How to Maximize Cross-Continental Collaborations Using VNC

VNC is pretty much the default standard for people looking to share screens all over the planet. Now, Skype has made serious progress in enabling people to split their screen and share it but Skype has its own unique set of limitations.

For one, Skype is too big in terms of resource allocation. So, if you were to use Skype to share your screen, you’re going to be using up a lot of memory, your hard drive is going to be spinning all the time, and it’s just too heavy. It’s like trying to kill ants with a flamethrower. Talk about overkill.

VNC solves that problem because VNC is very, very light. In fact, it seems that for every new version of VNC, it shrinks. It becomes smaller and smaller. A lot of people like this because most software usually go in the other direction. It seems that, for example, in the world of anti-spyware or antivirus, these software packages get bigger and bigger. The more bells and whistles they add on, the more bloated the software becomes. Not so with VNC. In fact, it works in the opposite direction where the whole concept is looking to shrinking it. This is why it is the default standard whether people like it or not.

To maximize your cross-continental collaborations using this application, you need to first agree on ground rules. You need to be clear as to what you will share and what you won’t share. By spelling these out clearly, you make it easier for both people using the software. There’s no guesswork involved. You’re not taking shots in the dark. You’re not rolling the dice by taking guesses.

Instead, the collaboration becomes really smooth because everybody knows their part. For example, if you are going to be walking the remote person through a specific process, when your conversation gets to that process or your discussion about the software reaches that stage, you take over and that person is not surprised. The reverse is also true.

You also maximize your collaboration when you agree with each other as to the narrow range of issues you will talk about on VNC. In other words, if the person is experiencing one particular type of error, your VNC session will just focus on that error. This saves a lot of time. It also maximizes the efficiency of your VNC split-screening exchange.

You have to understand that if you are working with any kind of software involving any level of complexity, it’s too easy to get lost in the many different features. It’s too easy to take a detour. What would have taken 15 minutes could easily stretch to an hour. This is not a problem if your time is worth nothing but if you’re dealing with a consultant that charges several hundred dollars per hour, this is a big deal. This can mean the difference between profit and loss.

So, do yourself a big favor and follow these tips to maximize the value of your cross-continental collaborations using this amazing tool, VNC.