Author: Joe Ouye
This is Joe’s EDRA presentation in May 2006. (32 slides. He asks the question: Can dispersed team be as productive, quick and innovative as collocated teams? The answer: a qualified yes. The presentation covered a lot of ground, including the advantages and major challenges for teams working across distance, the top ten best practices for distributed teams, and trends in virtual collaboration.
Among his conclusions:
• Dispersed teams can be as productive as collocated teams, provided they have strong shared identity and context and are able to communicate frequently and spontaneously
• Teams seeking innovation or “breakthroughs” may be exceptions
• VTSs are quickly evolving to very useful tools for remote collaboration, but technologies only magnify the capabilities or deficiencies of a team
• Place is still important and will be essential, but its role will be different as well as its quantity and design.
