I was part of a virtual team many years ago, before all these tools existed. I was the only one on the West Coast, not in a position to meet others face to face -- at least not more than once, for a conference I attended -- and was the newest to the group, younger than most of the others, etc. There were several dimensions in which I was an outlier for the group. Ultimately, it ended on something of a sour note. I was basically accused of being a "traitor" for doing my actual job. I and the person at the top had very different ideas about how things should be handled and my domain expertise was not really respected. (After my departure, the project that had benefited the most from my input kind of died back down again.)
I spend a lot of my time online and I have taken a lot of online college classes. When I had a job at BigCo, I got in the habit of emailing my questions to my immediate boss, whose role included answering technical questions. For various reasons, I was unable to master the art of catching her at her desk or whatever. Emailing worked better for me.
I and some of my teammates got transferred to a new team that initially did not have someone in the technical role she filled. Until the new team got their own technical lead, we were all still assigned to our old lead. Other teammates of mine who were used to having face-time with our lead were incredibly frustrated. My transition was quite smooth. I rarely needed face-time with her to get good results. I just continued emailing my questions as usual. I also was not particularly "likable." I was quite ill at the time and not at my smoothest socially. I also just come from a more formal cultural background than the people I was surrounded by. I was not interested in being too schmoozy. In the short run, this seemed to hurt me a bit. But once I got transferred to a new team, it was to my benefit: Getting my questions answered had been a purely professional function, not something rooted in being friendly or whatever.
So I think there are good points on both sides of this argument. I see several really good comments here falling on either side. And I think the disconnect probably has to do with some social thing that can be fostered remotely but many people aren't good at it. As we develop more online/virtual/long distance cultural practices, I think this will become less of a divide for some people.
I spend a lot of my time online and I have taken a lot of online college classes. When I had a job at BigCo, I got in the habit of emailing my questions to my immediate boss, whose role included answering technical questions. For various reasons, I was unable to master the art of catching her at her desk or whatever. Emailing worked better for me.
I and some of my teammates got transferred to a new team that initially did not have someone in the technical role she filled. Until the new team got their own technical lead, we were all still assigned to our old lead. Other teammates of mine who were used to having face-time with our lead were incredibly frustrated. My transition was quite smooth. I rarely needed face-time with her to get good results. I just continued emailing my questions as usual. I also was not particularly "likable." I was quite ill at the time and not at my smoothest socially. I also just come from a more formal cultural background than the people I was surrounded by. I was not interested in being too schmoozy. In the short run, this seemed to hurt me a bit. But once I got transferred to a new team, it was to my benefit: Getting my questions answered had been a purely professional function, not something rooted in being friendly or whatever.
So I think there are good points on both sides of this argument. I see several really good comments here falling on either side. And I think the disconnect probably has to do with some social thing that can be fostered remotely but many people aren't good at it. As we develop more online/virtual/long distance cultural practices, I think this will become less of a divide for some people.