Book Review: Learning the remote management ropes

By Kris Guay
Net.Worker, 05/21/01

Managing Virtual Teams by Martha Hayward ($69, Artech House, 1998)

To increase the odds for success, many companies give newly assigned remote managers several days training and ongoing support. Others just throw them into the virtual fray. Either way, anyone who manages a remote or virtual team should take a lesson from Martha Hayward. Her hands on guide, Managing Virtual Teams, covers the basics, like defining the difference between a remote team and a virtual team, and addresses a slew of problems that inevitably crop up when you manage out of sight.

Easy to read chapters focus on solving communication problems, honing remote management skills, and organizing a distributed team, to name a few. There's even a chapter devoted to the technical aspects of remote networking that includes easy to grasp definitions of terms like remote LAN and frame relay.

Look forward to great tips on effective e-mail, videoconferencing and teleconferencing communication. Hayward will show you how to set up an "electronic water cooler" via e-mail, and explain how something as seemingly insignificant as a camera angle can make or break your next videoconference. A final chapter that covers the basics of setting up a telework program seems a bit off target, but provides useful general information, nonetheless.

GOOD for experienced virtual managers looking for a refresher, a reality check, or some company

BETTER for anyone who works on or with a remote team

BEST for newly minted virtual managers-especially those with limited technical knowledge or internal support or resources

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