A View-Based Analysis of Distributed and Mobile Teams

In this paper, we present emerging team forms, which are classified into Nimble, Virtual, and Mobile teams. Based on this classification, we present a systematic analysis of specific team characteristics at different views to outline the idiosyncrasies of these heterogeneous team forms. These views are domain independent and highlight team features that can be found in every team however to a varying degree. The five views - Spatial, Organizational, Project, Human Interaction, and Service - help to group related team attributes and serve as a basis for a requirements analysis in collaborative working environments. The derived model places such requirements into four categories: Team Management, Team Interactions, Information in Teams, and Technology Requirements. The inContext platform (part of the European funded research project inContext) accounts for these idiosyncrasies and requirements by applying a service- oriented approach.