Basically, there are three ways that collaborative problem-solving can go astray.

Stalled, or can't get started.

Sometimes what you need is to get some wind behind your sails. Here are some things you can do to get moving:

• Ask questions!

• Are people working separately from the group? There's nothing wrong with that, so long as they keep the group informed of what they're doing, and if they're making progress.

• Are people being silent or simply not participating? Look for ways to include everyone in the conversation.

• One way to get things rolling is to check your assumptions. Another is to make sure that you all agree on a single interpretation, of the problem - what you're being asked to find out, and what constraints you're supposed to be bound by.

• Go back and look to see if people made suggestions or offered ideas that the group didn't seem to hear, and follow up on them.

• Would it help to adopt particular roles within the group?

• Consider some common problem-solving strategies to help you jump-start your session.

Going in too many directions at once.

You can deal with this by becoming more organized:

• Can you make more effective use of the software environment? Becoming familiar with features like references and the various whiteboard tools can help you keep your ideas from remaining scattered throughout the chat stream.

• Take a moment to summarize the group's activity so far.

• Consider changing levels by asking higher-level questions like "How did we get here?" and "What is it we're trying to do at this moment?"

Progress being disrupted.

This is often the result of some kind of mismatch among the members of the group:

• Is someone having trouble keeping up, and asking a lot of questions that are slowing the group down?

• Is someone being disruptive, e.g., making rude comments, or diverting the conversation from the main activity?