A Study of Thousands of Dropbox Projects Reveals How Successful Teams Collaborate

by Adam Pah, Brian Uzzi and Rebecca Hinds

July 20, 2018, Updated July 26, 2018

Martin Konopka/EyeEm/Getty Images

Summary.

The use of virtual file-sharing platforms like Dropbox, Google Docs, and others has become ubiquitous in business, academic, and other settings. But is your team using such collaborative platforms as effectively as they could be?

Adam Pah is an assistant professor of Management & Organizations at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and associate director of the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO).

Brian Uzzi , is a professor at The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. He co-directs the Northwestern Institute on Complex Systems (NICO) and teaches in the new MBAi program, focused on business innovation and the complex technologies that drive it forward.

Rebecca Hinds is head of Asana’s Work Innovation Lab. She holds a PhD from Stanford University and frequently advises organizations on their meeting, technology, and distributed work strategies. Her work and insights have been featured in publications such as Harvard Business Review, TIME, the New York Times, Forbes, Inc., and the Wall Street Journal. Follow her on LinkedIn.