VT MiniBook Chapter 6

In this chapter we define and trace the phases of virtual team life.

A team is first and foremost a process: it has a beginning, a middle, and almost always an end. Powerful results accrue when virtual teams consciously work their way through a life-cycle process. These teams are living systems not machines.

Teams grow. They take time to develop---and virtual teams tend to take even longer. They need to be much more intentional about creating face-to-face time meetings that nourish the natural rhythms of team life.

The most successful virtual teams keep a close eye on their process. The more attention they pay to it, the more effective their work is.

The Tuckman Model:
This model of team development retains its original freshness; however, while it incorporates the early point in the team process where stress is predictable it misses the difficulties that often arise later on in the team's life cycle.

The Phases:

Start-up: Team initiators generate interest, gather information, explore ideas.
Launch: The team comes together to sharpen its purpose, establish leadership, make plans, find resources, obtain commitments, and acknowledge norms. This can be a painful phase, and some teams never emerge from this period.
Perform: This is the growing phase when the team does the bulk of the work
Test: This is the challenge phase, where the team reviews results, finalizes features, and limits resources. Pressure from customers is building and time is running out. Many teams never get beyond this place.
Deliver: The adjourning phase when the team delivers results.

The success of virtual teams begins with the relationships among people and cooperative goals. Cooperation occurs when people have compatible goals, whereas independence and competition eventuate when group members do not believe their goals are interrelated.

"Co-opetition"---combining competition and cooperation---is the byword of virtual teams.