"Tell me and I'll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I'll understand"

Is this chinese saying Ray Ozzie's mantra?

Does your team GET collaboration?

A successful Groove project is about "collaboration". If one team member is dead set against collaboration then Groove may not be right for your team! A reason why Groove projects do not work is that a minority of the team do not "get", or even want to get collaboration.

The benefits of collaboration include:
- speeding up of the processes by
- removal of bottlenecks
- greater personal satisfaction to all players
- greater feelings of being part of a team
- better focus on the goal

If one or more team players (cough!) only play lip service to working in "a team" then Groove as a solution will not work. If a team player is not really a team player then they may need specific training. And if that fails you may need a replacement team member!

I often think that job interviews for team players ought to include "the Groove test". If an interviewee fails the Groove test then, by definition, they are not a team player. Certainly if your team is committed to Groove then there is no point having someone join the team who does not get it. If you have someone working in your project team who does not sign up to Groove then they can demoralise the whole team.

You need 100% support. 90% support does not mean 90% success, it means 100% failure. You need 100% support.

Groove is peer-to-peer at a technology level, but that is not all: it is is also peer-to-peer at a human level. Make sure your team can repeat that kind of thought as the team mantra.

We all want something for nothing, and on the Internet we want to pay even less!

So much of the success of the Internet is that so much of it is free. Not only that but, for those who are open to new ideas, the Internet is helping to drive down costs. And on some occasions the savings can be extraordinary. I am often shocked by the restrictions that most US people find that their telecoms suppliers place upon them. We are a UK company and we are fortunate that our call costs supporting people in the USA are less and more flexible than for many US citizens. So the good news is that if you shop around that costs can come down.

The other side of the coin is that when you are selling your prices are under continual pressure - downward. And so much of the Internet is free. Free websites, free knowledge, free support and free downloads. Groove has its trial edition which gives 60-days "free use", PopG has 14 days. Where does it end? Because in the end each of us has to pay bills, personal and business.

One way of extending "freeness" is with advertising and other forms of sponsorship. In the end this means you supplying marketing information at least and possibly rising to a sale. And that is how the Internet stays "free". So many websites now carry googleads, amazon links or other advertsing driven links. This is how you pay, this is how costs are kept down.

Until, at some point you have to pay for a product or service. And then what you want is something called "quality". Quality to me is about appropriateness, no-one wants a Ferrari to do some off-road driving, and I hope you don't get to drive round a high-speed test track in a tractor.

Does Sharing imply Caring?

I have been staggered at the supportive efforts of people with whom I have communicated over Groove. From my side I also try to give that same kind support wherever and whenever. In my mind this is part of what this wacky technology is about. And that, perhaps I am naive, is why I do not mind any military person or group getting access to this technology. If a future redefinition of the word "military" moves towards the term caring, can that be a bad thing? If the sub-plot of Groove is to become a supportive influence across groups, across societies, across strife torn zones.

Groove is not alone here: there are other new technologies such as Wiki, Blogs and more that are redefining how we communicate and opening up new and useful options. Conflict breaks out when communication breaks down. Bring in a range of proven technologies that provide a breadth of techniques to maintain the slightest strand of talks open at least, and with any glimmer of hope actually provide a framework to move those talks forward, even to the stage when people can communicate verbally.

In my book sharing does imply caring, and making a sometimes subtle, yet almost always positive difference to society.

Sharing is never easy

Start with human relationships and add in a warp factor nine of technology, and it is not surprising that sharing sometimes feels more like suffering. But as with good human relationships, if you work at this then the elation of success is something else.