Page 332 - Global Project Management Handbook

SUCCESS FACTORS IN VIRTUAL GLOBAL SOFTWARE PROJECTS 16-19

To better understand the application of communication on a working level, consider a
more complex issue of VGS team members who lack a shared understanding of project
issues, solutions, and processes, a frequent problem in VGS environments. Successful
VGS projects resolve this issue by scheduling periodic face-to-face meetings by rotation
in different locations, focusing on trust building and conflict resolution during the meet-
ings. They return to the regular, technology tools–based communication when shared
understanding is established.

CSF12: Work Hard to Build Trust. Trusting team members is a precondition to a
healthy team atmosphere, which itself contributes to successful projects. Trust
requires cooperation and interdependence, commitment and follow-through. To
make it simple, we trust a team member we work with (cooperation) and whom we
depend on (interdependence) when he or she delivers (follow-through) on what he
or she promises (commitment). Spending more time together, such as in face-to-face
situations, teams have an easier time building a stronger sense of team identity, spir-
it, and trust. Once trust is established, maintaining it faces the same obstacle—
getting team members together. While this sounds like a simple team proposition,
the trouble is that having multiple sites—and geographic, temporal, organizational,
and cultural separation—does not support those face-to-face situations because they
are costly and often not allowed by the parent company. Certainly communicating
through collaborative tools—for example, e-mail or phone and videoconferences—
helps, but these will not alleviate the issue of building and maintaining trust but rather
aggravate the opposite. In conclusion, to avoid facing lack of trust and paying the
price in lower performance, successful VGS projects invest in face-to-face project
kick-off meetings in order to ensure the benefits of trust among team members: bet-
ter project coordination, control, and performance.

Project Organization
Four interdependent tactical factors (see Fig. 16.3) support the strategic success factor
project organization. The first tactical success factor—the matrix structure—provides the
necessary infrastructure for the functioning of the second factor—creating a cross-
functional team—and the third factor—managing stakeholder expectations. When a suc-

cessful team is in place and stakeholders are treated properly, conditions exist to use the
available resources effectively in order to make the most of this strategic success factor.

CSF14
CSF13 CSF16
CSF15

CSF13: Build a Well-Oiled Matrix Structure. Very few VGS projects are large
enough to warrant a full-time dedicated team. Rather, organizations pursue
multiple concurrent projects that are smaller in size and are managed by project
teams, the majority of whose members are part time, typically sitting on multi-
ple teams that report simultaneously to multiple project leaders in addition to
reporting to their functional manager. This condition is described as the matrix
structure. To competently support a continuous delivery of quality projects, the
matrix has to be well oiled. This means designing and smoothly executing the
triad of power sharing, clear decision making, and continuous resource support.