Management of Virtual Projects

Best Return on Meeting Time Investment

The article, "Getting the best return on meeting time investment" by Nancy Settle-Murphy, provides tips on how to make the most of a remote meeting.

Think twice about having some people participate in person while others join remotely.

This can create an uneven playing field for participants. It is best to have everyone join in remotely with equal access to the technology used for the meeting.

Plan your agenda to encourage engaging conversations that will accelerate time to results.

Being prepared is important. It is good practice to send meeting materials (or post) prior to the meeting. There will be less time spent on explaining material in the documents and more time coming up with a game plan and future steps. Asking participants to bring 2-3 ideas regarding the subject matter is also helpful.

Make use of asynchronous web conferencing to augment same-time meetings.

The author gives the example of opening an online conference where participants can provide input. This helps to see what issues are priority issues and possibly narrow the focus for the upcoming meeting. When the same time meeting occurs, the results can be shared and participants can jump right into the matter at hand.

Pair web-based tools with phone for a really productive working session.

This is a pretty neat idea. Instead of using a simple phone conference where a person speaks at a time and can easily tune out if they are not interacting, using a combination of phone and virtual space that can allow multiple participants to type in their ideas or input at the same time so everyone can view responses can help with productivity and engagement.

Communicate and enforce ground rules.

I agree that it is a good idea to set ground rules about giving undivided attention during a meeting. The author suggests obtaining a verbal commitment by each participant at the start of each meeting. "If you suspect people are drifting off to other tasks, call them out, either out loud or via e-mail or instant messaging." I would assume that project managers would have to have their own method of doing this without causing awkwardness!

Maintain momentum through frequent asynchronous communications.

Using multiple channels of communication helps to keep momentum throughout the life of each project. "Make use of shared portals to share progress, review and edit documents, raise issues, and generate ideas." This definitely fits into play in PM440 where each group had a wiki, a repository, and virtual meetings as an alternative to email.

Collaborative Leadership

As a collaboration specialist (actual job title), my main goal is to foster an environment where our internal staff can easily share information and collaborate with external clients. In doing research on Collaborative Leadership, I came across several different points of views and many approaches on how to apply it to a virtual team. One Article worth mentioning is the The Seven Secrets of Effective Collaborative Leaders. (See below)

While I agree with most of the “seven secrets”, I would like to add to number 7 that collaboration emphasizes learning from others, so even though collaboration happens one person at a time, it also means to test assumptions and to share thoughts and concerns with team members to share the knowledge and effectively foster collaborative leadership for virtual team success.

1. Cultivate a shared vision right from the start... even if it's vague

2. Take care to recruit the right mix to reach your stakeholders and decision-makers

3. Become or ensure you've identified the institutionalized worry.
This is the person who will pay unwavering attention to:

sustaining the momentum and attending to the management details of the collaboration and

engaging the perspectives and addressing the process needs of each individual partner in the work of the collaboration

4. To the greatest extent possible, ensure that each partner's individual and institutional self-interests are served by both the process and products of the collaboration.

5. Don't waste time. Meetings must be efficient and productive; management must be lean and driven. Remember: for everyone else this is no more than a second priority.

6. Routinize the structure and the Roster of Participants. Make the collaboration a regular item on participants' schedules.

Develop clear roles and responsibilities for participants (even if these roles and responsibilities regularly shift among partners).

Recognize that it is easier and much more popularly received to cancel a meeting or remove a responsibility than it is to add a meeting or responsibility to participants' lives.

And secure commitments from all participants that every human effort will be made to ensure that the same people come to the table each time the collaboration meets -- scarcely anything stifles creativity, productivity and commitment more than wasting time each meeting bringing a new delegate "up to speed".

7. All collaboration is personal. "Inter-institutional collaboration" is a common misnomer. Effective collaboration happens between people-one person at a time.

It is also very interesting how they differentiate and define the meaning of collaboration with that of collaborative leadership.

Collaboration: A collaboration is a purposeful relationship in which all parties strategically choose to cooperate in order to accomplish a shared outcome. Because of its voluntary nature, the success of a collaboration is dependent upon one or more collaborative leader's ability to maintain these relationships.

