when your coworkers might be virtual

© 2009 IBM Corporation

When your Coworkers might be Virtual

David Singer - IBM

Sonoma State University Computer Science ColloquiumOctober 29, 2009


I started my IBM career in 1976 at IBM Boca Raton


What was the environment like?

■ My team had offices in the same wing of the same building

■ Meetings were held in conference rooms near our offices–We rarely met with people in other parts of the Boca Raton site, much less

elsewhere in IBM

–Any meetings with non-local IBMers required air travel

–Conference rooms were a scarce resource

–But meetings were a small part of the work week

■ Our computers were in a shared raised-floor lab near our offices–Even our terminals were in shared areas

–We didn't have e-mail

■ Almost all IBMers worked in a development lab, assembly line, sales office, or at a customer location

■ We had frequent parties after work to celebrate promotions and development milestones


Today, I work at IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose


Except when I work from home


Or in a virtual space


But I spend most of my time here...


...and here


What is the environment like?

■ My manager's office is in Somers, New York–I've never been in it

■ My closest teammate is in Austin, Texas–I haven't seen him in person in three years (and we weren't teammates then)

■ I haven't had an in-person meeting about my “day job” in months–But more than half of my calendar is taken up by meetings

• Many of those happen outside the “normal” business day to accommodate global teams

–I've only taken one air trip for business since August, 2008

–Conference rooms are easily available

■ My computer is usually within reaching distance–I have e-mail. Always.

■ About one-third of IBMers officially work from home or are mobile–And many of the rest of us work from home at times despite having offices

■ We still celebrate, but rarely in person


Much has changed, but some things are constant

■ Success requires collaboration across (and between) teams

■ Teams are made of people

■ People work better when they know (and like) each other

■ Knowing other people requires interacting with them

■ Richer interaction builds social capital

■ Social capital encourages collaboration

■ How do you build social capital when direct contact is limited?


Widely-dispersed teams have been around for a long time


But today, Presidents and Prime Ministers aren't the only people coping with global teams


And living in California poses its own special challenge


Bridging the contact gap

■ There is no substitute for real human contact

■ But technology can–extend the effectiveness of occasional real contact

–increase the degree of involvement when real contact isn't possible

–and even help compensate for language differences


How do I stay connected with my extended team?

■ Phone calls

■ IM

■ e-mail

■ Blogs

■ Forums (newsgroups)

■ Videoconferencing

■ And some less traditional tools...


Pictures help humanize people you don't see in person

■ IBM's corporate directory (BluePages) allows (and encourages) every IBMer to post a picture, which is used in many applications

IM

Blogs

Communities

Invitation Lists


Some collaboration tools have a clear purpose


Some collaboration tools are less structured


Social Hours – a chance for chance conversations


“Seeing” colleagues in the real world (Facebook)


Chipping away at the aftereffects of the Babel Project


The key is to remember that there are PEOPLE out there

From Sacha Chua's “7 Tips for Remote Presentations That Rock”

http://sachachua.com/wp/2009/10/14/7-tips-for-remote-presentations-that-rock/




Thanks!


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