Working in teams

1. Working in teams CSCI311 Software Process Management

2. Reading • Chapter 11 of textbook

3. Software teams • Most professional software developed in teams • Large teams may be split into groups to work on sub-systems • Preferable for groups < 10 members • Reduces communication problems • Therefore effectively managing groups is a critical task

4. Group Management • Composition • Balance of skills, experience,personalities • Cohesiveness • Is it a team or individuals working together? • Communications • Effective? • Organisation • Does everyone feel valued and satisfied with their role?

5. Selecting Personnel • Constraints • budgetary • availability of suitable staff • learning curves • An ideal mix? • 40% designers • 20% coders • 40% testers

6. Selecting Staff • Application domain experience • Platform experience • Programming language experience • Educational background • Communications skills • Adaptability • Attitude • Personality

7. Group cohesiveness • Easier/better management • Members think the group more important than the individuals • Team structure supports delegation of authority • More effective exchange of info/ideas • familiarity with team members tasks • continuity if one member leaves • A group quality standard can be developed • established by consensus • more palatable than imposed external standard • “Egoless” programming • programs are team property

8. Factors in Group Communications • Size • n*(n-1) communication channels • Structure • Informal groups communicate more than strictly hierarchical structures • Composition • Personality clashes • Mixed gender groups • Physical environment • Does it facilitate communication? • Caves & common layout

9. Organising Groups • Democratic teams • all members involved in decision making • administrative team leader • XP variation • Chief Programmer teams • experienced senior programmer leads technically and administratively • Expert teams • established to resolve special problems • disbanded after problem resolution

10. Self actualisation esteem social safety physiological Keeping Staff • Motivation • Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

11. Job characteristics • Skill variety • Task identity • Task significance • Autonomy • Feedback

12. forming storming norming performing adjourning stages in becoming a team team-building exercises can help the process of becoming a team

13. getting the right mix • Meredith Belbin studied teams working together on management games • found that the academically brightest teams often did badly e.g. • Arguments • Implementation of plans neglected etc. • gave psychometric tests to participants to identify best mix of team members

14. Belbin’s management team types • The chair/co-ordinator • Not necessarily a strong leader but must be good at controlling meetings: calm, strong, but tolerant • The plant • Good at generating ideas • The monitor-evaluator • Good at evaluating ideas and helping to select the best one

15. Belbin’s management team types • The shaper • rather a worrier, helps direct the team’s attention to important issues; a driver • The team worker/implementer • good at creating a good team environment and getting people to do things • The resource investigator • good at finding resources and information

16. Belbin’s management team types • The completer-finisher • focussed in getting task completed • The company worker • a good team player who is willing to undertake less attractive tasks if they are needed for team success • The specialist • the ‘techie’ interested in knowledge for its own sake

17. Typical problems • More than one shaper and no strong chair - arguments over direction • Several plants and specialists, but no shapers or completer-finishers - interesting discussions but nothing gets implemented

18. General Advice • Time your interventions, don’t overwhelm the others in the team • Be flexible • Be restrained • Keep the common goals of the team in mind all the time

19. Types of Group Work Tasks

20. Types of Group Work • Should you divide work up between you or should you do it as a group? • Additive tasks • Compensatory tasks • Disjunctive tasks • Conjunctive tasks

21. Types of Tasks • Additive • Effort of individuals added together to get end result • People are interchangeable • e.g. shovelling snow, interviewing people in the street • Compensatory • Judgments of individuals are pooled • Errors by some can be corrected by others • e.g. estimating costs, effort

22. Types of Tasks • Disjunctive • Only one correct answer • Getting answer depends on: • Someone getting the right answer • Others recognizing it as being correct! • Conjunctive • Progress depends on the progress of the slowest performer • Software projects often like this

23. ‘social loafing’ • Team members who are parasites • Particular problem with student groups, but also in work environments • Can be alleviated by: • Making work of individuals identifiable • Consciously involving group member in the project outcomes • Rewarding individuals for team contribution cf. ‘club player of the year’ in sports teams

24. Leadership: Types of Power

25. Types of Power: Position power • Coercive power - threatening punishment • Connection power • Legitimate power • Reward power

26. Types of power: Personal Power • Expert power • Information power • Referent power (based on personal attractiveness/ charisma)

27. decision-making directive permissive Makes decisions alone, gives subordinates some discretionary power in implementation Makes decisions alone, close supervision of implementation autocrat implementation Makes decisions participatively, gives subordinates some discretionary power in implementation Makes decisions participatively, close supervision of implementation democrat Leadership styles

28. Summary • Software Process Management includes team management • Personnel selection • Group organisation • Team motivation • Team Leadership