1University of Wollongong

Anne Fuller

Working in teams

CSCI311

Software Process Management

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University of Wollongong2003

Reading

• Chapter 11 of textbook

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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?

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University of Wollongong2003

Selecting Personnel

• Constraints• budgetary

• availability of suitable staff

• learning curves

• An ideal mix?• 40% designers

• 20% coders

• 40% testers

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University of Wollongong2003

Selecting Staff

• Application domain experience• Platform experience• Programming language experience• Educational background• Communications skills• Adaptability• Attitude• Personality

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

Keeping Staff

• Motivation• Maslow’s hierarchy of

needs

physiological

safety

social

esteem

Selfactualisation

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University of Wollongong2003

Job characteristics

• Skill variety

• Task identity

• Task significance

• Autonomy

• Feedback

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University of Wollongong2003

stages in becoming a team

forming

storming

norming

performing

adjourning

team-building exercisescan help the process of becoming a team

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

19University of Wollongong

Anne Fuller

Types of Group Work

Tasks

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

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

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University of Wollongong2003

‘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

24University of Wollongong

Anne Fuller

Leadership:

Types of Power

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University of Wollongong2003

Types of Power: Position power

• Coercive power - threatening punishment

• Connection power

• Legitimate power

• Reward power

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University of Wollongong2003

Types of power: Personal Power

• Expert power

• Information power

• Referent power (based on personal attractiveness/ charisma)

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University of Wollongong2003

Leadership stylesdecision-making

directive permissive

implementation autocrat

democrat

Makes decisions alone, close supervision of implementation

Makes decisions alone, gives subordinates some discretionary power in implementation

Makes decisions participatively, close supervision of implementation

Makes decisions participatively, gives subordinates some discretionary power in implementation

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University of Wollongong2003

Summary

• Software Process Management includes team management• Personnel selection

• Group organisation

• Team motivation

• Team Leadership