What is a Distributed Team?

(note: I use distributed teams and virtual teams interchangeably)

When the members of a team don’t physically sit together, then they are a distributed, or virtual, team. In other words, their work together is done in a virtual setting.

Sometimes, only one person may be separate from the rest of the team; for example, the manager of a project who holds weekly calls with the programming team in Asia. The other extreme may involve every single person on the team being in a separate location. Most distributed teams fall in between, where some members may sit together, another group may sit in another place, and some individuals may be in their own unique locations.

In addition, some companies may have a formalized Distributed Work Program.