The pro-innovation bias is frequently reflected in the deployment of new information technologies by IT departments. The implicit assumption is that IT innovations should be adopted, and if they are not, the problem lies with the target audience rather than with the innovation itself or with the diffusion methods applied.In this work, we have taken a usage model driven approach to identify innovative opportunities for improving collaboration within geographically dispersed teams of design engineers. Our primary goal was to establish the basis of a repeatable process using this approach in IT, driving the development of innovations that are desirable, useful, and usable to the target audience.A usage model describes users and their goals, as well as the context and process of system use. Our process focused on creating three model components: ethnographic data, personas, and scenarios. From these components, we identified short-, mid-, and long-term opportunities for improving the collaboration experience.