Managing geographically distributed teams

Achieving success with geographically distributed teams is all in a day's work for project managers at Tec-Ed, Inc. Tec-Ed is a 15-person consultancy with headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and remote offices in Rochester, New York, and Palo Alto, California. Their small size, team approach to projects, and nationwide client base mean that they typically collaborate with colleagues and clients who live elsewhere. The article summarizes recent published literature on communication in virtual organizations, as well as Tec-Ed's practical experience in managing project teams whose members are in different geographic locations, have different skills and responsibilities, and seldom meet face to face. It reviews how to share corporate culture, gain insight into clients, build trust, and develop the professional synergy that enables efficient cooperation and effective results. It also discusses the challenges facing centralized staff who support remote workers, from troubleshooting unseen hardware and software to keeping corporate archives up-to-date.