When a collaborator is located off site,the most productive way of working with that person would be to require attendance at regularly scheduled meetings with the rest of the team.

Some teams meet and work together in person, whereas others are virtual teams, whose members work in different locations and interact through one or more electronic channels. Communication skills are particularly important with virtual teams, because the physical separation can complicate everything from helping new members get oriented to capturing the knowledge a team accumulates over time.