How Analytics Can Improve Collaboration

For as long as I can remember, I've been a numbers guy. Credit my early years playing sports and collecting baseball cards or perhaps my father's facility with math. I wouldn't have survived at Carnegie Mellon if I were quantitatively challenged (Even the poets there know how to code, but I digress.) Regardless, I've generally abided by W. Edwards Deming's credo, “In God we trust; all others bring data.”

Analytics can make individuals, teams, and even entire companies far more efficient.

It should be no surprise, then, that my expectations for collaboration and productivity tools go beyond "getting the job done." That is, I don't just want to filter my inbox to see the number of messages to which I've replied. As I've said many times before, e-mail begets more e-mail. More e-mail doesn't necessarily make you more productive. In fact, I'd argue the opposite.