Project Management in Practice

Software Firm Yunio Avoids Complex Technologies

Chris Mathews, cofounder and CEO of China$-$based start$-$up software maker Yunio, avoids cumbersome gadgetry and complex interfaces to manage his global project teams. He prefers techniques and technologies that seem natural and comfortable for the virtual teams. His focus is clear communication, regardless of the technology used. And when a message can be sent by example, he prefers that to other, less$-$effective forms of communication. For instance, when working with his Chinese teams he found that it wasn't the norm for team members to let their colleagues know when they would be absent$,$ or how to reach them. To set an example, he started e$-$mailing team members whenever he would be unable to attend a meeting. For individual teams or groups, he creates separate, distinct mailing lists. As his example was adopted by the teams, it became part of Yunio's culture whereby new employees automatically adopted it too.

Although Mathews uses e$-$mail for important matters where a written record is desirable, he finds other technologies can be more appropriate for other uses. To keep communication as simple and seamless as possible, he only uses wiki for teams larger than $15$ people because it's a large investment requiring input from an online community of users to create content. Wikis become increasingly efficient, particularly for knowledge management, as the team grows. For less than $15$ people, he prefers group chats but supplemented by chat logs$.$ Instant messages don't require instant responses so they allow team members to drop a quick note to someone without requiring a response. Since his workers use instant messaging anyway, it's a natural communication tool for chats. Mathews believes that the use of tech products don't define how to manage virtual teams but rather are just part of the toolkit; smart management is about picking the most appropriate tool to communicate clearly.

Questions

Does managing virtual teams require more attention to communication technology?

Would communicating by example work for nonvirtual project managers?

What are the trade$-$offs project managers should consider when trying to select the most effective communication medium?

Source: M$.$ S$.$ Zoninsein, "Less Is More," PM Network, Vol. $24.$