The formal structuring of work has been found to be particularly useful in coordinating virtual collaboration (Hoch & Kozlowski 2014; Steinhardt and Jackson 2014). A fundamental approach to structuring work involves breaking tasks down into discrete, manageable chunks. This notion of task decomposition is at the root of everything from the division of labor to the work breakdown structure process in project management (March & Simon 1958; PMBOK 2001).
Many institutions support their researcher communities by developing guides to data management plans. These are some of the most well-developed and thorough.
Technological platforms make virtual collaboration possible. It is imperative that virtual teams take the technological platform seriously, because platforms do not just enable virtual collaboration, but they can also get in the way of virtual collaboration (Gilson et al 2015).
Virtual organizations, also known as virtual teams or distributed teams, work primarily by remote communication (e-mail, telephone, VOIP tools, and text chat, e.g.). Even with the ease of establishing electronic communication, to be successful, distributed teams depend upon their members making significant investments of time, creating and maintaining collaborative structures in order to coordinate their activities.
