At Blue Lab Coats, DrdrA lists 10 rules for good collaborations. Topping her list is communicating with you collaborators — it also comes in at number 10 and is referred to at numbers three, five, six, and nine; it's that important. Also ranking high are "don't be demanding of your collaborator — we all have busy lives and many times things take longer than we wish they would" and "share your data with your collaborator.