TechHui2024-03-28T21:44:42ZDan Starrhttp://www.techhui.com/profile/DanStarrhttp://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/353354210?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1http://www.techhui.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?groupUrl=distributed-project-teams&user=2ap1p9169xiff&feed=yes&xn_auth=noLong Distance Etiquettetag:www.techhui.com,2015-04-03:1702911:Topic:1336652015-04-03T12:13:09.173ZDan Starrhttp://www.techhui.com/profile/DanStarr
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618450?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618450?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100"></img></a> What are your recommendations for good long distance etiquette?</strong> <strong>Is it different depending on who you're interacting with?</strong> Communicating over the wires is pretty artificial. Even the best persistence video conferences skew your field of vision. Lesser technologies create a through-the-looking-glass experience. So it's important to exercise…</p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618450?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="100" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618450?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100" class="align-left"/></a>What are your recommendations for good long distance etiquette?</strong> <strong>Is it different depending on who you're interacting with?</strong> Communicating over the wires is pretty artificial. Even the best persistence video conferences skew your field of vision. Lesser technologies create a through-the-looking-glass experience. So it's important to exercise good communications etiquette to make long distance meetings effective, enjoyable;e, and as short as they need to be. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.techhui.com/profile/slmcmahon" target="_blank">Steve McMahon</a> posted this wonderful YouTube clip: <a href="http://youtu.be/DYu_bGbZiiQ">http://youtu.be/DYu_bGbZiiQ</a> </p>
<p>Although a lot of the things that it depicts has to do with limits of teleconferencing technology, there are also a lot of human behavioral issues. My favorite is, at the end of the clip, when the moderator looks down the length of the table and asks, "Dave, you been here the whole time?" (The silent participant is my personal pet peeve.) <strong>What's yours? </strong></p>
<p>I don't know of any <em><strong>Gloria Vanderbilt Guide to Distributed Long Distance Meetings</strong></em>. Maybe we can put one together through our suggestions. </p>
<p></p> What Technologies Do You Use to Work at a Distance?tag:www.techhui.com,2015-04-03:1702911:Topic:1339492015-04-03T11:30:18.733ZDan Starrhttp://www.techhui.com/profile/DanStarr
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618793?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618793?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100"></img></a> What are your experiences</strong> using one or a complement of technologies to communicate remotely with other project team members or with clients? What's the current state of your favorite product or service? Features change rapidly in this competitive space; what features do you find essential?</p>
<p><strong>Do you use different technologies for local rather than…</strong></p>
<p><strong><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618793?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="100" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044618793?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100" class="align-left"/></a>What are your experiences</strong> using one or a complement of technologies to communicate remotely with other project team members or with clients? What's the current state of your favorite product or service? Features change rapidly in this competitive space; what features do you find essential?</p>
<p><strong>Do you use different technologies for local rather than trans-ocean communication?</strong> If you work on a distributed team with all of the participants on the Islands, do you use different communication strategies than you do when interacting with someone on the mainland or overseas? </p>
<p><strong>Was it easy to agree on a common platform?</strong> Many (perhaps most) long distance communication strategies require that participants in distributed meetings use the same client software. How did you come to agree on what would be used? Was the product dictated by the strongest, wealthiest, or more savvy partner? Were there any instances where you couldn't communicate because there was no agreement?</p>
<p><strong>How reliable have communications been?</strong> Fifteen years ago, communications between Hawaii and the mainland degraded all the time. The new submerged cables that were installed around 2000 seem to have contributed significantly to smooth real-time interaction. On the other hand, we want to pass more data over the wires now than back then. What quality of service do you regularly experience today?</p> Is Virtual Face-to-Face Good Enough?tag:www.techhui.com,2015-04-02:1702911:Topic:1337542015-04-02T18:22:17.897ZDan Starrhttp://www.techhui.com/profile/DanStarr
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044619340?profile=original" target="_self"><img class="align-left" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044619340?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100"></img></a> Citrix GoToMeeting, Skype, Google Chat, Apple FaceTime and a host of other products and services support virtual face-to-face meetings. Long-distance interviews, requirements gathering, medical diagnosis, can all happen over the Internet.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Visual chat provides what telephone…</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;"><a href="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044619340?profile=original" target="_self"><img width="100" src="http://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/1044619340?profile=RESIZE_180x180" width="100" class="align-left"/></a>Citrix GoToMeeting, Skype, Google Chat, Apple FaceTime and a host of other products and services support virtual face-to-face meetings. Long-distance interviews, requirements gathering, medical diagnosis, can all happen over the Internet.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">Visual chat provides what telephone conversations miss. Humans are patterned to read meaning into facial expressions and interpret body language. Visual teleconferencing permits attendees to see the wink of the eye, the twisted mouth, the disinterested glance, or unstrained happiness. All are important parts of communication.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-family: verdana, geneva;">While observation enlarges semantic expression, is looking at a real time digitized face sufficient to: </span></p>
<ul>
<li><font face="verdana, geneva">develop trust</font></li>
<li><font face="verdana, geneva">communicate clearly</font></li>
<li><font face="verdana, geneva">sustain a long-term relationship</font></li>
</ul>
<p><font face="verdana, geneva">It seems important to have a face-to-face meeting at the start of any engagement, and periodically during the run of a long project. Final delivery of product also seems to require a personal approach, since that is also the time when follow-up contracts can be secured.</font></p>
<p><font face="verdana, geneva">Social neuroscientists have demonstrated that the very act of touch (if only a brief tap on the arm or a hand shake) changes the way strangers subsequently interact in a positive way. </font></p>
<p><font face="verdana, geneva">Unfortunately, real face-to-face is not always practical. Very long distances make it costly to get a team together. Security considerations—like having a client in a civil war zone or at the epicenter of an ebola epidemic—limit what staffers can be expected to do.</font></p>
<p></p>