What goes around, comes around.

Microsoft Loop and the karma of continuing collaboration

I have been using Microsoft Loop for months now to work on projects with team members. I have learned one principle that determines successful collaboration in Loop workspaces and components.

Let me explain. You are working with your team on a task or an idea. Your team members work at different times. While we all enjoy a good real-time co-authoring session, we work on a task when we can. Our collaborative efforts often don’t occur at the same time. So when we want to contribute, we need to be able to easily pick up from where other’s left off. Or even where you left off from the last time you worked on the Loop page. That means we need to think of others and our future selves when we add to a Loop.

Renowned author Ernest Hemingway used a principle that helped him maintain momentum between writing sessions. He didn’t finish writing for the day until he knew what he was going to write next. Then left his future self notes to pick up from where he left off.

We can take the same approach and extend it to collaborating with our team in Loop. Think of our team members and what they would need to know to continue our work.

• Finish your idea and your sentence. Even if it isn’t perfect, we can return to it, pick up the thread of that thought and improve on it.

• Leave a short comment with notes about the thoughts and direction of your contribution.

• Add a link to the document, web page, or reference that you were using at the time so we can easily return to it.

• Take a screenshot of the thing that was your focus while you were contributing and paste it into the Loop page. A picture saves you a thousand words and triggers memories of what you were working on at the time.

I also think of the concept of Karma, or at least good karma. Think of your team members and of your future selves when you collaborate in Loop. Contribute with good intent, leaving notes for your team to continue your work. What goes around, comes around, in a good way. Our team can continue the momentum of the idea, the task, and the project. You might find that your team will catch on and do the same for you, building a culture of continuing collaboration.