Lynda Gratton at MITSloan has written a short article of some factors that might affect the performance of a distributed team. I'm a little sceptical of what Gratton calls “10 golden rules for making virtual teams more productive” because there are so many factors that influence how well a virtual team will work and I thought we had done away with rules when dealing with complexity.

I do agree, however, how important it is to consider time zone issues. I'm three weeks into a new virtual team and I'm surprised by the lack of awareness of team member time zones. For example, when calling for people's available time for the next meeting my colleagues in the USA often volunteer to have meetings between 10am and 3pm which generally equates to midnight to 5am Melbourne time. I think if you work in a global virtual team you need to become mindful of your colleague's time zones and avoid suggesting meetings at 2 in the morning.

Appreciating time zones comes with experience and one of the organisations that seem to really understand this is CPSquare—John Smith and the other community practitioners who run a plethora of online events.

Here are Lynda's 10 golden rules.

1. Invest in an online resource where members can learn quickly about one another
2. Choose a few team members who already know each other.
3. Identify “boundary spanners” and ensure that they make up at least 15% of the team.
4. Cultivate boundary spanners as a regular part of companywide practices and processes.
5. Break the team's work up into modules so that progress in one location is not overly dependent on progress in another.
6. Create an online site where a team can collaborate, exchange ideas and inspire one another.
7. Encourage frequent communication. But don't try to force social gatherings.
8. Assign only tasks that are challenging and interesting.
9. Ensure the task is meaningful to the team and the company.
10. When building a virtual team, solicit volunteers as much as possible.