Measuring the quality of virtual team operations
Virtual teams, performance and the role of the project manager

If tasks are not easily identifiable and assignable, then it's a good idea to give your team members time to get to know each other better before tackling technical discussions, since the success of the work to be done will depend heavily on the relationships its members have built up.

In concrete terms, this means, for example, proposing telephone or videoconference meetings for two, so that each partner has a better understanding of the other's business. Such meetings should even avoid dealing with the project itself, and be followed by an exchange on how the partners wish to work. This is important to facilitate cooperation in a virtual team, but is not easy to achieve with people who are not used...