Collaborative Leadership: Collaborative leadership is the skillful and mission-oriented management of relevant relationships. It is the juncture of organizing and management. And whereas community and labor organizers are trained to patiently build their movements through one-on-one conversations with each individual they want to recruit, collaborative leaders do this and more by building structures to support and sustain these productive relationship over time.

10 things you can do to motivate your team

In this article, the author asked the question “how can you, as a leader, motivate a team to accomplish your objectives?” The article was written with general team management in mind. Of the ten points that he cites the following would also apply to virtual team management and can be readily implemented:

1.       Believe in your team's objectives

2.       Model the behavior you want from the team

3.       Keep a positive attitude

4.       Be clear about your goals

5.       Set Expectations

6.       Avoid mixed messages

7.       Know the difference between exhorting and belittling

8.       Praise in public

The following two are more difficult to implement in the virtual team environment:

9.       Get feedback from the team members

10.   Correct in private

My perception is as following. To obtain honest feedback there must be a trusting relationship between the Project Manager and each team member as well as between the team members. This is difficult to accomplish when the team member, including the PM, rarely meet each other in person. Those “private talks” to correct problems (see #10 above) are just not the same when done over a telephone call or even a video conference. The silence language of facial expression and body posture are missed so those thoughts which are unspoken remain un-verbalized. The last two points rely on trust and “virtual trust” lacks substance.

20 Ways to Improve Virtual Meetings

I encourage you all to check out this whitepaper by Interaction Associates, Inc.  It is focused on ways to improve virtual meetings, but really there are tips in here that can be used for all types of meetings.  A few thoughts:

Virtual meetings section:
#3: Poll the group.  I have seen this used often in cases of webinars or teleconference sales presentations, but not so often have I encountered this in day-to-day project meetings.  Our project manager does a good job of asking if participants have any questions or comments, but I think often times people are only listening for their names.  The whitepaper points out that feelings of inclusion and control increase when the leader takes the time to check for comprehension with each person by name.  I think calling each person by name does in fact keep people engaged in the meeting, and thus leads to a more productive meeting.

#7: Provide color commentary.  This one is great.  I've been a part of many phone conferences in which there are long, uncomfortable pauses in the conversation.  People not in the room don't know if there's a question awaiting an answer, or someone is looking for a document, or what.  Add a long pause to a conversation where half of your participants are only half-listening, and watch the confusion erupt.

General meetings section:
#5: Clarify roles (who is there and why).  This is an important part of any meeting, but it's especially important at initial meetings, where a project is just being defined.  Having the wrong people in a room or on a call is just a waste of time.  The whitepaper makes a good point about reminding people why they are there.  We are all busy at our jobs, and sometimes things get lost in the shuffle.  A reminder never hurt anybody.

#9: Get agreement on the problem before getting agreement on the solution.  How true.  So often, decisions are made before fully analyzing the problem and needs of the business.  This inevitably comes back to bite.

#10: Conduct a meeting evaluation.  My project manager has done a great job of this.  She's made some changes to the way she runs status meetings, and instead of just accepting that her way is the right way, she asks for feedback from her project teams.  What works, what doesn't work.  What frustrations are you experiencing?  What are we doing right?  Improvement comes from learning from one's experiences.  Giving people an opportunity to air their frustrations and suggestions can lead to great change.

I encourage you to peruse Interaction Associates' other resources, found in their Ideas section.  They have some great ideas and tools for collaboration.

Being virtually green

       We all know that conservation and environmental conciousness are very hot topics these days. Being "green" is all the rage. We have discussed how virtual collaboration and telecommuting can be used to conserve resources.

       Just because the idea of virtual projects may be considered green, doesn't mean participants should not still consider further steps for being green throughout the life of the project. The article Green Project Management Tips of the Day lists some tips for general PM on being green.

I found a few that can be used in Virtual Projects.

Green Project Management by Steve Blais Tip #2

Consider adding “environmental impact” as an element in your project charters (adapted from an idea by Tom Mochal, PMP).

