Help, moving to the virtual project office
I like going to work. A quick chat at the coffee machine, quick help with a stubborn Excel file - my colleagues are always there for me. What if my colleagues were spread across the globe and the team moved to a virtual project office? Would it still be the same? If Ralf Friedrich from GeProS - German Project Solutions GmbH - is to be believed, then the answer is no. But virtual project work doesn't have to be worse.
"Tyler? ... Have we lost Tyler?" This question from the moderator in the video "a conference call in real life" summarizes many of the experiences we have with conference calls in the course of our professional lives. We get lost in the confusion of voices or when the line breaks down. Considering that more than 50 percent of the information in a face-to-face conversation is exchanged through facial expressions and gestures, the conference call has a poor chance of winning the popularity contest of conference formats.
Last week, Ralf Friedrich opened up his bag of tricks for successful virtual project work in a presentation for the German Association for Project Management (GPM) in Friedrichshafen. After all, working in a virtual project office reduces travel costs and travel time. At the same time, virtual project work can increase personal productivity by up to 80 percent compared to "normal" teamwork1. All you need is a cozy virtual project office that allows for coffee chats as well as help with the stubborn Excel file.
Finding the right tools
The first step towards successful virtual project work is a suitable conference tool. Because nothing is worse than struggling with technology. Video support via webcam is particularly useful for smaller groups. Screen sharing is just as important as a chat function and a survey option. A survey option? Ralf Friedrich knows from his own experience that short, anonymous surveys during a conference are an excellent way of consolidating everyone's impression of the progress of work. And a lost conference participant is discovered immediately. However, proper training on how to use the tool is essential. Most conference participants only know a fraction of the functions or do not know how to use them properly.
However, virtual project work is not limited to the conference alone. WIKIs and workflow systems support the documentation of knowledge, the joint processing of tasks and documents as well as the rapid exchange of information via news, blog or chat. Creativity tools can be used, for example, to jointly develop mind maps and thus effectively organize virtual workshops.
In our agile projects at doubleSlash, we have had good experiences with a collaboration tool , which conjures up Scrum or Kanban boards in the virtual project office - transparent for everyone and easy to use for everyone.
The virtual team needs rules
Once the first technical hurdle has been overcome, collaboration within the team needs to be organized. While in an open-plan office a lot can be clarified on the spur of the moment, a virtual team needs rules. The must-have rules for conferences include punctuality and an accepted moderator with the right to intervene.
Building a virtual nest
However, technology and rules alone are not enough to bridge the distance between virtual team members. This is particularly painful if the team members already know each other. Virtual teams that have never met have an easier time of it. Doesn't that sound nonsensical? That was in fact one of the most hotly debated points in Ralf Friedrich's presentation. Virtual teams find it easier to develop their own team culture if the social network is built using the tools of the virtual world. This includes the private five minutes during a conference or the creation of profiles in social networks with personal preferences, from the pet cat to marathon training. And it doesn't have to cost much.
For example, we offer our projects at doubleSlash protected project rooms on the intranet with their own project blogs, where team members can also exchange information about the stubborn Excel file. The only thing we haven't got right yet is the smell of coffee.
The speaker's answer to the question of how to deal with conflicts in virtual teams was fascinating. Virtual role-playing games similar to Second Life can help the team to develop its own team culture and recognize conflicts in good time. However, as in real life, this requires a mediator.
Fitness check for virtual teams
A maturity model2 can be used to measure the extent to which virtual teams are already using their potential. Based on an assessment of processes, tools, culture and lessons learned, conclusions can be drawn as to how fit the virtual team is for successful collaboration.
Only virtual in the future?
"Only virtual in the future?" That was the provocative title of Ralf Friedrich's presentation. It almost makes you think that we no longer need physical collaboration in the real world. After all, if introduced correctly, all the potential of virtual project work can be tapped. I was not entirely convinced by this thesis. The face-to-face presentation at the GPM and the lively direct dialog with the speaker were simply too good for that. However, I will definitely take away one insight: Virtual project work can also be fun. You just have to know how.
_______________________________________________
1 http://www.gepros.com
2http://gepros.com/media/2 /D1103101/0181124809/VTMM-20110303-RF.pdf
