The goal of collaboration is not collaboration; it's results. It follows that to master collaboration is to know when not to do it.

You say the way to answer that new question is to calculate the collaboration premium -- or penalty. What is that, and how do I calculate it? You need to know three things: First, what is the cash flow from this project if we execute it very well?

Second is opportunity costs: What can we not do because we are doing this? What do we have to forgo because of limited resources, and what is the cash flow from that?

The third thing is difficult to calculate: What is the collaboration cost? If we can't agree on everything, we'll run into problems. How much will they deduct from the rosy estimate of cash flow from the project?

You subtract the second two from the first, and suddenly, it may not be looking like a rosy estimate anymore. If you're looking at a negative number, it's questionable whether you should do this project.