Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to read the latest book by David Coleman – 42 Rules for Successful Collaboration. As the founder and director of Collaborative Strategies, David has been involved in the collaboration world since 1989. He’s a leading analyst, author and public speaker who has consulted with many of the top vendors in the collaboration industry. His blog is a great source for insightful information on current trends. I first met David myself at an Enterprise 2.0 conference back in 2007 and since then he’s provided us with much valuable advice on our own business development.

This is David’s fourth book dealing with collaboration, though his other books have tended to have more of an academic flavor. What I found so effective about this book was the simplicity of the format with which the ideas were presented. Each rule was concisely presented in a page or two. You can read through the book in about an hour or two and take away many valuable insights to help your business. I also liked the way that the book itself was developed as a collaborative undertaking, with over 3/4 of the rules being contributed by people from various fields who relate the collaboration issues they’ve addressed first hand in their organizations. This gives the book a diverse and very practical perspective.

As examples, here are the top 10 rules that I thought were most relevant to our mission with Cozimo:

• Rule 2 – Know Why You Are Collaborating
• Rule 4 – Include All of Your Stakeholders
• Rule 7 – Structured Communications Support Successful Collaboration
• Rule 22 – Accountability Is the Next Step in Collaboration
• Rule 25 – Collaboration Can Make Projects More Successful
• Rule 31 – Collaboration Tools Should Be Easy
• Rule 34 – Communication Improves with Collaboration Technologies
• Rule 38 – Persistence Is Critical
• Rule 39 – Use Visual Technologies for Collaboration
• Rule 40 – It Is Easier to Move Bits than Butts

To get the full story in a fast and easy read,  I would highly recommend picking up a copy of this very insightful and practical book. You can order it online here.