Water coolers are noisy places. Heated arguments, boisterous celebrations, and animated discussions make these locations the beating hearts of any team space. Yet if you want to really focus on some work, would you choose to sit near one?
Collaboration platforms seek to bring the water cooler online. Some of the bonhomie definitely gets transferred. Some ideas get discussed. Some events get planned. But much like in the real world, one tends to turn away from these “distractions” when doing “real” work.
It is not as if employees or their managers do not understand the importance of collaboration. Staying connected to a network can bring up unique perspectives and enable innovative solutions. But
… it is too damn noisy! Most of the stuff is not really important for me.
Enabling collaboration is not just providing a common space to discuss. It is about bringing together the group of interested people to solve a problem. Whether they use a whiteboard or online message board or just talk around a water cooler, is really incidental.
With the right people, water coolers(real or virtual) are not noisy. Sure, the decibel levels might be higher, but what is spoken is relevant to everyone and no one really thinks of it as noise anymore.
