Playing by new rules working in a virtual world

1. Presented by Sue Drake President and Founder Drake Resource Group, Inc www.DrakeRG.com PLAYING BY NEW RULES: Working in a Virtual World Sue Drake President, Drake Resource Group www.DrakeRG.com

10. Thank you for your time today! We look forward to hearing from you! Susan L. Drake President, Founder [email_address] Thank you! For more information, please visit us on-line www.DrakeRG.com

Notes de l'éditeur

Welcome participants
Today’s world = rapidly advancing computer technology professionals are finding that they can work anywhere. These “free agents…” 20 million and growing every year Frequently work as members of virtual teams toward a mutual goal Physically separated and communicating primarily via electronic technology. While new way is often more comfortable and cost-effective than traditional business mode… … virtual teams are finding that, to be truly effective, they need to work in a new way and follow new rules.
Materials: Plain paper, Box of crayons, Blind Folds (Optional) Directions: Ask for three volunteers. Provide one crayon to each volunteer and one piece of paper. Have the members all hold the crayon and place it in the middle of the paper. Ask each member to draw a different part of the house: frame & roof, doors & windows, landscaping Allow about one or two minutes . When time is up, ask them to put down the crayon and debrief the exercise. Debrief questions: How does your house look? Is it what you thought it would look like? (Expectations) Why or why not? (Check on status) What problems did you encounter? (Risks) Why do you think these problems occurred? (Project plan) Move to next slide and discuss the proven strategies…
Would these strategies have helped? Key Points: When you are working virtually – you can’t always see what the other people are doing. You can talk, but often miscommunications occur when you are not in person. Using these strategies can help your virtual teams succeed! Transition to tools… Here are some tools we’ve learned about or have begun using to help our own virtual teams succeed…
The Web offers hundreds of ways to connect with your virtual teammates. Here are just a few. A project database tool, like WebEx WebOffice , a convenient way to access key information, presentations, documents, and more from an integrated, centralized location. even coordinates calendars. Online collaboration technology, such as GoToMeeting™ , enables team members to organize and attend online meetings on demand and view any application running on your PC. use it for client presentations as well as customer and employee training demonstrations. Web-based project management software, like ProWorkflow , can be customized to help manage projects, automate processes, and distribute real-time data. designed for than 50 users, provides a dashboard of all the details of a particular project and enables your team members to keep accurate time-keeping records. Conference-meeting tools , like www.freeconference.com File sharing source , like www.Basecamp.com ASK group if they have used other tools. Transition to first case study.
A roadmap to guide us. content still evolving, so our project plan consisted of a module-by-module approach rather than the design and development of all six modules at once. during development of first module, we ran into several unexpected roadblocks. we found we had to further clarify roles, responsibilities, and processes since we didn’t have the luxury of working through each issue in person as it arose. from this we learned that the project plan for a virtual team has to be much clearer than that of a traditional team. Flexibility and openness to continuous learning. constantly adapted our plan as we encountered numerous challenges along the way: technical glitches, time zone differences, language barriers, differences in cultural expectations, team member availability issues, scope changes, etc. we learned that it is very complex to support learners around the world and to accomplish this in a virtual team environment. Effective means of communication. we were all equipped with the essential communication tools—a computer with Internet access and e-mail and a phone with voice mail. sometimes, a phone conversation was critical to ensure that a design strategy was workable; at other times, quick e-mail messages were appropriate. a major difficulty in working virtually was that we were unable to pick up on non-verbal communication subtleties. as a result, we learned that we had to work harder at being good listeners on the phone and reading between the lines of e-mail messages. We also had to be more direct in expressing our opinions to each other. A common vision. Most importantly, we all shared the same commitment to completing the journey, and we were all focused on building customer and team member relationships as we learned together. Overall, we discovered that a successful virtual project team has the same traits as a well-functioning traditional team but places greater emphasis on clear communication throughout the entire process . Transition to next case study.
3 parties: the client, us and an Indian development team that we outsourced development to. We managed the relationship on both sides (client and development). Sometimes we found ourselves as mediator between high client expectations and realistic timeframes for development and delivery. Starter template. Each state had different nuances (language, screen shots, values for the system, etc.) to it’s application. So, although we had a scripting and development “template” to get us started, there was quite a bit of interaction with SMEs and client team members to understand these differences. Project plan & process. project plan was very detailed and was created by the client. state by state approach; decided to develop first state “in house” then pass development to India for other states. as we developed the first state, we came up with a process and refined it as we went along. we had to be very specific in our communication; had to test very closely for (streaming and platform) issues. learned that the project plan and role definitions for a virtual team has to be much clearer than traditional team. learned a color-coded summary project plan (at a glance) helped with understanding where we were in the plan. learned additional time needed to be added to timeline to accommodate work schedules and other client responsibilities that sometimes took precedence. Flexibility. constantly adapted our plan as we encountered numerous challenges along the way: technical glitches, time zone differences, language barriers, team member availability issues, scope changes, etc. Effective means of communication. all equipped with computers with Internet access and e-mail and a phones with voice mail. Email was a key communication tool, as was FTP software used to post and download the code and files. File sizes were very large and could not be sent via email – they had to be hosted. Sometimes, a phone conversation was critical to ensure that changes or expectations were understood. Major difficulty: keeping up with a detailed plan and concurrent development by different people. Weekly status reports and meetings were lifelines to keeping on track. Sometimes had to give and take of our own schedules to make things happen. Overall , we discovered that a successful virtual team has the same traits as a well-functioning traditional team but places greater emphasis on clear communication, and flexibility to accommodate different time zone work schedules throughout the entire process. Transition to end of presentation with benefits.
Discuss benefits. Ask group for others… Transition to additional resources slide.

Playing by new rules working in a virtual world

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Playing by new rules working in a virtual world

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