Abstract
This paper reports on the implementation and use of a virtual collaboration system - a virtual collaborative desk (VCD) that has been introduced to a software design team in an organizational context. Virtual collaboration systems are complex and can be considered as social-technical systems, oftentimes encompassing several layers of both technical and social issues. If this multi-layered social-technical system is to work effectively and provide a dependable service, then all the layers must be well understood and structured accordingly. Otherwise, these layers can become barriers to virtual collaboration if they impede the collaborating users of a virtual team from attaining their goals. An amalgamation of principles from life-cycle and ethnomethodologically informed ethnography approaches in the evaluation of a virtual collaborative system is demonstrated in a case-study to enable researchers to understand what these issues are and how the different types of issues can prevent effective virtual collaboration.