It is of no secret that the technological constant developments have affected many aspects of human lives within the last decades. Managing people in a co-located team differ than a distributed team; the traditional co-located teams require depth understanding for the dynamics of human and social grouping, while dealing with virtual teams has created additional difficulties for management. In the distributed teams, the spirit of collaboration is harder to be achieved, and the interaction between team members becomes less visible, which definitely would affect achieving the organization objective and the managerial process effectiveness. Virtual collaboration enables distributed expertise to focus on shared problems with a necessary interfacing through technology. Quality of interaction is critical for establishing the framework for successful collaboration on any team, virtual or not; however, the usual hurdles of any group of people coming together to tackle difficult problems is exacerbated in virtual groups by having to rely on technology. For this reason, virtual collaboration should be planned for and supported by the development of specific interaction skills and the technological proficiency that will help ensure project success. There continues to be a need to understand how technology changes the nature of work and collaboration. Because of Geographical distance, the biggest challenge that faced the project / program manager is managing a virtual team. In the following papers, I will shine the light on some tools, techniques, and useful Idea to managing virtual projects.

1. ANAG THE DIGITAL FIRM
April 18, 2014
By: Monzer AL-Shaikh Warak
Under supervision of Prof. Mamata Bhandar
FINAL INTEGRATION PROJECT
IS Project Management

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Contents
Introduction ………………………………..………………….…………………………. 2
Virtual Vs collected Project teams ………………………….……………….………….. 3
Enhance communication and coordination among virtual project team members …. 4
Problems & Suggestions in virtual project management……..……………………….. 4
Selecting Appropriate Technologies for Team Interactions ……………….………….. 9
Analysis of Other related technique that may use in Virtual Project Management .. 10
Other Ideas may be useful to managing a Virtual Projects ………………..………... 10
Conclusion …………………………………………………..………….………….……. 11
References.…………………………………..………………………………….……….. 12

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Virtual Project Management
Introduction
It is of no secret that the technological constant developments have affected many
aspects of human lives within the last decades.
Managing people in a co-located team differ than a distributed team; the traditional
co-located teams require depth understanding for the dynamics of human and social
grouping, while dealing with virtual teams has created additional difficulties for
management.
In the distributed teams, the spirit of collaboration is harder to be achieved, and the
interaction between team members becomes less visible, which definitely would
affect achieving the organization objective and the managerial process effectiveness.
Virtual collaboration enables distributed expertise to focus on shared problems with
a necessary interfacing through technology.
Quality of interaction is critical for establishing the framework for successful
collaboration on any team, virtual or not; however, the usual hurdles of any group of
people coming together to tackle difficult problems is exacerbated in virtual groups
by having to rely on technology.
For this reason, virtual collaboration should be planned for and supported by the
development of specific interaction skills and the technological proficiency that will
help ensure project success.
There continues to be a need to understand how technology changes the nature of
work and collaboration.
Because of Geographical distance, the biggest challenge that faced the project /
program manager is managing a virtual team.
In the following papers, I will shine the light on some tools, techniques, and useful
Idea to managing virtual projects.

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Virtual Vs collected Project teams
Both virtual and collected teams should follow the known managerial process of
implementing projects, such as planning and monitoring & controlling. In addition,
both projects have clear objectives that should be achieved in accordance to the
organization strategy and vision.
The main difference between managing the traditional projects and the virtual ones
is about the human resource allocation.
The two types of teams have the same intent to achieve the project goals and
deliverables, but each one use a unique tools and collaborative approach.
In the virtual environments, the focus needs to be more on how to make actions and
take decisions, as the communication process cannot be smooth as in the traditional
projects especially when working in different geographical regions and/or across
different time zones.
In contrast to the face-to-face communication, the virtual communication adds more
and more constrains on the project manager role and his/her team leaders.
One of the most important challenges may face the virtual team management is to
ensure that every one participate to the best they can offer, with virtual projects
success will not come from the tight managerial.
With the virtual based projects the projects interfaces should be self-directed rather
than relay on external control or supervision, each project manager should be a
facilitator more than being a director.
In the co-located projects, decisions often being taken by holding brainstorming
sessions or discussion groups, while the virtual team members lack such kind of
connection feeling and most spend additional time and efforts to bring attention to
the new news and enhance sustainability.

