By Brad Egeland | Follow on Twitter!
I have long been a proponent of virtual teams and remote project management. It has always worked well for me, however, it does not come easy or without some adjustment period.
At first it was easy to push remote project management and virtual teams under the guise of "green IT", "green project management", and "environmental sustainability." From what I've seen many of these type of catch phrase terms have gone the way of the latest personal empowerment video or corporate continuous improvement program (remember those “centers of excellence”?). We are all aware things need to improve and collectively need to step it up and do something about it. We don't need to be reminded daily by cardboard signs all over the workplace that aren't enforced and seemingly apply to anyone.
Back to remote project management. It isn't easy and it isn't for everyone. You must be an experienced PM to pull it off. You must be organized, confident and have some good organizational connections or the ability to know how to make them fast if you're new in town. Although it isn’t easy, you can do it and here are three reasons why virtual teams and remote project management are a great concept.
You can hire anyone you want
What does that mean? It means that if you find a top talent in Macedonia you can hire them and let them work from there as a virtual team member on remotely managed projects. No need to stick to surrounding area’s talent pool. The world is your oyster. Go, find, hire.
You may get cheaper talent
Some individuals actually like living where they are and have no desire to relocate to your fair city. I know I'm not going to move, but if the right position came up and was too incredible to pass up, I'd probably take it for less. Especially if it meant staying where I was and enjoying a high quality of life that didn't involve one hour daily commutes through morning traffic just to sit at a strange desk and drink bad coffee.
Overhead for the company is less
You probably hear this one the most but it's true. The economy is improving, however companies are still struggling, failing and looking for ways to cut costs. It's not cheap to put employees in a space at the headquarters. There's floor space, a desk, office or cubicle walls, a chair, etc., etc. Some of that sill goes as an allowance to the home based worker but there is a lot of savings to be realized every month for a company requiring 10,000 sq feet of space as opposed to 25,000 sq. feet.
Summary
Remote project management and virtual teams work. I'm living proof of that. And some people can pull it off easily and some just can't seem to get anything done without the discipline of going to the office every day. When I have those days there's always the local coffee shop. There's a little extra pressure on managers to recognize when an employee isn't working out remotely. Take Yahoo as an example of how NOT to do it... and Diebold as an example of how to do it.
What about our readers? What is your organizational climate on remote project management and virtual teams? Is it an easy road or a hard sell? How do you personally feel about it?
Questions or comments? Feel free to share them below!
You may also like:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Brad is a Business Solution Designer and IT/PM consultant and author with over 25 years of software development, management, and project management experience leading initiatives in Manufacturing, Government Contracting, Creative Design, Gaming and Hospitality, Retail Operations, Aviation and Airline, Pharmaceutical, Start-ups, Healthcare, Higher Education, Non-profit, High-Tech, Engineering and general IT. Brad is married, a father of 11, and living in sunny Las Vegas, NV. Visit Brad's site at http://www.bradegeland.com/.