Product Description

Virtual collaborative team environments face unique challenges because their communication is not face-to-face. Managing Virtual Teams: Getting the Most from Wikis, Blogs, and Other Collaborative Tools provides practical advice for managers of distributed teams who must design the internal systems and meet deadlines with a diverse team, and for team members who want to develop and maintain professional relationships. To address these needs, this book is divided into three parts. Part I discusses team dynamics, project management and development, and forms of communication. Part II covers the types of tools currently available for collaboration such as wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, and more, and describes the different feature sets of each. Part III explains the various features of the book's companion wiki.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #259154 in Books
• Published on: 2007-02-25
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author
M. Katherine (Kit) Brown (Comgenesis, LLC) is an award-winning writer and consultant with 16 years of experience in the technical communication field as a consultant, writer, and manager. She provides consulting services and training to clients on documentation processes and strategies, internationalization, and other technical communication issues.

Brenda Huettner (P-N Designs, Inc.) has 20 years of experience working with management teams in technical communication. She has published six books for her own press and other commercial publishers, has written dozens of articles on various management topics, and has provided countless presentations at conferences worldwide.

Char James-Tanny (JTF Associates, Inc.) has 25 years of experience as a technical writer and is well known for her knowledge of online Help tools and concepts. The author of two books, she speaks frequently at meetings and conferences around the world on Help topics, cross-browser issues and web standards, and tool-specific functionality.

Customer Reviews

Summary level information
I did not find this book useful. It seems to be geared for pointy haired manager types who have never heard of the Internet. There was very little information that was not either obvious, outdated or both.

Great for understanding the big picture
As an independent consultant working exclusively from home, all of my teams are virtual, even if they are located a few miles away. I bought this book not to enhance my relationships with those team members but rather to help me develop two training classes on this book's subtitle: "wikis, blogs, and other collaborative tools." While I pored over chapters 12-18 attempting to organize my own thoughts, I enjoyed the authors' writing style and found the depth appropriate for a high-level understanding of each topic. I am now reading the remaining chapters, sure that I will uncover a nugget or two that will help me in my daily work life.