What Makes Spatial Collaboration Actually Work

There’s a difference between tools that people use because they have to and spaces where genuine collaboration happens. Over the past months, watching teams work in Glint has taught us more about what makes spatial collaboration work than any amount of theory ever could.

It’s Not About the Canvas

Here’s what surprised us: the infinite canvas isn’t the magic ingredient. Sure, it’s important - you need room to spread out, to see the whole picture, to organize things spatially. But that’s table stakes.

What actually makes spatial collaboration work is something subtler: the ability to think and work at the same time, in the same space, without getting in each other’s way.

Traditional collaboration tools force you to take turns. Video calls are one person speaking at a time. Documents are one cursor at a time (or chaos). Chat is one message after another in a linear thread.

But real thinking doesn’t work like that. Real collaboration is messy, non-linear, and often happens in parallel. Someone’s sketching an idea in one corner while someone else is organizing notes nearby. Two people are deep in discussion while a third is quietly arranging reference materials they’ll all need later.

The Feedback That Matters

Teams tell us Glint feels different because:

“I can see what my teammates are thinking, not just what they’re saying.” The act of moving things around, organizing, highlighting - it’s all part of how we think. When you can see that process happening, collaboration becomes richer.

“We don’t have to schedule time to work together.” Drop into a shared space, see what’s happening, contribute when it makes sense, step back when you need focus time. It’s collaboration that respects flow states.

“Our work doesn’t disappear after meetings.” Everything persists. The brainstorm from Tuesday informs the design review on Thursday. Context builds over time instead of being recreated from scratch every time.

What We’re Learning

Every team uses Glint differently, and that’s exactly the point. We’re not trying to prescribe a workflow or force people into a specific way of working. We’re building a space that adapts to how teams naturally want to collaborate.

Some teams treat their Glint rooms like living project boards that evolve throughout a project. Others use them for intensive collaborative sessions - workshops, design sprints, strategic planning. Some keep persistent spaces where team members casually drop in throughout the week.

All of these are valid. All of these work. Because the tool gets out of the way and lets teams find their own rhythm.

The Human Element

Here’s what we keep coming back to: tools should amplify human abilities, not replace them.

AI can summarize our meetings, organize our notes, even generate ideas. That’s useful. But the magic of collaboration - the unexpected connection between two ideas, the spontaneous conversation that leads to a breakthrough, the shared understanding that develops when people truly work together - that’s irreducibly human.

Spatial collaboration works because it gives humans room to be human. To think spatially because that’s how our brains work. To collaborate fluidly because that’s how good teams operate. To build context over time because that’s how understanding deepens.

The Work Continues

We’re constantly refining what we’ve built. Every interaction teams have in Glint teaches us something. Every piece of feedback helps us understand what’s working and what could be better.

The goal isn’t to build the perfect collaboration tool - it’s to build a space where teams can do their best work together. Where the technology fades into the background and human creativity takes center stage.

That’s what makes spatial collaboration work. Not the features or the technology, but the space it creates for humans to think, create, and collaborate in ways that feel natural.

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How does your team collaborate? What makes it work (or not work)? We’re always learning from how people use Glint. Share your thoughts at hello@glint.so