Collaboration is “the act of working together to produce something”. Over the last ten years it has been billed as a magic bullet, and like so many magic bullets, it has become unfashionable to question why, how and if we achieve value from it. Which I think is a mistake that has eroded our understanding of it, and lead to the current magic bullet view.
In a previous post, I outlined what you can get access to when you collaborate. Just because you can though, it doesn’t mean that you should. There are four reasons that I think make collaboration worth consideration:
- You need something faster than your organisation can deliver it.
- Developing or acquiring what you need in-house is too expensive.
- Your organisation cannot create what you need because of regulations.
- You’re looking for the capability to become a customer.
Under any other circumstances, you should seriously question the need to collaborate. Collaborating is a build or buy decision that has to stand up to a cost-benefit analysis. If your organisation can deliver what you need fast enough and at a market competitive price, without violating any regulations, what justifiable reason do you have for collaboration?
Karl Melrose's Blog 