Green Project Management by Steve Blais Tip #3

Add a section on “environmental concerns” to your RFPs to potential vendors and subcontractors. While the responses might not be the deciding factor in awarding the contract, what each bidder has to say about their concern for the environment might be a good indication of how they will perform on your contract, and the responses might give you a few good ideas of things you can do.

Green Project Management by Steve Blais Tip #10

Include in all project requirements templates or formats an “environmental impact” along with “business impact” and “technical impact” to encourage thinking about ancillary project impacts.

Green Project Management by Steve Blais Tip #12

When creating your Project Charter identify all deliverables, including deliverables related to the environment and/or your organization’s environmental policy.

Green Project Management by Steve Blais Tip #14

Many companies are currently certified within the ISO14000 set of standards. A component of this is an Environment Management System, a holistic approach for a company to achieve its environmental policy. Verify that the overall application of GreenPM (green project management) supports your organization’s Environment Management System.

Identifying common patterns in successful Virtual Projects

I came across an extensive research paper titled "A Systematic Method for Discovering Effective Patterns of Virtual Project Management". It looks at a method for discovering critical patterns common to effective Virtual Project Management. This paper was written in 2007 by Deepak Khazanchi and Ilze Zigurs at the College of IS & Technology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

It occurred to me that the application of patterns can aid in the development of thinklets.

It is interesting to note that this paper points out that identifying such patterns and applying them to future projects is particularly appropriate in the realm of virtual projects because patterns provide the kind of flexibility that is essential to the complexity inherent in virtual projects.

"We have argued that the pattern approach represents not only a fresh look at the concept of processes and practices in project management, but also that the idea of patterns is inherently appealing in a virtual context. Patterns provide the kind of flexibility that is essential to the complexity that defines a virtual project context, including the fundamental need to balance and integrate work practices and processes with technology choices. More traditional approaches, such as prescribing contingencies or different types of media and task fit, do not have the same iterative and adaptable characteristics that the patterns approach has. Again, this assertion is a fruitful avenue for testing in future research."

This pattern approach may be even more applicable in the age of data-mining. Of course, the quality of the data recorded influences the quality of knowledge and insight that can be produced by data-mining efforts.

The entire article "A Systematic Method for Discovering Effective Patterns of Virtual Project Management" can be downloaded from the Social Science Research Network.

The power of a positive team

In my opinion, a desirable tool in positive team motivation is trying to foster of a feeling (within the team) that the team's goals are just, positive, and beneficial. This is the intangible spirit that Google seems to try to instill in it's users and within it's corporate culture. Kind of a "think outside the box and reach for the stars" mentality.

In my experience, this type of frame-of-mind seems to strip away feelings of drudgery. It results in increased productivity and seems to make the work feel simpler and more fun. It often makes people "want" to contribute more.

In teams, this type of shared spirit seems to produce an increased feeling of camaraderie and encourages teamwork and collaboration, both of which are especially important in virtual teams.

As for project leaders and project managers, in the article "Ecology, Ethics and the Project manager – A Zen Perspective", author George Pitagorsky stresses the importance of being conscious of what type of spirit or attitudes you are projecting and what type of behavior you are demonstrating.

If you are projecting open-mindedness, kindness, compassion and a sense of happiness in the good fortune of others, you are encouraging a spirit of teamwork, camaraderie, and inspiring collaboration.

“On a less global level, the PM is asked to be concerned with creating a 'healthy working environment.' The physical environment is influenced by the attitudes and behavior of the people in it. What are you projecting? Is it open-mindedness, kindness, compassion and a sense of happiness in the good fortune of others, or is it ignorance, greed, aggression, fear, jealousy and competitiveness? Unlike the more obvious environmental impact of projects, this concern for the working environment is relevant to all who work in and around projects.”

“Awareness, and a strong resolve for 'right action' will lead one to the right decision. What is 'right action'? It is doing no harm or, minimally, making, sure that the harm you do is at least the best of a number of poor choices. The right decision is often a difficult one because the short-term ramifications may be severe like losing a job or being sidelined or persecuted. There are no black and white decisions.”

Have you ever experienced an especially positive teamwork environment?

How did the spirit of the team affect it’s effectiveness?