Workshop Title

"Reducing Duplication of Work in Remote Teams"

Problem

Multiple people unknowingly work on the same task.

Objective

Help prevent duplicated efforts by improving communication, task visibility, and collaboration tools.

Benefits

• Less wasted effort from overlapping tasks
• Better visibility of who is working on what
• Clearer ownership of responsibilities
• More efficient use of tools and systems
• Stronger cross-team communication and alignment

Materials Needed

• 60 mins
• Virtual meeting platform (Zoom, Teams, etc.)
• Collaborative document (Google Docs, Miro, MURAL, etc.)
• Polling or chat function for quick engagement
• Breakout room feature for small-group discussions

Process

1. Introduction (10 minutes)

• Facilitator welcomes participants and introduces the topic:
  “Today, we’ll explore why duplication of work happens in virtual teams and how we can improve coordination to avoid wasted effort.”
• Poll question: “How often do you find out that someone else was working on the same thing as you?” (Scale 1-5, anonymous results shared.)
• Discuss common reasons for duplicated work, such as:
  • Lack of visibility on what others are working on
  • Poor coordination between teams or departments
  • Lack of a centralised tracking system

2. The Duplication Challenge (15 minutes)

Exercise: Spot the Overlap

• Breakout rooms (3-4 people per group).
• Each group discusses:
  • Have you ever worked on something, only to find out someone else was doing the same thing?
  • What caused the duplication? (Lack of communication, unclear roles, disconnected tools?)
  • What could have prevented it?
• Groups return and share their insights.

3. Key Strategies for Reducing Duplication (15 minutes)

• Facilitator introduces three key strategies to prevent duplicated work:
  1. Increase visibility – Use shared tracking systems to see what others are working on.
  2. Clarify ownership – Define roles clearly to ensure no two people are unknowingly doing the same task.
  3. Improve cross-team communication – Regularly check in with others before starting a project.
• Chat question: “What’s one tool or habit that helps your team avoid duplicated work?”
• Participants share ideas, and facilitator highlights key themes like project tracking, documentation, and team updates.

4. Practical Application: Fixing the Process (15 minutes)

Exercise: Reworking the Workflow

• Participants write down a recent example of duplicated work.
• They swap examples (or facilitator selects a few).
• Each person rewrites the process for how that work could have been assigned or tracked differently.
• Example transformations:
  • ❌ “Two people independently created a client report.”
  • ✅ “A shared task list was used to assign reports, preventing overlap.”
• Share responses and discuss how small adjustments improve efficiency.

5. Action Plan and Close (5 minutes)

• Each participant commits to one action they’ll take to reduce duplication in their work.
• Facilitator summarises key takeaways.
• Final poll: “How confident do you feel about preventing duplication in your virtual team?”