Collaboration & Scale

Not exactly that scale!

As collaboration (as a useful business concept) has grown, it seems the solutions have settled into niches based on the size of the target participant group:

• Whole-Organization:  Facebook Workplace, Yammer, SharePoint 
• Large Group\Divisions:  Facebook Workplace Group, Yammer Group, SharePoint for teams, SharePoint Communities
• Small-Medium Teams:  Slack, SharePoint for teams, SharePoint Communities, O365 Groups, MS Teams

Why the distinction?  Why does size matter?  Specifically, why can't small-group collaboration be done in a larger forum and vice versa?  I offer that as traditional companies adopt collaborative tools, there is a low-grade user concern that their casual, team-oriented posts might be seen - and judged - by others. We spend a lot of time getting teams to a comfort level where they are most productive and this concern can sabotage that effort. Having a clear delineation between "where the big bosses communicate" and "where we get our work done" is helpful and reassuring.