Introducing the technology and team

The technology - Skype

For the virtual team assignment, I have chosen to evaluate Skype, a Voice over Internet Protocol technology.

Although Skype has been around since 2003, I have only recently started using it. Before I started this course, I had to use it to communicate with the Documentation Manager of a company I worked for – he worked from home half of the week so Skype was one of the main technologies we used to communicate. I was really impressed with it! I actually sometimes found it more advantageous to chat with him over Skype because he had to schedule me in to meet online and devote that time to our project (whereas in the office, he was often distracted or interrupted by other people). The sound quality of the call was excellent and we were able to exchange files easily. Also, it was easy to ask him the odd question instantly using the Chat tools feature of Skype. My main concern was getting used to chatting directly to someone online. I felt a little self-conscious at first, but after a while, it was fine.

Although I am already familiar with Skype, I am interested to see how it works in a virtual team environment where there are more than 2 people using it to communicate. The most up-to-date ‘standard or free’ Skype now allows you to make conference calls to 2+ people so our team is going to use it to meet during our assignment. I am particularly interested to assess:

• the sound quality of the conference call
• if team members are comfortable using it to interact
• if team members speak in turn and not over each other
• if the connection and quality is good and consistent
• if we need to use the other tools/features, provided by Skype, for the discussion, and if so, if these tools are effective
• if it is successful for resolving any issues and moving forward in our project (some of the articles on this subject mention how it is particularly effective for problem solving and negotiation in teams)
• if body language has an effect on the interactions, i.e. whether you can see it clearly on webcams and if it helps (this is largely subjective but interesting all the same).

I may use ‘Pamela’ to record the meetings (see the first link below). This is free to download and is compatible with Skype. However, it can only record 15 minutes of a conference call so it is not perfect. I may instead use podcast technology to record the meeting (see the second link below)

http://www.pamela.biz/en/

http://hubpages.com/hub/Using-Skype-For-Podcasting

I have looked at other blogs on Skype but so far I have seen nothing worth reporting. The articles posted on Sulis such as ‘FlammiaClearySlattery2010’ are very useful for ideas.

My team

My team consists of Brian Carrigan, Katrina Slammon, John Savage, Stacey Marmorstein, and me. We are using Skype, Podcasts, Wikis, Chat tools and Blogs to collaborate. So far, we have used Chat tools for our meetings; we have made a Podcast (which we have sent to the US students); we have documented our meetings in Blogs; and we have uploaded our files to the Sulis Wiki. We have made substantial progress on the project but my main concerns/observations so far are:

• Virtual teams can lack the quality and revelations of informal face-to-face chats. A few of our ideas have arisen over coffee.
•  You have to wait patiently for replies to posts. This can slow progress.
• Although we have measures in place to make each other accountable, a lot of it comes down to trust.
• Chat tools, although good, are possibly not the best solution for meetings.
• If enough rapport has been built up in the team.
• Do you encourage people to use particular technologies more often so you can assess their use or do you not interfere and instead watch which ones they prefer to use?

The effects of these issues may become more apparent as the project progresses.

Maresa