From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Working with remote teams - Microsoft Project Tutorial

From the course: Project Management Foundations: Schedules

Working with remote teams

“

- When team members work in different locations, you must consider additional factors in scheduling. Taking the pros and cons of remote teams into account when you schedule and assign resources will help keep your project running smoothly. The first step in assigning members of remote teams should be familiar. Set up team members' work schedules to reflect their working days and times. If people work in different time zones, choose a primary time zone for the project, for example, the one where most people are located. Then, define each person's working times based on that time zone. If people work in different companies or countries, you need to identify holidays and other non-working time that may differ from your company or country. For international teams, it's often a challenge to find a good time for phone calls, reviews, and other interactions. Talk to the team members involved to determine the most convenient time and schedule the activity then. After you get working and non-working times in place, it's time to consider other ways that remote teams can affect your project schedule. International teams can give your project what seems like a longer work day. You can assign tasks so that people in one part of the world complete work before the end of their workday and hand it off to people in another part of the world who are just starting theirs. If this kind of handoff is an option, you might break work down into one-day chunks, so the work can flow from time zone to time zone. Remote teams can help provide more resources for activities. If these teams result in more people working on an activity, the work can get done more quickly. Be sure to add five to 10% for coordination, communication, and resolving misunderstandings. Another advantage of remote teams is that you aren't limited by distance, so you can find the best people for assignments. The right person may be able to get work done in less time, so you might decrease the estimated work and shorten activity duration. The bad news is that remote teams sometimes aren't as productive. Distance can prevent team members from building good working relationships or communicating as effectively as people in the same location. Here are some steps you can take to overcome distance issues. Set up conference calls or video calls so team members can get to know one another. Hold regular online meetings to keep everyone informed. Help team members communicate more effectively over the phone and through email. Consider offering diversity training to help team members work better with people from other cultures. Once you know how remote teams work, you can tweak your schedule to make the most of the benefits and limit the impact of the challenges.

Contents