There are a lot of channels of communications that happen in an office. We will need to find a way to virtualize each one of those.
Following is a suggestion on how to virtualize each type of interaction. Know that while the experience will be very different, you can still have effective communications and collaboration on line - even if the experience takes getting used to.
| Communication type | In-person version | Virtual version |
| Scheduled team status meetings | Face to face in a conference room | Video chat, conference call |
| Scheduled one on one meetings | Face to face in a conference room | Video chat or phone call |
| Creative working sessions e.g. ideation | Interactive workshop with whiteboard / sticky notes | Video chat with cameras showing people drawing on paper, or using virtual whiteboard software |
| Impromptu 1x1 chats | Face to face in the corridor | Instant messaging, text |
| Water cooler chats | Face to face at the water cooler or coffee machine | Virtual "coffee machine" chat room with open access, available during office hours (or 24/7) |
| Large all-hands events (20+ people) | In-person in a large conference room or hotel ball room | On line webinar with separation of panelists (speakers) and attendees; mechanism for attendees to submit typed questions |
| Long form written communications | Printed reports and articles, marked up by hand | hared electronic documents, marked up using built-in commenting/collaboration features from Word or Dropbox or the like |
| Shared files in a common repository (not code) | Company server inside the firewall, accessed in the office | Use VPN to go into the company server from home |
This article builds on content developed by the Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship for MIT's Orbit Knowledgebase and is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.