Experience

From Socialwiki.org

5. A virtual team collaborative experience for all members (because once you have been part of a well functioning virtual team, you won’t ever forget it, and you won’t be satisfied with anything less than honesty and clarity.

There are many aspects to virtual collaborative team experiences. Many of us have been part of teams and can describe some aspects of what it feels like to be part of a 'well oiled machine'. When teamwork is done well, it is explosive.

There is a huge body of knowledge on what it takes to make teams work. The issue is what aspects of that development can and should be re-invented for teams that stem out of the social media scene.

Teams of the future are not going to be the same as teams of the past. Hierarchical, strict management and ownership are all aspects that are going to be changed and potentially different in the future, as they already are in the present.

I think the key difference proposed here is the operating premise of "Honesty" and "Clarity".

Other words such as "Transparency", "Accountability", "Flexibility" are all terms that one might want in a team experience as well. How do we narrow the focus?

I'm a big fan of surveying the existing literature, and also responding to the emerging culture. I think we have, as a group, competencies in both these areas. This is what I propose we start from.

What does academia and literature studies show?

A. What makes a functional team?
B. What makes a highly productive team?
C. What makes a team sustainable?
D. What, if anything, has been studied on Virtual Teams?

I think we all have experiences individually in the emerging online culture to answer the following questions:

A. What makes teamwork fun?
B. Describe a 'off-line' team experience that was exciting and productive.
C. Have you collaborated strictly 'online' - what worked, what didn't?  What tools did you use?

If we can start some discussion around these questions, that would be fantastic. I think this will help ground us and determine some more tangible targets.