APPENDIX 6: EXAMPLE OF CONSOLIDATED SEQUENCE MODEL

Identifying Collaboration

M2; M2—i.e., both examples that have been selected are from an electronic meeting

These two examples come from the second distributed meeting. There were other (less explicit) examples, but some of them were related secondhand and not seen directly, for example:

• S said that when he was abroad he dropped in on one of his colleagues with whom he had a good relationship, saw a project, and thought, "That would be good in the UK."

• W said that the possible collaboration with the Internet Telephony Unit came about because someone from PA happened to see a demo and thought, "We want to use that."

These were both serendipitous, but there were also occasions in the colocated meetings where it was expressed that more cross-team cooperation was needed. Here they were recognising a need and suggested ways for cooperation/collaboration.

There are two examples. One is general—"several areas where we can collaborate" and just highlights the possibilities. The second is very specific—"what we have here is…and what we need to do is…and this is who could do it." This happened on several occasions in the meeting—this one has been selected as being representative.

The people who act on the need will learn from their collaboration, but what about sharing the knowledge (if relevant) with other members of the group? If they create something—some of their knowledge will be embedded in it.

Another interesting point—they do not select people just from the CoP to work on these actions, but also bring in people from WWIT (the wider group).

Activity	M2	M2
Use artefact	Trigger: PA scans trough artefact on screen while WD talking about it	Trigger: discuss items on artefact
See possibility for collaboration	PA stop WD—seen several areas where we might collaborate	During discussion of artefact realize it would be suitable for collaboration
Refine possibility		Define need
		Suggest people to action this
Note collaborative action		Note action item
Move on		Move on

Activity	Abstract Step	M2	M2
Use artefact	Read artefact	Trigger: PA scans trough artefact on screen whilst WD talking about it	Trigger: discuss items on artefact
See possibility for collaboration	Notice area where could work together	PA stop WD—seen several areas where we might collaborate	During discussion of artefact realize it would be suitable for collaboration
Refine possibility	Discuss feasibility		Define need
	Identify personnel		Suggest people to action this
Note collaborative action	Record action to be taken		Note action item
Move on	Move on		Move on

Activity	Intent	Abstract Step
Use artefact	Communicate with colleague[*]	Read artefact
See possibility for collaboration	Work together to • Learn • Leverage • Share	Notice area where could work together
Refine possibility	Work out initial detail of collaboration	Discuss feasibility
	Create partnership/team to work on this	Identify personnel
Note collaborative action	Have history	Record action to be taken
Move on	Identify further possibilities	Move on
Key point to come out of this is the artefact that is stimulating collaboration
[*]In this case, the artefact was being used as a communication tool.