[THE VIEW]How a Single Link Has Transformed the Work Ecosystem

Collaborative Editing and Real-Time Communication
Redefining How We Work
Strategic Design of Information Flow as a Key to Corporate Competitiveness

These days, instead of attaching files when exchanging documents, it has become increasingly common to simply share a link. Rather than organizing lengthy feedback via email, people now leave comments directly on documents or signal their responses with quick reactions. Even when discussing designs or ideas, instead of delivering a finished product, teams create shared spaces where they can edit and revise together in real time. At some point, the way we work in digital environments fundamentally changed. Work is no longer completed alone and then handed off; it has become a process of collective creation and refinement.

This shift is not simply due to the emergence of new technologies. It reflects a fundamental change in the way information flows in digital environments. In the past, documents were 'completed and then delivered,' whereas now, it is natural to 'share works-in-progress together.' Flexible processes have become more central than static outcomes, and flow and context have become more important than format and style.

However, not all companies and organizations are accustomed to this way of working. Some still believe that organizing documents in Word or PDF files and exchanging formal feedback via email is more reliable. Especially in conservative industries, it is natural for unfamiliar methods to feel awkward. Yet, behind this discomfort lies an important question about corporate competitiveness. Organizations need to analyze whether their current practices persist simply out of habit, or because they remain the most effective productivity models.

Digital literacy is often understood as 'how proficiently one can use certain software.' However, the competencies required in today's corporate environment are much more complex. More important than technical proficiency with tools is the ability to understand and strategically leverage the new workflows those tools enable. Rapidly shared drafts rather than perfectly polished outputs, organic feedback rather than hierarchical reporting, and collaboration in open spaces rather than isolated individual work?these trends are necessary not just for efficiency, but because the ways information and human resources connect are undergoing fundamental change.

Organizational resistance to unfamiliar methods is sometimes linked to fixed mindsets. Intangible work habits, such as the belief that documents must be completed before they can be shared, often hinder digital innovation. Thus, true digital capability in a company is less about technological infrastructure and more about a culture that can reexamine established practices and experiment flexibly.

This transformation has already become a standard business practice in the United States, especially in Silicon Valley. In technology companies, educational institutions, and nonprofit project-based communities, 'draft sharing' and 'collaborative editing' have become basic protocols. It does not matter who first authored a document, nor is there a clear point at which a version is considered final. The key is that information is transparently open and exists in a structure that anyone can improve. Even in U.S. universities, there is a growing trend toward managing class materials and student feedback through real-time collaborative editing tools rather than traditional learning management systems.

However, this approach is not the optimal solution for every corporate environment. Real-time sharing and informal collaboration offer speed and flexibility, but they can also obscure accountability, cause cognitive fatigue due to constant connectivity, and lead to side effects in informal feedback processes. Some team members may feel excluded in documents that everyone can edit, while others may struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of feedback and decision-making.

Unstructured communication can foster autonomy, but without clear standards and context, it risks leading to information overload and evasion of responsibility. While technology has lowered the barriers to collaboration, it is increasingly important to closely examine whether such collaboration is truly open to all stakeholders and how decision-making and accountability are distributed.

The key is to strategically understand the ways information and human resources are connected and to reconstruct those connections according to the organization’s unique characteristics, rather than adopting them blindly. The digital capability of future enterprises is shifting from 'how quickly things are processed' to 'how precisely the flow of information can be designed.' In other words, what matters is the analytical understanding of how information is generated and moves within digital environments, and the ability to optimize those flows in alignment with the organization’s goals and values.

As the speed of sharing and collaboration increases, the interpretation of meaning, distribution of responsibility, and structure of feedback within those processes become ever more complex. What is required is not just the ability to use digital tools, but a management system that can strategically organize and coordinate the flow of information. This capability will become the core competitive edge determining future corporate innovation, internal communication, and the quality of knowledge production.

Son Yoonseok, Professor at the University of Notre Dame, USA