Supporting creative collaboration in globally distributed companies

Abstract

Creative ways of working with whiteboards and sticky notes are growing in popularity even in global companies. However, digital tools for enabling these ways of working, especially for geographically distributed teams, have still not been adopted in these companies. We present Tele-Board, a web-based digital whiteboard and sticky note system and describe how it was used in a large company at three locations. From system log data and interviews recorded after three months of use, we found that idea generation and feedback collection can be facilitated if a system offers real-time synchronous editing as well as asynchronous input. Interestingly, the users who were not located at the company's headquarters regarded the tool as very beneficial and used it more than their colleagues at the headquarters. We provide a detailed analysis of the study and important points for fostering the adoption of creative tools in large companies.