Today, we have adapted physical objects that are used during the creative and strategic phases to the digital space (such as whiteboards, card decks and sticky notes) but we haven’t developed a digital space that is specifically focused on helping teams think and work effectively during this phase, and we certainly have not taken full advantage of the digital space for this purpose.

Without an effective system and collaborative workspace, teams move slowly, miss deadlines, and fail to take advantage of their human capital.

This results in inefficiency during this fragile process that can keep the team divided and keep decision making in the sole hands of one individual. This leads to questions going unanswered, and employees spending more time seeking information, looking for examples, responding to messages, or making assumptions, all in an attempt to provide clarity and accountability to their teams. This is particularly true during the ideation and strategic phase where each person has a personal way to think and approach problems. And while no thinking system is wrong or right, without a common thinking process that guides team decisions and actions, teams cannot align and move forward.

At Nova, we want to minimize work about work, reduce chaos and team misalignment and give individuals time back to focus on doing their best work. Teams need an all-in-one solution where teams go to think and make decisions, while the space coordinate people and work for them so they can scale, build better products and thrive. 

Despite the growth in collaboration technology such as project management tools and messaging apps, there has been little innovation in the thinking and collaboration phase—systems that help teams to plan, manage, and guide their collective thinking and the decision making process. 

This is why we founded @Nova.

Nova is a collaboration and productivity platform that leverages intelligent technology to help teams work together while coordinating the work for you – so teams can share their knowledge and get things done efficiently. Unlike other platforms –  Nova helps organize work by goals, people and deadlines and includes tools like whiteboards, tasks and documents to get things done in the same space.

Take a look at this visual diagram created by corporate rebels to see how Metcalfe’s law affects organizations. The larger the team, the more complications, check-ins, and meetings, the greater the uncertainty. As teams grow, they spend more time coordinating work and people instead of doing their best work. The result is slow progress and more chaos, which prevents organizations from scaling. However, this does not have to be the case. Technology today allows organizations to leverage their collective knowledge and teamwork without slowing down or spending extra time coordinating work and people. @Nova makes managing complex projects with multiple stakeholders and team members a breeze.