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Enhance communication and coordination among virtual project
team members
One of the most important challenges may face virtual team members is the differ in
cultures, different people from different backgrounds, they may speak different
languages and share various values
It's essential for project manager in virtual environments to avoid communication
gaps and overarch barrier , such activity should be during the offline periods
meaning out of the working sessions , for that purpose phone calls or Skype contact
could enhance the human interaction between the PM and the team members and the
team members themselves.
During the grouping, process of people there should be a consideration to the
different time zones and geographical locations.
Problems & Suggestions in virtual project management
A recent study has identified the following obstacles virtual teams may face some of
them summarized in the below figure:

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The human behavior can be influenced by a number of different factors, including
corporate culture, organizational processes and technological Infrastructure.
Therefore, it is important to analyze each of the challenges described, and decide the
proper tools that handle this challenge.
1. Language barriers
A language barrier exists where team members with different native
languages cooperate within a project.
Although proficiency in a common working language (e.g. English) helps to
reduce the problem, there will always be an increased potential for
miscommunication and conflicts.
The suggested mitigation strategy is to define a main, common working
language in which all processes, practices and intellectual capital
contributions need to be available, and at the same time to use a technical
solution collaboration that offer the project information in multi-Language.
2. Lack of face-to-face communications
face-to-face meetings help expedite the project flow and reduce risk,
especially in the early project phases, and help build trust, which, provides
benefits at all project stages.
The suggested mitigation strategy is to use Video conferencing; It is a
commonly used method of communication utilized by project teams.
Video conferencing is a two-way communication that allows two or more
parties to collaborate in real-time using audio and video.
It uses telecommunication technologies such as phone lines, cable lines, or
satellite transmission and hardware based technology such as TV, or high
definition cameras, Example of video conferencing solution Microsoft Lync
Skype, WebEx, ooVoo).

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3. Information redundancy
Information redundancy results from the usage of multiple channels of
communication, excess documentation and lack of effective (face-to-face)
communication in virtual teams.
The suggested mitigation strategy is to implementing an online knowledge
management solution that collect an organize the data such as Wiki. Wiki is a
collaborative website with content that can be edited by anyone who has
access to it. Wikis are comprised of a series of links that contain content on
various subject matter that may be added, edited, or deleted by users.
The greatest advantage of a wiki is the concept of its users being easily able to
contribute their knowledge and share it with others, which is invaluable
during any collaboration project.
4. Time
Time becomes a challenge when people are in different geographical
locations, in the worst case with very distant time zones, and need to have
some of their activities synchronized.
For that, the suggested mitigation strategy is to have an online collaboration
Project Management Solution to handle this issue such as Microsoft Project
Online (http://goo.gl/rvPe9 ) Or Project Manager (www.projectmanager.com).
5. Proper security
Communication with team members located in different locations or outside
contractors always bears the risk of confidential data being disclosed or
compromised, especially if this communication is conducted over insecure
channels, such as the Internet.
The suggested mitigation strategy is to define a secure standard for remote
collaboration with resources from outside the organization, and mandate the
use of an agreed security policy on all communications and assets regarding
the common project.
One component of Microsoft Project Online offer a secure communication
between all parties.

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6. Cultural differences
In virtual team the intangible information in communication is lost during
electronic meetings and phone calls or conferences. In additional, many
people feel uncomfortable when leading or working with teams where
members have different cultural backgrounds!
The suggested mitigation strategy is to educate the leaders, and all employees
involved in projects with virtual teams on the challenges and pitfalls of
cultural diversity, one technical solution could be used is Yammer.
Yammer is a private social network that helps employees collaborate across
departments, locations and business apps.
The uses of second life technology would also remove the boundaries of Cultural
differences.

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7. Conflict resolution
In a purely virtual team which has never met and had no chance to build up
trust, conflicts can gain in amplitude and endanger the whole project.
The suggested mitigation strategy is Include face-to-face meetings in
baselines, proper virtual resources
interlock, and cultural diversity
awareness.
One uses of MindMap software is to put
all the project members in the same
page and its offering the knowledge
sharing in Mind mapping style.
8. Trust
The lack of face to face interaction and the inconsistence communications
among virtual team members would be the reason behind the low level of
trust between virtual teams members, in order to build the team trust the PM
should uses effectively the
communication electronic alternatives.
Microsoft Lync is offering such
service securely.

