Improving Virtual Team Performance: An Empirical Approach

Increased performance is the key reason for developing software with virtual teams but the research efforts to date are limited. Difficulties for a formal, generic approach are multiplied by the significant differences between how small and large software organizations react to changing operational conditions and act to increase performance. The aim of the paper is to provide the guidelines on how to analyze small virtual team software development process performance using the workflow model and meaningful measurable elements which provide more insight into the process. The purpose is to improve small virtual team performance by obtaining knowledge about problem areas and cooperation issues which affect the operational efficiency. A limited quantitative survey was used to test the conceptual model and hypotheses of the study. The preliminary results indicate that such an approach works, that organizational issues are as important as the technical ones and that the virtual team performance depends critically on communication.