No one is in the office anymore. When working in project management it seems like your working more with computers than people. This is due to the fact that lots of Project Management teams are broken up either by travel or offices in different cities. Although your not with someone in the same office they are still a team member and everyone’s participation is key to the success of the project. Luckily several virtual tools have been created to help us keep our teams connected.
Start off by motivating your remote team and holding everyone’s interest. Be respectful of each others time and keep time zones in consideration. When the team finally has a chance to get together us the time to get everyone on the same time brainstorming ideas, and making decisions. Empower everyone in the meeting to make decisions. Showing diagrams, meeting notes or issue logs that are being through virtual technology so the team can see what your talking about.
Bellow is a list to tools to help remotes teams collaborate:
- web meetings, GoTo meeting/Live meeting or Skype, great to see each others expressions
- speaker conference calls, quick and easy
- web-based collaboration tools, Central Desktop
There are many more virtual tools to explore look around and find what works best for your team. Although there are many virtual communication tools I still find it very important to take the time to meet your team at least once face to face. Please feel free to add any tools you use to conduct your remote business.
I am a young professional interested in the field of Project Management. I plan to blog about my current experience as well as research new ideas about Project Management. I hope to build relationships with individuals already in the field.
Marisela Fernandez 
#1 by Sumiko Maser on April 9, 2011 - 11:38 AM
Good points! For me, it’s can be a challenge working with others not physically located in my office but keeping the motivation to communicate on a continual basis helps. Not to mention all the wonderful technology that can be used to keep in touch. Thanks!
#2 by Marisela Fernandez on April 10, 2011 - 9:35 AM
Remote teams are the way of the future with all this new technology and globalization. Thanks for commenting!
#3 by shart81 on April 15, 2011 - 3:37 AM
Nice post. I find the best way to motivate remote teams is to make sure you listen and engage them. It is amazing how much people get enthused about the project when they know their role and that they are important to the project outcomes.
#4 by Marisela Fernandez on April 17, 2011 - 9:31 AM
Thanks, for taking the time to read and comment on my blog.