Successful project management. How to manage projects more efficiently using online meetings

The assignment comes directly from upper management: Peter Kron is to develop a chocolate bar with a new flavor variety, Strawberry Dragonfruit, for an international confectionery manufacturer. As the project manager, his task now is to lead a worldwide team of food chemists, flavor experts and marketing specialists. Together, they have to discuss the state of market research, determine suitable aromas and develop numerous product variants along with the lab. Furthermore, countless meetings with suppliers and partners from around the world will be on the agenda. For example, they will have to find the right ingredients and draft the marketing strategy, including the logo and package design. The clock is ticking: In just a few months, the chocolate bar is to be available at kiosks and gas stations everywhere in Germany - after all, the competition never sleeps. - Though this example is fictitious, it reflects everyday reality (or something very similar) in many companies. To an increasing extent, employees from different locations work together to develop products, coordinate business processes or discuss new strategies. Intensive cooperation in project groups has become an indispensable part of this. A project always means implementing a plan on schedule and within the defined budget. This usually requires knowledge from corporate management, project managers and experts from multiple separate organizational units, who gather in teams. By its nature, there is a relatively high risk that a project will fail - for example, because personnel resources are missing in the critical phase, costs unexpectedly get out of control or the schedule cannot be adhered to. Where project work was once the domain of engineers or IT specialists, it has now become absolutely necessary for successful business development, whatever the business or specialty. One of the reasons for this is that more and more people work from on the road and experts in large companies are distributed throughout the world. According to a study conducted by Nemertes Research, 60 to 70 percent of all employees now work at different locations than their superiors. Moreover, market research company IDC projects that in 2011, over 30 percent of employees will be mobile workers without any fixed location at all. This raises the question: How can companies establish a project management culture that is viable for the future if employees no longer meet in the same place at all?