Lessons Learned• Daily online stand-up meetings help each person feel connected• If all else fails, pick up the phone• Give up on spelling correctly in chat - getting the idea across is what’s important• Use emoticons• There’s no such thing as overcommunication• Don’t be afraid to ask questions

Problem Statement

What tools and strategies do you use to manage a small teamthat is working on multiple projects from multiple locations?

Small team, multiple locations:

• Web Team at a large public university library• 3.5 FTE: manager, systems administrator, developer, part-time programmer• Manager relocated and worked 80% o�-site

Multiple projects:

• Major web site redesign• Ongoing conversion of legacy applications from ColdFusion to PHP• Server virtualization projects• Daily maintenance of sites and systems• Smaller ad-hoc projects

4

2

5

1

3

Other Modes of Communication

AbstractIn the current economic climate, libraries can bene�t from o�ering employees the option to telecommute. Virginia Commonwealth University(VCU) Libraries Web team experimented with remote work by allowing Web librarians to work from home part-time. The team tested several tools and methods to promote virtual communication and collaboration.

Challenges• Slower resolution of some issues • Better, faster to hash out small items in person• Technology/networking woes • Not much institutional support for VPN or o�-campus computing in general • Surprisingly di�cult to �nd videoconferencing software that worked well

• The nature of Web work • Our work can be done from anywhere. • All you need is a computer and a stable internet connection.• Familiarity with non-traditional collaboration • As Web workers, we found moving to online communication was an easy and natural transition.• Artifacts for later use that can help communication • Shared workspaces and drawings archived on 3rd party sites • Chat transcripts • Shared documents on Google• Ambient availability through chat• Regular in-person meetings• Daily 10-minute virtual stand-up meetings to touch base

What Worked

TTYL IRL :) : Strategies and Tools for Remote Library TeamsErin White, VCU Libraries and Susan Teague-Rector, NCSU Libraries

Collaboration ToolboxTool Rating How It Works Cost Pros/Cons

TeamApart [http://teamapart.com]

Google Talk[http://www.google.com/talk]

Skype[http://www.skype.com]

Dimdim[http://www.dimdim.com]

Oovoo[http://www.oovoo.com]

Web conferencing tool used to conduct online meetings. O�ers document sharing and online whiteboard.

Instant messaging tool. Google recently introduced video and voice-plug-in.

Online calling, chat, screen sharing and conferencing tool. As of May, supports video chat with more than 2 people.

Web conferencing tool. Whiteboard and �le sharing available.

Video chat and video calling with one or more persons.

Free

Free

Skype-to-skype calls, video calls, and conference calls are free.

Free for small meetings; $25/month for use with more participants.

2-way chat is free; Calls with more than 2 people are 10 cents per minute per participant.

Excellent tool for video conferencing and sharing documents. Occasional video streaming delays. 2-way chat only.

Excellent instant messaging tool. Video and voice chat were extremely di�cult to use over VPN. 2-way chat only.

Excellent video and audio chat tool, ability to share screens. Prohibited by University computingdue to peer-to-peer technology.

Experienced a number of technical issues with video streaming.

Di�cult to set up. No success with video calling and chat at the same time. A number of technical issues.