Latha Karri EECS 811 April 28th, 2009

Latha Karri EECS 811 April 28th, 2009

Introduction • The Atlantic Systems Guild Inc. • Members are authors, consultants and lecturers • Principal members contribute to IEEE, Cutter IT Journal and the Journal of Object Oriented Programming

Timothy Lister • Holds an A.B. from Brown University • Member of the ACM and a Fellow of the IEEE • Fellow of the Cutter Business Technology Council • Frequent keynoter at Cutter Summits • Wrote books: Peopleware, Waltzing with Bears, Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies • Along with Tom DeMarco wrote: “Performance in Organizations,” and “Litigation of Software-Intensive Projects”

Tom DeMarco • B.S.E.E. degree from Cornell University, an M.S. from Columbia University and a diploma from the University of Paris at the Sorbonne • Consulted throughout America, Europe, Africa, Australia and the far East • Member of the ACM and a Fellow of the IEEE • Recipient of the Warnier Prize for “lifetime contribution to the field of computing” in 1986 and recipient of the Stevens Award for “contribution to the methods of software development” in 1999

Tom DeMarco [continued] • Wrote books: Structured Analysis and System Specification, Controlling Software Projects, Peopleware, The Deadline, Slack, Getting Past Burnout, Busywork, and the Myth of Total Efficiency, Waltzing with Bears, and Adrenaline Junkies and Template Zombies • Wrote various articles: “Requirements Engineering,” “On Death March Projects,” “Systems Architecture,” “Professionalism in Software Engineering,” “Certification of Software Engineers”

Introduction • Book consists of six parts: • “Managing the human resource” • “The office environment” • “The right people” • “Growing productive teams” • “It is supposed to be fun to work here” • “Son of peopleware”

Presentation Topics • Managing People • Managing Thinking Workers • Quality – If Time Permits • Office Environment • Hiring Right People • Growing Productive Teams • Jelled Teams • Teamicide • Chemistry for Team Formation • Motivating People • Quiz

Presentation Topics Managing People Managing Thinking Workers Quality – If Time Permits Office Environment Hiring Right People Growing Productive Teams Jelled Teams Teamicide Chemistry for Team Formation Motivating People Quiz

ManagingPeople – Survey Results Survey results from 500 projects: 15% of the projects were cancelled, postponed or delivered something that was never used 25% of the projects failed to complete No technological issue was found to explain the failure The reason for the failure: Politics The term “Politics” is often loosely used to mean people related problems or social problems

ManagingPeople • Both Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister say that: • The major problems of our work are not so much technological as sociological in nature • Why do managers manage as though technology were their principal concern? • Because it is easy • Other reasons: • Little management experience • Schooled in how the job is done rather than how to manage the job

ManagingThinking Workers Quota for errors: Making occasional mistakes is natural and healthy People get defensive when they are not allowed to make mistakes Creativity will not sustain when there is no room for mistakes The Bozo definition of the management: “Management is a kicking ass” Kicking can make people active but not creative, thoughtful and inventive Most importantly, it gives short term benefits but not long term

ManagingThinking Workers [continued] The people store \ uniqueness: Managers are most of the time threatened by uniqueness Uniqueness is vital and effective to project chemistry Uniqueness needs to be cultivated A project in a steady state is dead: Someone who can help a project to jell is worth two people People’s values are often assessed based on the steady state characteristics

ManagingThinking Workers [continued] No time to think about this job, only to do it: Single mindedly oriented towards doing something Often, time pressure is used as an excuse for lack of think time

Spanish Theory Management There is a fixed amount of value in the earth and the path to accumulation of the wealth was to learn to extract it more efficiently from the soil or from people's backs This theory is alive whenever managers talk about productivity Productivity is about extracting more in an hour of pay Managers often bully and cajole their people into working long hours Managers trick people into accepting unrealistic deadlines

There Ain’t No Such Thing As Overtime Overtime is valuable only for the last mile Undertime is not visible just like unpaid overtime Slow down you crazy child, And take the phone off the hook and disappear for a while. It’s all right. You can afford to lose a day or two. When will you realize……Vienna waits for you?

Management’s Misconceptions • Add staff to a late project: • Management fail to realize that adding staff to a late project makes it later • Fear that work expands to fill the available time • Set phony deadlines • Put people under time pressure: • Management fail to realize that people under time pressure don’t work better; they just work faster

Time Pressure • Pressure beyond a certain level decreases performance

Time Pressure Consequences • Time pressure leads to: • Decreased quality products • Decreased brainstorming • Decreased time spent on investigation and research • Decreased performance levels • Increased stress levels

Quality – If Time Permits • Quality is often tied to self-esteem • Quality standards are both external and internal • Managers think of quality as another attribute that can be supplied in varying degrees • The notion that “quality – if time permits” assures no quality at all will sneak into the product

