Anyone have any experience with managing a geographically diverse team of individuals?? Besides being in touch ... constantly ... by email ... phone ... etc. ... is there a particular technique that anyone has had success with ... to manage ... to motivate ... to support??
I suppose I will fall back on that old adage that the only "dumb" question is the question not asked ... So I ask ... out of spectacular ignorance I am sure ... what is Basecamp?? Are we talking about a "summer camp" get together for the Nationwide Team? (smile) ...
Basecamp is a managment application for project management. You can organize your contacts, jobs, etc, seamlessly. See more here http://www.basecamphq.com/
Thank you gentlemen ... that seems like a good idea as this business grows ... 15 members on the Nationwide team ... geographically scattered ... can be a management headache ...
I have been using BaseCamp from 37signals along with their other product BackPack which is their calendar app..i gotta say its helped no end especially when put with Highrise which is a CRM app they have.
I recommend Intervals (myintervals.com) It will run smoother and give you less headaches than the above mentioned app. It's environment is intuitive and easy to use. All of its features are integrated in that one environment, you won't need to install, attach or link anything to it, as with other app. It has various levels of administration for managers, project managers, sub-levels etc. Everyone logs in from their webbrowser and are ready to track their time, organize and share projects, upload and share documents, post comments, share notes, manage their tasks, generate reports, invoices, paperless timesheets, etc. It's like a magical sandbox, especially for firms whose teams are in different locations. You will get an overall picture of your business' productivity. Ours went high along with our revenues thanks to intervals. no joke. good luck!
I've used and been very happy with Basecamp. However, project management software is only a small part of running a virtual and national or international team. I run a consortium of over 100 internet marketing professionals (consultants) that I place on projects with my offline clients. It's definitely a challenge. I also manage a virtual team of webmasters, assistants, sales people, etc. to manage my infrastructure to support my consortium! So I've made a lot of mistakes and learned a lot. One resource that really helped me figure out how to accurately manage a virtual team is Eben Pagan's Altitude program. He's been running a virtual company for about a decade, I believe, and grew it to $20 million in revenue. He provides a lot of great tips, and I highly recommend the program. One of the best tips that I can recall on the top of my head is this: Have each of your team members email you daily with the following Daily Report: - What your goals for today were - What you completed - What were the results of what you completed? (This is a very important one to keep them results oriented rather than timecard oriented) - What challenges you ran into or questions you have - Goals for tomorrow This will help you stay on top of what everyone is doing and keep them proactive and productive. I also recommend that you keep all departments in communication with each other with weekly reports so everyone knows what everyone else is doing and there's no duplication of efforts, or worse, one team's efforts hurting anothers'. Also, changes that one person makes in one aspect of your business will have unforseen effects on completely seemingly unrelated portions of another piece of your business. So track everything and monitor your metrics and data to see any changes made so you can handle them before they really become issues. Lastly, one thing I've found vital in running any kind of team, but especially a virtual team is this: Be trustworthy to them and allow them to be honest and human with you, meaning let them know right off the bat that we all make mistakes, and if they run into a problem, or make a mistake, to let you know immediately so you can handle it. And don't get really upset with them or make them feel so guilty that they try to hide it in the future--this will cost you a TON of money if they do that! Eben even recommends rewarding your team for finding problems that need to be addressed, as finding those problems will save you money in the future. Hope those tips help!