At a campus level, when we ask for support, opinions, ideas, and feedback, we collaborate. Technical designers and developers have historically been expected to fully understand the functional issues of a given project, design and develop it innovatively, and deliver it ahead of time with all the unspoken details accounted for. They have typically been guilty of delivering what was asked for but not what was wanted. Because they didn't, and couldn't, understand the real tasks and nuances of these tasks, and their customers didn't know what or how to ask for it. The era of the classic analyst is almost gone.
Collaborative development can manage customer expectations and meet development goals.
It enlists the customer as a principal part of the development team. They not only assist in the product design, but they actually do product design. The design team also enlists input from the actual end-users of the products. Typically designers are too close to the technology, and too close to the product or service, so this type of design support structure is necessary. The team also enlists the support of students to evaluate and test the product as it is being designed.