Projects Without Boundaries

PREFACE vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ix I INTRODUCTION 1 1 WORKING IN A VIRTUAL WORLD 3 Forces Driving Virtual Transformation 5 Rise of Virtual Organizations and Projects 9 Virtual Projects Are Different 10 Transitioning to the Virtual World 18 Assessing the Virtual Project Manager 19 Notes 22 II PLANNING THE VIRTUAL PROJECT, BUILDING THE VIRTUAL TEAM 23 2 PLANNING THE VIRTUAL PROJECT 25 Planning a Virtual Project 26 Establishing Project Alignment 31 Architecting the Virtual Project 36 Understanding the Complexity of Virtual Projects 37 With Complexity Comes Risk 41 Planning Virtual Communication 43 Assessing Virtual Project Planning 45 Notes 48 3 BUILDING A HIGH-PERFORMANCE VIRTUAL TEAM 49 Virtual Project Team Types 50 Differentiating High-Performance 55 Building a High-Performance Virtual Project Team 56 Assessing Virtual Project Team Members 68 Notes 69 III MANAGING PROJECT EXECUTION, LEADING THE VIRTUAL TEAM 71 4 EXECUTING THE VIRTUAL PROJECT 73 Managing Assumptions 75 Hyper-vigilant Governance 76 Managing Outsourced Project Work 84 Managing Change 85 Integrating Distributed Work 87 People Side of Project Execution 89 Influencing Virtual Stakeholders 92 Assessing Virtual Project Execution 99 Notes 101 5 LEADING THE VIRTUAL PROJECT TEAM 103 Be the Project Compass 104 Be the Team Conductor 105 Be the Champion 106 Recognizing the Virtual Team 115 Leverage Your Leadership Style 117 Adding "E" to Leadership 119 Becoming an Effective Virtual Team Leader 120 Assessing Virtual Team Performance 120 Notes 122 6 EMPOWERING THE PROJECT NETWORK 125 Centralize First 125 Empowering by Decentralizing 133 Centralized/Decentralized Project Construct 148 Assessing Virtual Team Collaboration 149 Notes 151 IV ORGANIZATIONAL CONSIDERATIONS 153 7 LEADING A MULTICULTURAL VIRTUAL TEAM 155 Putting Culture in Context 156 Cultural Intelligence 157 Challenges of Multicultural Virtual Project Teams 157 Cultural Factors 158 Creating a Cultural Strategy 165 Converging Company and Country Culture 169 Assessing Cross-Cultural Awareness 171 Notes 173 8 USING TECHNOLOGY TO COMMUNICATE AND COLLABORATE 175 Role of Technology 176 Using Technology to Communicate 176 Using Technology to Collaborate 179 Technology Options for the Virtual Project 180 No Shortage of Options 194 Technology Selection 194 Increasing Technology Usage 197 Notes 197 9 SUSTAINING VIRTUAL PROJECT SUCCESS 199 Changing Organizational and Team Structures 200 Modifying the Project Execution Model 203 Changing Behavior by Changing Rewards 205 Promoting Cultural Awareness 206 Developing Virtual Project Managers 208 Virtual Project Management Journey 219 Notes 219 APPENDIX VIRTUAL PROJECT READINESS ASSESSMENT 221 INDEX 227