Working with dispersed teams

Many organizations assign project team members who are geographically dispersed. There are many reasons why stakeholders might work in different locations: company offices in multiple cities or countries, IT functions outsourced to companies in other cities or countries, or purchasing software from vendors in other locations. A useful resource is Dr. Lojeski’s book entitled Uniting the Virtual Workforce: Transforming Leadership and Innovation in the Globally Integrated Enterprise (Lojeski, 2008).

Working with stakeholders in different locations poses unique challenges for the BA, whose main work involves communication. Face-to-face communication is usually the most effective because the BA can listen to not only the spoken word but also the tone of voice and body language, which convey as much as 55% of the message. Personal relationships are much easier to build in person, which can more quickly translate to trust. Misunderstandings are more easily identified and resolved using direct communication.

A BA who must communicate with stakeholders using remote communication techniques must be aware of the limitations of each technique. The BA must plan to use the most effective technique available and plan extra time to ensure accurate and complete requirements are elicited, analyzed, and confirmed.

Planning communications with dispersed teams requires the BA to consider the physical distance, time zone and work hour differences, nationality/cultural differences, language issues, and the communication options available at each location.

Physical Distance

Even separation of a few miles adds a challenge to communication. Depending on the travel time required and the project travel budget, the BA should meet with each stake-holder in person when possible. These meetings must be well planned and ideally should occur earlier rather than later in the project. The PM and BA should invite key stakeholders to the project initiation/scoping session to kick off the project with direct communication. This is even more important when key stakeholders have never met each other in person. Starting out a project with a team-building activity like scoping establishes relationships that can be maintained over long distances.

Ideally, the BA should travel to the stakeholders’ work site to observe the environment and meet other business workers. This demonstrates that the BA is truly interested in the business unit for which he or she is advocating.

Time Zone Differences

When stakeholders work in different time zones, scheduling phone calls and conference calls is challenging. Project team members may be asked to work different hours than those to which they are normally accustomed. The PM and BA need to balance the needs of the project with the needs of the team members. Different requirements elicitation techniques may be used even though they are not the ideal. For example, if the developers are in India and the business stakeholders are in California, a teleconference will require someone to work in the middle of the night. Instead of talking with everyone together, the BA may instead meet with each group separately and relay the communications back and forth. Remember to plan extra time for this work (and for your sleep!). A BA who relays messages is often required to go “back and forth” between the two groups several times before all questions are answered and resolved.

When you schedule group meetings, try to alternate meeting times to equally inconvenience all stakeholders. Although the development team may be contractors, they are still your stakeholders, and being an excellent BA means assisting with communications and supporting all stakeholders.