Dana Rousmaniere

Most of us cringe when we think about office politics. It’s a disgusting, immoral mess that we try to avoid. After all, who wants to participate in backstabbing, lying, cheating, blaming, sucking up, and playing people against each other?

The use of virtual file-sharing platforms like Dropbox, Google Docs, and others has become ubiquitous in business, academic, and other settings. But is your team using such collaborative platforms as effectively as they could be? Whether working on cancer cures or the latest consumer-tech products, how teams collaborate affects their performance and success. We know a lot about how teams collaborate face-to-face, with regard to leadership, communication, conflict resolution, and other areas.

More and more companies are adopting software and product development frameworks like Agile, Scrum, and Kanban — which promote quick, iterative, lean production — to deliver higher quality products, faster. These methods help teams produce rapid, continuous improvements, via daily face-to-face communication and visual workflows.