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9. Project team knowledge and cross-team collaboration
The difficulty of sharing information in the virtual environments belongs to the
distributed nature of the team members, with the new technologies, such thing
should not make a challenge for project manager, it is easy to develop a suitable
tool for sharing the information, such as smart phones applications (like:
www.wunderlist.com) , emails, social private communities like Yammer, etc…
Selecting Appropriate Technologies for Team Interactions
Technology is to the virtual team as air is to the co-located team. For co-located
teams, air is the communication medium; for virtual teams, technology is the
communication medium. The tools used for communications are essential and
must be pure and clean and not cause coughing and sickness.
From my experience in Microsoft Project Online & Mindjet, they can fit and
solve all problems I have mentioned.
In addition; both solutions are integrated to each other and can perform an
excellent collaboration environment.
Microsoft Project Online integrated with Microsoft Office 365 that is contains an
extremely important and necessary software in project management such as
(Word, Excel, PowerPoint, outlook, SharePoint and Lync), which make this
solution is a completed toolkit for project virtual project and portfolio
management.

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Analysis of Other related technique that may use in Virtual
Project Management
Type of Tools Strengths Weakness Software example
Wikis
Great number of
participants share their
knowledge
Less control of quality of
content  Wikipedia
 Twiki
Publicly accessible
Intranets
Information is secure Time extensive to maintain  Drupal
 DynaPortal
 SharePoint
Control of content of
information
Can be expensive to
maintain
Extranets
Information shared with
individuals outside an
organized
Can be expensive to
maintain
Time extensive to maintain
 ShareFile
 Google Docs
 SharePoint
VOIP
Cost effective Lower quality of class  Skype
 Lync
 AT&T VoIP
Security Concerns
Conference Call
Cost effective Loss of non-verbal cues  Cisco WebEx
 AccuConferenceExternal distractions
Video
Conferencing
Reduce traveling costs Technically difficult to set up  Cisco
 Telepresence
 ooVoo
Can see non-verbal cues Can be expensive
Online Chat Tools
Cost effective Loss of non-verbal cues  MSN
 Messenger
 Google Chat
 WhatsUp
Project
Management
Software
Packages
Increased project
organization
Can be expensive  Microsoft Project
Online
 Base Camp
 Collaborative
Project Pier
Other Ideas may be useful to managing a Virtual Projects
Here are five examples of how some virtual project managers have created informal
gathering spots:
 Daily five-minute phone calls or video calls with each team member.
Thirty minutes a day is all it takes to have a five-minute phone call with six
team members. For larger teams, either every other day or connecting to key
contacts is suggested.
 Creating a virtual water cooler.
By keeping an online open communication, such as chat room, open all the

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time for team members to just hang out. With declaring, "break times,"
"lunch," "game time," "check-in times," etc.
 Holding a virtual office hours.
Be online, have open phone lines, and be available at regular times, daily or
weekly.
 Creating project challenges and competitions.
The more relevant to the project the better, by making them educational,
interesting and fun.
 Creating a proactive professional relationship with each team member.
This isn't saying to become best friends or even liking all the team members.
It's about understanding who they are, what their career is about, and how
they will be able to help with whatever project challenges may arise, now
and in the future.
Conclusion
Project managers utilize Virtual Project Management tools to compensate for not
having the ability to meet in a centralized location. These tools offer a medium for
virtual teams to communicate efficiently while being cost effective. In order for
virtual teams to communicate effectively, the teams must have a common set of
tools to work with throughout the project. To aid in the success of virtual teams,
all processes and procedures should be clearly defined and communicated to each
member as well as having all documents remain accessible to the team members at
all times. All tasks and deliverables must be explicitly documented, clearly defined
and thereafter, communicated to each team member. These actions should occur
during any team project, but are uniquely necessary for virtual project teams.
References
 “The Handbook of High-Performance Virtual Teams A toolkit for collaborating across boundaries", chapter
four, By: John Wiley & Sons, Jossey-Bass, 2008
 "Challenges of virtual project management in developing countries", By: S. Nauman, S. Iqbal, IEEE
Engineering Management Society, 2005.
 “Implementing virtual teams: a guide to organizational and human factors”, By: Edwards, A. & Wilson, J.R.
(2004) Gower publishing limited.
 “6 Best Practices for Managing Virtual Teams”, By: Star Dargin, Corporate Education Group, URL:
http://www.corpedgroup.com/resources/pm/6BestPracticesMVT.asp, Accessed at: 18/04/2014
 “Virtual Project Management Tools and Techniques”, PM440, the Wiki URL:
http://pm440.pbworks.com/w/page/25397227/Virtual%20Project%20Management%20Tools%20and%20Tec
hniques Accessed at: 18/04/2014