This is the second in a series of posts about the "rules" of deploying collaborative technology in an organizational context. Read about the first rule here.

Last week, we talked about the importance of heading into any implementation of collaborative technology with your eyes open, and truly understanding why you've decided to launch a blog, start a wiki, or whatever your favorite flavor of web app happens to be. But that advice raises another critical question: How do you know when you're doing it right? Mass collaboration isn't a panacea. What it does do is give leaders an opportunity to bring data and people together in new ways. Today's most effective leaders are focused not on how they can solve a problem, but on who to pull into the problem-solving process.

The rule sets for all of this aren't defined, and the need is great. Collaboration is all about making government better, and the key to "doing what's right" is approaching every problem from a good-government perspective. The best collaborations in government come from leaders that aren't constrained by vertical hierarchies and see a need to bring multiple players together to solve a challenge.

One of the most impressive examples of this is also one of the most simple: The Environmental Protection Agency's Puget Sound Information Challenge. The Puget Sound is a body of water that branches off of the Pacific Ocean and stretches over a hundred miles into the northwestern coast of Washington State. In theory, the EPA has responsibility for regulating and ensuring the quality of Puget Sound's water. The thing is, though, the Puget Sound is a pretty important waterway to a pretty large number of people:

The urban region designated the Puget Sound Region is centered on Seattle, Washington, and consists of nine counties, two urban center cities and four satellite cities making up what has been dubbed "Pugetopolis". Both urban core cities have large industrial areas and seaports plus a high-rise central business district. The satellite cities are primarily suburban, featuring a small downtown core and a small industrial area or port. The suburbs consist mostly of residences, strip malls, and shopping centers. The region is also home to numerous ports. The two largest and busiest are the Port of Seattle and Port of Tacoma, which, if combined, comprise the second largest container port in North America after Los Angeles/Long Beach.

In this case, it's more about deploying collaboration in an agency by realizing that bringing a wider array of stakeholders into the process wasn't just a neat idea; it was also the right thing to do. In a situation where the environmental quality of one waterway affects so many different populations, why should only one agency have responsibility and authority for regulating it? Molly O'Neill, EPA's CIO, answered this question by establishing a wiki site that challenged anyone with passion and expertise about the future of the Puget Sound to lend their voices and inform the way EPA measures water quality there.

During the course of the 36 hour challenge, the site received more than 175 contributions of ideas, data and applications, and over 18,000 page views. Notable submissions included a NASA employee who shared information on interpreting air quality data from space, and members of the U.S. Geological Earth Observation Community who offered guidelines for utilizing remote sensing data indicators to measure water quality. Also, an impressive example of intergovernmental collaboration occurred when EPA scientists worked with Transportation Department employees to develop an idea to equip Puget Sound ferryboats with environmental monitoring equipment. Here's Molly talking about the success of the experiment.

The bottom line here is that pulling more voices into a discussion of the Puget Sound wasn't just a neat idea from a technology perspective; it was also the right thing to do from a governance perspective. The technology simply enabled tapping everyone – from other agencies, to stakeholder groups, to the citizenry at large – to change the game and get results. When it comes to thinking about when to deploy collaborative technologies, just do the right thing. Success will follow.