New Age Collaboration and Design

John Mannisto, Director of Engineering, Simulation-Based Design, Whirlpool Corporation

Global companies need to use their size to their advantage. Drawing on the best of our global teams and their collective knowledge is essential, and we need to provide the tools and promote the behaviors that can make this happen. Social media is outpacing corporate collaboration, and we need to pay attention. Facebook and Twitter have taught us that if you provide fun, intuitive tools, people like to socialize. If we can leverage this behavior in the work place, collaboration will thrive. Our internal experiment, Whirlpool Commons, is discussed, including some of the more interesting sources of inspiration (hint: they grew up with cell phones in their pockets).