☽ ✦ ☾

The Collaboration Arcana

A READING FOR THE YEAR 2022
The querent asks: "Which collaboration platform shall guide our organization through the post-pandemic hybrid era?"
IV
👑
The Emperor
Microsoft Teams · The Throne of Productivity
Upright — Strengths
Dominion over the Microsoft 365 realm. Co-edit documents mid-meeting. 270M monthly users by 2022. Channels organize kingdoms of work. Bundled free with Office — the ultimate power play. Together Mode and PowerPoint Live debut.
Reversed — Shadows
The throne grows cluttered. Notification tyranny exhausts subjects. External collaboration feels guarded. Copilot not yet born. Chat search remains cryptic. The learning curve intimidates newcomers to the court.
270M
Monthly Users
$4
Entry /user/mo
300
Attendees
1,000+
Apps
MAJOR ARCANA · IV · THE EMPEROR
XVII
The Star
Zoom · The Light of Connection
Upright — Strengths
The brightest light of the pandemic era shines on. 300M daily participants. Gallery view for 49 faces. Breakout rooms, polls, reactions, whiteboard. E2E encryption restored trust. Zoom Phone expands the constellation.
Reversed — Shadows
The star's glow fades post-lockdown as hybrid work shifts needs. Chat features remain shallow. No native document editing. "Zoom fatigue" enters the lexicon. Revenue declines for the first time in 2022.
300M
Daily Participants
$14
Pro /user/mo
1,000
Attendees
49
Gallery Tiles
MAJOR ARCANA · XVII · THE STAR
I
🔮
The Magician
Slack · The Weaver of Integrations
Upright — Strengths
Master of 2,400+ integrations — the magician connects all tools. Channels and threads weave organized conversation. Slack Connect bridges organizations. Workflow Builder automates rituals. Huddles add voice presence.
Reversed — Shadows
Now owned by Salesforce (acquired Dec 2020, $27.7B). Video calling limited to 50 participants. Message history capped on free plan. No native phone system. Expensive at $7.25+/user. The magician spreads thin.
18M
Daily Active
$7.25
Pro /user/mo
50
Video Max
2,400+
Integrations
MAJOR ARCANA · I · THE MAGICIAN
🏔
IX
🔦
The Hermit
Google Meet · The Quiet Guide
Upright — Strengths
No download, no fuss — just open the browser and connect. Deeply woven into Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive). Hand-raising, breakout rooms, and live captions added by 2022. Clean, minimal light.
Reversed — Shadows
The hermit walks alone — no standalone chat platform (use Google Chat separately). Limited engagement features compared to Zoom or Teams. Free plan capped at 60 minutes. Few third-party integrations beyond Google's own realm.
Free
With Workspace
$6
Starter /user/mo
500
Attendees (Biz+)
100
Free Plan Cap
MAJOR ARCANA · IX · THE HERMIT
II
🌙
The High Priestess
Cisco Webex · The Keeper of Secrets
Upright — Strengths
Guardian of encrypted channels. FedRAMP authorized. Noise cancellation rivaling silence itself. 2022 overhaul brings real-time translation, AI transcription, and gesture recognition. Webex Calling matures. 1,000 attendee capacity.
Reversed — Shadows
The priestess guards her temple too closely — UI complexity deters the uninitiated. Pricing opaque for non-enterprise seekers. Document editing requires external tools. Integration ecosystem smaller than competitors.
Enterprise
Focus
$14
Meet /user/mo
1,000
Attendees
100+
Languages
MAJOR ARCANA · II · THE HIGH PRIESTESS
🏗
XVI
🔓
The Tower
Mattermost · The Sovereign Fortress
Upright — Strengths
Open-source liberation. Self-host on your own servers — full data sovereignty. DevOps-native with CI/CD integrations, incident collaboration, and playbook automation. The tower you build and control entirely.
Reversed — Shadows
The tower requires builders — significant IT effort to deploy and maintain. Video calling requires third-party integration. Smaller community than Slack. Not for the faint of heart or resource-constrained.
Free
Open Source
Self
Hosted
DevOps
Native
Full
Data Control
MAJOR ARCANA · XVI · THE TOWER
The Reader's Interpretation
The cards reveal a collaboration landscape in maturation, two years after the pandemic reshuffled the deck. The Emperor (Teams) sits firmly on the throne with 270 million monthly users — its power derives not from charm but from the inevitability of the Microsoft 365 kingdom. In 2022, Teams added Together Mode and PowerPoint Live, deepening its grip on the hybrid workplace. Yet the reversed Emperor warns of complexity and notification fatigue that drives some seekers elsewhere. The Star (Zoom) still shines, but its light is dimming from pandemic peak. Revenue declined for the first time, and "Zoom fatigue" became cultural shorthand for meeting exhaustion. Still, for pure video quality and ease of external collaboration, no card matches its brilliance. The Magician (Slack), now under Salesforce's domain, continues to weave its web of 2,400+ integrations — but Huddles and limited video calling reveal the boundaries of its craft. The Hermit (Google Meet) walks a quieter path, offering simplicity within the Google Workspace ecosystem. Breakout rooms and hand-raising arrived by 2022, but the platform remains best for those who already dwell in Google's light. The High Priestess (Webex) underwent a significant 2022 transformation with AI transcription, real-time translation, and gesture recognition — yet her temple remains most welcoming to Cisco devotees and regulated enterprises. The Tower (Mattermost) represents the sovereign path — full open-source control, self-hosted data, DevOps-native workflows. It demands builders, not consumers. For those with the resources, it offers freedom from all vendor dependency. The reading concludes: there is no single card that answers every question. The wisest organizations draw from multiple cards, combining their energies to match the unique conditions of their hybrid journey.