agile

Randy Nelson talks about how collaboration in Pixar draws on to principles of improvisation:

1. Accept any offer: when given a new idea try and work with it. Dismissing it causes the idea to be lost.
2. Make your partner look good: don't extend work on the basis of making it better, think of it of adding value.

One of the criticisms XP which is often questioned is its ability to be used in large groups and projects. Many have suggested ways to overcome this, from system architecture through to communities of practice. A particularly interesting take on though is Industrial XP, some thought has been given into making this a complete practice.
The approach taken is to have multuple XP teams providing some new practices for managing these teams:

Of all the practices of eXtreme Programming perhaps the most contentious is pair programming. Partly because not everyone likes pair programming, but also to some managers it is counter-intuitive: how can doubling up resources on a task be more efficient?

There is evidence to suggest that not only pair programming more
productive , but the system has more longevity. Through collaborative learning the design improves. My experience with pair programming is that although it is harder work it is more rewarding.

The The Word-Nerds have an interesting pod-cast explaining a well used metaphor in politics: The Ship of State. This dates back to Plato's republic. I've heard this metaphor reused in different ways by different authors recently. They point out that governor has its roots in the Roman word for Helmsman.

It shows how a good metaphor can be very powerful. It provides ways of talking about areas of the problem that everyone understands. It allows you to quickly express complex ideas and emotions. For example if you're sailing close to the wind then it implies more work, rougher sea and a narrower margin of error. Rocking the boat can be easily understood as something like sabotage; although in calm seas could be a joke. There are many.