Technology Stewardship for Distributed Project Teams

Distributed project teams and communities of practice face similar challenges in using technology to work together and “be together.” However, these technologies are not only powerful enablers, they also present persistent challenges in and of themselves and in that they enable and filter multiple kinds of heterogeneity. These challenges are magnified by linguistic and cultural heterogeneity, multiple time zones, organizational boundaries, and the variance in technology literacy in project teams. Project teams need to adopt some of the practices that are found in technology-mediated communities to cope with their persistent technology challenges. The notion of a “digital habitat,” which has been developed by Wenger, White, and Smith (2009), is used to describe the landscape of technologies and practices that in combination will enable a project team to accomplish its tasks. For some distributed teams, a project must include ensemble work to ensure that all team members can participate and contribute, that communication and collaboration practices exist or are being developed, and that what has been learned in the process of completing the work is assessed and retained. The technology steward is proposed as a new role and function for project teams that operate at this level. Activities that support the exploration of a digital habitat include the development of technology literacy and increase the learning capacity of project teams.