Real-world challenges: using the virtual enterprise for successful product development projects

By building a “virtual enterprise” to achieve corporate goals, high-technology product development companies can supposedly stay both financially and technologically competitive in today´s markets. The company concentrates “in-house” on core competencies, and turns to the outside expertise of organizations and individuals on an as-needed basis. However, if not created and managed properly, the virtual project teams created for such product development ventures can seriously threaten a firm´s critical time-to-market goals. The difficulties of actually achieving truly synergistic partnerships and ultimately successful projects using team members outside the corporation must not be overlooked. When virtual team members are consultants or third-party development organizations, the success of the team depends upon the degree to which these various members are aligned in the following areas: values and goals; priorities; skills, experience, and capabilities; and product development processes. The project manager must understand how to assess and select team members, plan a project in detail considering the specific ramifications of remote members, and manage the project to its successful completion. This paper explains the “alignment factors” above and illustrates their potential impact, using examples from two projects from the author´s experience which made use of third-party development organizations. The paper summarizes the actions project managers must take in planning and managing such projects, including questions for assessing and selecting the virtual project team members