Flight From Excellence Some markets don’t give a damn about high quality This is true to a certain extent Industry has accustomed its clients to defect prone software Client's perceived quality needs are not often as great as the builder's Flight from excellence Allowing the standard of quality to be set by the buyer, rather than the builder In the long run, market-based quality costs more

Flight From Excellence [continued] Quality, far beyond that required by the end user, is a means to higher productivity Consider the following words of Tajima and Matsubara, two of the most respected commentators on the Japanese phenomenon: The trade-off between price and quality does not exist in Japan. Rather, the idea that high quality brings on cost reduction is widely accepted

Quality • Interview with President Ray Tanguay - Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Canada. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTQtoeP_1oU&feature=related

Management’s True Role • What is management’s true role? • A manager’s function is not to make people work, but to make it possible for people to work

Open Office Environment • “You never get anything done around here between 9 and 5” • Proof by repeated assertion : • “Open-Plan DP Environment Boosts Employee Productivity” The fundamental areas of consideration in designing an open-plan office within an information processing environment are: the system’s electrical distribution capabilities, computer support capabilities and manufacturer and dealer service

Open Office Environment [continued] A policy of total default: Failure to address the issue by saying that the solution is beyond human capability IBM Survey results for Ideal office configuration: 100 sq.ft. of dedicated space per worker 30 sq.ft. of work surface per worker Noise protection in the form of enclosed offices or six foot high partitions

Productivity Factors • Productivity factors were observed by conducting coding war game with 600 developers from 92 companies • Top performers were about 10 times faster the worst performers • Top performers were about 2.5 times faster than median performers • Best organizations worked 11.1 times faster than the worst organization

Productivity Factors [continued] • Productivity non-factors: • Language, years of experience, and salary • Productivity factors: • Work space, noise, privacy and interruptions

Productivity Factors [continued] Coding war game performance results:

Brain Time Versus Body Time • Typical developer work mode: • Working alone: 30% • Working with one other person: 50% • Working with two or more people: 20%

Brain Time Versus Body Time[continued] • Flow: • Takes around 15 minutes to enter • Time passes without much notice • Extremely productive • Environment Factor = uninterrupted hours / body - present hours

Workspace Patterns The first pattern: Tailored workspace from a kit The second pattern: Windows The third pattern: Indoor and outdoor space The fourth pattern: Public space

The Office Environment • Google Zurich office environment: • http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7290322.stm

Presentation Topics Managing People Managing Thinking Workers Quality – If Time Permits Parkinson’s Law The seven Sirens Office Environment Hiring Right People Growing Productive Teams Jelled Teams Teamicide Chemistry for Team Formation Motivating People Quiz

Hire Right People • Jim Collins: “Good to Great” • Get the right people on the bus and the wrong people off the bus • Good-to-great companies built a consistent system … They hired self-disciplined people who didn’t need to be managed, and then managed the system, not the people

Hiring Process • While hiring: • Portfolios • Aptitude test • Holding an auditorium • Don’t let human resources organization dominate

Growing Productive Teams • Typically teams don’t get work done, individuals do • Why do we need to form teams?

Objectives of Team Formation • Team formation contributes towards: • Goal alignment • Diversity of skills, knowledge, abilities and experience • Positive aspects of group dynamics e.g. Increased creative flow

Team Formation Stages • Forming: Team members define goals, roles, and direction of the team • Storming: Team sets rules and decision-making processes, often renegotiates (argues) over team roles and responsibilities • Norming: Procedures, standards, and criteria are agreed upon • Performing: The team begins to function as a system

Jelled Teams • What is a jelled team? • Group of people so closely knit that the whole is greater than the sum of the parts • Why do we want a jelled team? • Once a team jells, the probability of success goes up dramatically!

Signs of a Jelled Team • Work is fun • Self-motivated • Low-turnover • Sense of pride • High morale • Sense of eliteness • Sense of identity • Joint ownership of the product • Loyalty to the team and the team environment

Jelled Teams [continued] • Jelled teams are like the neighboring states helping each other • Managers are usually not part of the teams

Teamicide • Defensive management - not trusting the team • Bureaucracy - too much paperwork • Physical separation of team members • Fragmentation of people’s time – assign multiple projects • Quality reduction of the product • Phony deadlines • Clique control - splitting up teams

Teamicide [continued] • Most organizations don’t set out consciously to kill teams … they just act that way

Chemistry Building Strategy • Make a cult of quality • Provide lots of satisfying closure • Build a sense of eliteness • Allow and encourage heterogeneity • Preserve and protect the successful teams • Provide strategic but not tactical direction

Motivating People • Salary • Performance reviews • Job rotation • Training • Miscellaneous ideas

Motivating People - Salary • A 10% salary increase • Stock options and other long-term benefits

Motivating People - Performance Reviews • Performance reviews are generally useful, if handled objectively • Performance reviews are often spaced too far apart • New approach: “360” day reviews to assess employee’s interactions with peers, customers, everyone around him/her

Latha Karri EECS 811 April 28th, 2009