This document discusses virtual teams and remote work. It covers what virtual working is, scenarios for virtual teams, benefits, challenges, and strategies for addressing challenges. The key points are that virtual teams have greater access to skills and faster recruitment but also face human challenges like lack of trust and misunderstandings without non-verbal cues. Responses include establishing trust, setting guidelines, checking assumptions, increasing awareness of team members, and leveraging different time zones. Questions from attendees are addressed at the end.

1. PMI Switzerland Chapter
Dr. Deasún Ó Conchúir PMP
deasun.oconchuir@scatterwork.com
+41 79 692 4735

2.  What is Virtual Working
 Virtual Team Scenarios
 What are the Benefits?
 Virtual Team Examples
 Human Challenges
 Responses and Priorities
 Questions & Answers
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3.  Telecommuting?
 Flexible Working?
 Virtual Office?
 Collaboration?
 Other?
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4. Minimum Scenario
 Traditional working environment
 Some time and geographic flexibility
Demanding Scenario
 The team participants:
• Rarely (or never) meet
• Are in different countries and time zones
• Work for organisations which have:
• different legal status such as public, private etc
• different economic strengths, resulting in unbalanced
teams
• Multicultural environments
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5.  Greater access to
skill resources than for
collocated teams
 Accelerated Project
Team Recruitment
 Members of virtual
teams do not require Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
additional workspace
 Greatly increased networking which can
be leveraged to support Stakeholder
Management
 Your experience?
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6.  Clinical Trials for pharmaceutical
companies
 Industry Sectoral Task Groups charged
with assignments such as registration of the
use of chemicals
 Company Merger Teams, together with
their advisers such as consultancy firms and
banks
 New Business Consortia during the early
stages of formation
 Industry and Professional
Associations involving members in
different companies
 Your experience?
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7.  Form into teams
at the flip charts
 Brainstorm the
for challenges Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
and difficulties
◦ Focus on Human Challenges
◦ Do not discuss the solutions yet
(will be addressed later)
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8.  Human Challenges
 Within Virtual Project Teams
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9.  Brainstorm / exploration for
Responses, based on the
challenges already identified
 Focus on the same scenarios
 You may move to a different
team for this discussion
before starting
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10.  Responses to the Human
Challenges within Virtual
Project Teams
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11.  EstablishTrust
 Agree the Operational
Guidelines
 Check Assumptions
 Be Aware of the People
 Exploit Multiple Time Zones
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12.  The most important requirement for Virtual
Project Teams
 Even a suspicion that trust is absent will have
negative effects
 Response: Project Manager must show:
◦ Show genuine concern for the individual team
members, e.g. by active listening to team members and
stakeholders
◦ Demonstrate competence for the work at hand
◦ Encourage individual responsibility
◦ Emphasize deliverables , not how to achieve them
Ref: John Spence
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13.  Implement immediately basic rules of behaviour, e.g.
◦ How we agree meeting times
◦ How literally we interpret the start and finish times
◦ How quickly can we expect replies to e-mail
◦ Whether we can always expect a reply
 Priority of Speech over Written Communication?
Depends on:
◦ Time zones
◦ Competence in foreign languages (foreign from the
individual’s point of view)
 Respect for local rest periods: weekends, nights and
holidays?
 Use a Wiki to negotiate and publish the Operational
Guidelines
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14.  Misunderstandings arise from incorrect
assumptions
◦ Conscious
◦ Subconscious
 Example: Assuming that because a message
was sent, that it was received and
understood.
◦ “No response" might mean that everything is all
right
◦ OR that the question has not been read.
 Hold a group brainstorm during project
initiation to identify assumptions
◦ Use a collaborative Mindmap, e.g Mind42.com in
parallel with voice contact © Scatterwork GmbH 2012 14

15.  Presence: e.g available, do not disturb, away etc.
 Mood
◦ Working hard, ready for a break, etc.
◦ Use "what are you doing now?" type messages
 Current Local time
◦ whether or not it is within normal business hours
◦ take account of weekends and local holidays
 Current Location.
◦ Country Location
◦ Exact Location from GPS in the mobile phone and displayed as a
location on a map.
 Professional and Personal Information
 Team Building Communication
◦ Cake Competition
◦ Virtual Day Out
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16. Ì Reduce need for simultaneous
availability
s Maximize the simultaneous business
hours e.g. taking calls from home before
travelling to work
r Improve the simultaneous
communications for maximum
effectiveness
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17. Your
experiences?
Your questions?
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18.  Discuss personal “take-
aways” with your neighbour
 Write them down on PostIt®
notes
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19.  Collaboration Consultant at Scatterwork, offering
Project Management and Coaching services to
exploit the opportunities arising from
developments in Collaboration.
 Active in projects throughout his entire career, he
has been Manager, Project Manager, Consultant and trainer for
scores of clients globally, including Novartis, Swiss Re, Nestlé,
Ericsson and the European Commission.
 Author of forthcoming book
“Overview of the PMBOK® Guide”, Springer
Contact
 E-mail: deasun.oconchuir@scatterwork.com
 Tel: +41 79 692 4735
© Scatterwork GmbH 2012