Michael Jordan's Weblog

There's been a lot written about working in project teams that are distributed to different locations (for example, 3M's Guide talks about managing the team's culture and using technology to overcome distance) and Santa Clara University offers an Executive Development seminar on the subject).

At Sun, it's becoming common (or at least not unusual) for managers to not be co-located with any of their direct reports. We have gone to great lengths to build a corporate culture that de-couples team member adjacency with performance. I'm not going to try to come up with a definitive guide to remote management. But here are some things that have worked for me:

• Brief phone calls just to touch base with each staff member. I want to know people who work with me, not just what they're working on. A call to say hello is like stopping by someone's office.
• Open online chat. Never got a chance to really get people used to this but I think it has potential. I'm talking about using a chat server for your team and leaving it open/active for large chunks of time during the day. It's a lot like email but it's more of a connection, which I think worthy of emphasis for a distributed team. People can post thoughts or questions and others can participate if they want.
• Hand-written notes. Even though snail mail takes a long time, a handwritten note about recent accomplishments can make a difference.
• I've not really done too much of this myself but I've seen some people stay connected to a distributed team by sending a daily email to the team (forwarding an article or a note about what's going on in their area).
• Proxy management that's co-located with the direct report. Sometimes, especially for employees in coutries outside your own, it can be helpful to have a local host manager who is in tune with local news and trends.
• Posting team or individual photos online. With easy-to-use services like Shutterfly or Snapfish, why not have a team account where staff members can post digital photos of what's going on in their world? Don't manage it -- just create the context and set a good example.