Ah... collaboration — the latest buzz phrase with the floor space nerds in technical companies. Move them back into a regional office where they can all get on separate conference calls and visit with their co-workers around the coffee pot a few times a day. :-). But don’t give them offices — that is too confined. Put them out on the floor jammed together so the “collaboration” of voices on separate conference calls sound like a third rate call center. I’m sure there is a Dilbert cartoon for this fad.
Collaboration is a joke.
My good friend has been on job interviews where management tries to goad him into the office “to collaborate.” His response is always the same:
“If local collaboration is so important, why is most of the team in India?”
In the end, all that matters is price.
In my friend’s experience interviewing, the companies that are hot on “collaboration” always have the worst open-plan offices. He calls them “buffet table” office layouts.