Teams

1. Teams Software Engineering I

3. Team Organization • Motivation • Cooperation toward common goal • Coordination of efforts • Role definition • Types of organization • Centralized control • Decentralized control • Mixed Control

4. Centralized Control • Hierarchical structure • Chief programmer controls all decision • Good when tasks • simple • well understood • Weaknesses • Single point failure • Dependent on skills of chief programmer • Little room for creativity Chief Programmer Librarian Programmers Specialists Patterns of Control and Communication

5. Decentralized-Control • Decisions made by consensus • Members review each others work and responsible as group • Good for: • Long-term projects • Complicated projects • Less understood • Advantages • High morale • Job satisfaction • Disadvantages • Large teams • Tendency toward finding perfect solution Management Structure Patterns of Communication

6. Mixed-Control Management Structure Project manager • Combines benefits of both • Minimizes disadvantages • Differentiates between senior and junior engineers • Control vested in project manager and senior engineers • Limits communication to small group Senior engineers Junior engineers Patterns of Communication

7. Essential Elements of Cooperative Teams-1 • Positive interdependence • all for one and one for all • each member of the team contributes to the success of the team • Promotive interaction • promote each other’s success • criticize ideas without criticizing people • Individual accountability • hold group accountable for achieving its goals • hold each member accountable for contributing his/her share

8. Essential Elements of Cooperative Teams-2 • Learning and practicing interpersonal and group skills • need to learn and practice skills such as effective leadership, decision-making, trust-building, communication, and conflict-resolution • know how to do it, reflect and refine use, and use automatically • Group processing • reflect on how group is functioning • improve continuously P Promotive Interaction I Individual Accountability G Group Processing S Social Skils Face Face to Face Interaction

9. Stages of Team Growth • Forming • Storming • Performing • Functioning

10. Forming • Explore the boundaries of acceptable group behavior; test the leader’s guidance. • Feelings: excitement, optimism, tentative attachment to the team, suspicion, fear, and anxiety. • Behaviors: complaints about the organization and barriers to the task, discussion of problems not relevant to the task, impatience with discussions, decisions on what information needs to be gathered.

12. Storming • Most difficult stage; team members realize that the task is different and more difficult than realized; members become testy, blameful, or overzealous. • Feelings: resistance to task and quality improvement approaches; sharp fluctuations in attitude about team and project’s chance of success. • Behaviors: arguing among members even when they agree on real issues; defensiveness and competition, questioning of wisdom of guidance team, leaders; establishing unrealistic goals; concern about excessive work; some disunity, tension and jealousy.

13. Norming • Members reconcile competing responsibilities; they accept the team and the individuality of team members. • Feelings: a new ability to express criticism constructively, acceptance of membership in the team, and relief that everything is going to work out. • Behaviors: attempt to achieve harmony by avoiding conflict, more friendliness, confiding in each other and sharing of personal problems; team cohesion, common spirit and goals, establishing and maintaining team ground rules and boundaries (norms).

14. Performing • Team has settled its relationships and expectations. They can begin performing--diagnosing and solving problems-and choosing and implementing changes. All members have discovered and accepted each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and learned what their roles are. • Feelings: members having insights into personal and group processes, and better understanding of each other’s strengths and weaknesses. • Behaviors: constructive self-change, ability to prevent or work through group problems and close attachment to team.

16. Guidelines for Constructive Feedback • Acknowledge the need for feedback • Give positive and negative feedback • Understand the context • Know when to give feedback • Know how to give feedback • Be descriptive • Don’t use labels • Don’t exaggerate • Don’t be judgmental • Speak for yourself • Help people hear and accept compliments • Know how to receive feedback

17. Effective Team Organization-1 • Guidance Team • Oversee and support activities of project teams • Guide efforts • Before the project • identify the project goals • prepare a mission statement • determine needed resources • select team and team leaders • assign quality advisor • During the project • meet regularly with project team • develop and improve teams • insure changes are made

18. Effective Team Organization-2 • Team Leader • calls and facilitates meeting • handles and assigns administrative details • orchestrates all team activities, and • oversees preparations for reports and presentations

19. Team Notebooks • One for each team: Graded. • There is no predefined format for the notebook. • Meeting records • Email • Individual contributions • Drafts • Task assignments • Team processing documentation • to protect you: describes your contribution to the team.

20. Effective Team Organization-3 • Quality Advisor • keeps team on track • maintains neutral position • observes team’s progress and evaluates team functions • uses observations to help team improve • assists team leader • performs V & V

21. Guidelines for Productive Meetings • Use agenda • Have a facilitator • Keep discussion focused • Intervene if discussion fragments • Tactfully prevent someone from dominating • Bring discussions to a close • Test for consensus • Notify group when allotted time has expired • Take minutes • Evaluate the meeting • Adhere to the 100-mile rule

23. Discussion Skills •  Necessary for effective team meetings. • Every meeting should include actions that facilitate discussion. • Need to practice these. 

24. Discussion, Do’s • At appropriate times during the meeting, team members should: • Ask for clarification • When you are unclear about what is being said ask team members to assist • Ask for a repeat using different terms • Act as gatekeepers - Encourage and expect equal participation among group members • control dominators • make openings for less aggressive members

25. Discussion, More Do’s • Listen - This is the hard part. Try to understand what is being said before making any comments about it. Don't interrupt or complete sentences. Before commenting on an idea, rephrase it and ensure you understand.  • Summarize - Occasionally compile what’s been said and restate it to the group in summary form. Follow a summary with a question to check for agreement. • Contain digression - Do not permit overlong examples or irrelevant discussion.

26. Brainstorming • Give everyone silent time to think. (two minutes?) • Invite ideas. • The more, the better. • Encourage freewheeling. • Don't hold back any ideas, even if they seem silly. • No discussion during this time. • No one may judge or criticize any ideas, even by groan or grimace. • Hitch-hiking is encouraged. Take someone else's idea and extend it or build on it. • You might add ideas in round-robin form.

27. Brainstorming-2 • Write all the ideas down. • After the ideas are written, go back and look at the ideas. • Keep the promising ones. • Toss the poor ones.

28. Multivote A method to reduce a large number of items to a small list. (Could be used after brainstorming.) • Generate the list and number the items, combining if necessary • Have all members pick 1/3 of the items (silently). • Tally the votes. • Toss the items with very few votes (1 or 2 for a group of 5 members). • Repeat the process until a few items remain. • If it's not possible to eliminate items, discuss them and revote.

29. Consensus Finding a proposal acceptable enough that all members can support it, and no members oppose it. • It is not unanimous or majority, and it may not satisfy everyone. • It requires time, active participation of all group members, creative thinking, and communication skills. • acknowledge the valid points • take time to sort out what you heard