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In the process of a project, cross-team cooperation is often required. However, problems such as difficult promotion, poor communication and schedule risks often occur in the process. How on earth can we achieve the goal of cooperation? I hope the following thinking can inspire you.

Differences between external cooperation and internal promotion :(here it refers to the promotion party rather than the coordination party in cooperation)

  • External cooperation needs to consider the level of interests of partners, according to the level of interests to promote the difficulty from easy to difficult;

  • Because partners often have their own priorities, schedule risks are often high;

  • Often do not have a good understanding of the partner’s working style and team experience, so more detailed confirmation and closer follow-up are needed.

  • Cross-team cooperation usually involves non-centralized work and high communication costs. Therefore, important contents (such as requirements, interfaces, and responsibility division) should be agreed in advance.

For cross-team collaboration, the following steps are generally required:

  • Step 1 Initial communication needs are often rough and vague, and cooperation intentions need to be communicated initially.

  • Step 2 Cooperation Mode After confirming the cooperation intention, further communication shall be conducted on the cooperation mode and division of responsibilities. Such discussions shall be repeated for several times to ensure the maximization of interests of both parties.

  • Both parties discuss and confirm specific details, such as confirmation of requirement draft, interactive draft, visual draft, etc.

  • Both parties evaluate the workload and agree on the delivery time points during the process.

  • Step 5 Technical design Communicate with both parties to review the technical design and agree on the interface design to ensure the technical feasibility.

  • Communicate with each side of the development process to ensure that any changes are synchronized to both sides.

  • Step 7 joint debugging and testing run through the whole process, test and repair the existing problems.

  • Step 8 Product acceptance demander verifies whether the deliverables meet the original demand.

In the process, how should the project manager ensure that the collaboration is promoted and achieved?

1. Define goals and benefits

In cross-team cooperation, the step-by-step communication process of intention is also the process of pursuing the balance of interests and maximizing the interests of all parties. Clarifying the benefit basis is the premise for cooperation. In this game, the following considerations should be taken into account:

  • Benefits and costs often need to be equal

High-interest parties often need to contribute an equal cost to define the scope of responsibility of their teams based on the balance of interests of all parties. If the interests are high to prevent but do less, often hinder cooperation, hidden dangers and risks.

  • The level of interest determines the way to advance

The high interest party is usually the main promoter, and the project manager plays an important leading and promoting role. If progress is found to be slow or blocked during the process, you can consider appropriately sacrificing your own interests to promote the enthusiasm of the other party.

  • Appropriate target disassembly

In the early stage of cooperation, sometimes one party has not established confidence and is uncertain about the cost-benefit ratio. At this point, you can properly disassemble the target, complete part of the first to see the effect, and gradually adjust and clarify in the process.

2. Build communication channels

In cross-team collaborations, where the work is often decentralised, it is particularly important to ensure smooth communication. Among them, some important points are:

  • Identify the contact person

In the process of multi-team cooperation, communication confusion, inconsistent information and high communication cost will occur if there is no interface person. Therefore, it is very important to clarify the interface person of both sides. The interface person can be specified in the meeting, preferably also can be recorded in the form of email, document, etc., for reference.

  • Build communication channels

Communication channels generally include email, POPO group, wechat group, regular meetings and other forms, which can be used in combination with different communication needs. The goal is to ensure the transmission and synchronization of information, and at the same time, attention should be paid to the promotion degree of the interface person in the communication process.

  • Make sure to reach a conclusion

In many communication processes, people tend to deviate from the direction while talking, or fail to reach an agreement between the two sides, which has laid a greater hidden danger. In the process of project manager, it is necessary to ensure the conclusion output of the discussion on important issues. If the conclusion cannot be reached temporarily, it is necessary to define the responsible person and node.

3. Tips I learned

Talk more, ask more, check more and push more.


In cross-team cooperation, project managers often play a more important role, which often contains a history of blood and tears, and we expect more communication


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