This document summarizes current trends in virtual teams. It discusses what virtual teams are, key driving forces behind their increased usage, and benefits of virtual teams. Some emerging themes around virtual team performance and composition are also covered, including the importance of focused communication, rigorous planning, and assessing team member suitability. Communication tools and virtual workspaces that support virtual teams are also outlined.

1. CURRENT TRENDS IN VIRTUAL TEAMS Kankan Paul

10. “Virtual Workspaces” Table 1: “Virtual Workspace” Features[9] # Name of Feature Description of Feature Electronic whiteboards Online whiteboards for posting short messages or bulletins Collaborative document editors Tools to allow editing of documents by multiple team members Instant poll capabilities A tool to gauge member opinions on issues under discussion Instant messaging Pop-up messaging tools for immediate access to team members Calendars for joint scheduling Common team calendars showing team member availability Project repository Common repository for sharing project documents Discussion threads Any tool that enables threaded discussions, i.e. blogs, for conflict identification and resolution Embedded links Links to referenced documents included in documents and discussion threads to facilitate easy retrieval of documents Annotations to identify owners Located within documents identifying the owners of particular perspectives Versioning and change tracking A method to record and control changes to documents and easily identify current versions

15. References