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GROUP DYNAMICS & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

GROUP DYNAMICS & PROJECT MANAGEMENT. Sus Lundgren. Why this lecture?. Generations(!) of MDI/ID-students have requested it Even if most of you’ve already worked in groups at the uni… …most of you were in very homogenous groups . The life of a group: six stages. 1) Initial stage

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GROUP DYNAMICS & PROJECT MANAGEMENT

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  1. GROUP DYNAMICS & PROJECT MANAGEMENT Sus Lundgren

  2. Why this lecture? • Generations(!) of MDI/ID-students have requested it • Even if most of you’ve already worked in groups at the uni… …most of you were in very homogenous groups

  3. The life of a group: six stages • 1) Initial stage • Insecurity, curiosity, showing off • 2) The honeymoon • Intense communication and bonding • 3) The ”we”-stage • Roles and means of communication are being established • In groups with more than seven members, sub groups emerge • Diversity is seen as a strength

  4. The life of a group: six stages • 4) Conflict stage • Irritation, less praise, aggression, envy • Diversities are annoying • Group pressure builds up • 5) Plateau stage • Fatigue, resignation • 6) The effective stage • Unity, everyone working well towards the same target • Tranquility, pleasure in one’s work, satisfaction • Remains until conditions change…

  5. One aspect of roles… • Members of a group have task-related roles • System architecturer • Programmer • Database programmer • Designers • Interaction designers • Graphic designers • Project leader • Technical Project Leader • Technical writer

  6. Another aspect of roles • Members of a group also have roles related to “behaviour”/personality • There are various theories on how to describe personalities… • Cattell Personality Inventory (16 PF), pairs of attributes (intovert-extrovert, submissive-detemined, exact-creative etc.) • Belbin • … and numerous tests

  7. Belbin’s team roles • Meredith Belbin and his colleagues have spent years studying team work in an experimental environment • They have defined eight team roles • Coordinator (calm, confident, controlled) • Plant (creative, unorthodox, non-practical) • Implementer (conservative, dutiful) • Shaper (extrovert, dynamic, pushing, provoking) • Monitor/Evaluator (analytic, strategic, dry) • Team worker (sensitive, mild, indecisive, caring) • Resource Investigator (curious, communicative) • Completer-Finisher (thorough, perfectionist, anxiuos )

  8. Team roles &teams • Each of us have a primary and a secondary role, etc. • Well-working teams consist of people with many different roles • One- or two-role teams are hardly ever functional • A person sometimes acts as his or her secondary team role, if it is missing in the group • If the team is smaller than eight, some members may act out both their primary and secondary roles • The ideal team size seems to be 4-6 people

  9. Reality, part 1

  10. Reality, part 2

  11. Reality, part 3

  12. The Industrial Project • Unfortunately there’s a widespread distrust between programmers and designers, leading to numerous conflicts • Obvious reasons are • Time planning: designers are normally busy during the beginning of the project, programmers in the end • The client: There are always misunder-standings leading to redesign  new code • User tests: These also cause redesign and might annoy not only the programmers…

  13. The Industrial Project • Inner reasons • Lack of understanding of the problems and possibilities within the ”other” discipline • View on design: For the designer it lives and changes due to changed requirements, it is never really ”finished”. For the programmer it’s much easier if the design is set from the beginning • Programmer: You’re irresolute, changing stuff all the time, whereas I’m the one making the important job! • Designer: If the user can’t understand the system it doesn’t matter how genial the code is, you arrogant #@%¤#!!!

  14. Tensions

  15. What can be done? • The groups must get an understanding of each others disciplines • The entire group should take part in the initial system design meetings • Let programmers take part as observers during user tests • Let the entire group sit in the same room, if possible • More and better communication, ”cross fertilization of ideas” • Make early user tests to minimize last-minute redesigns

  16. About you… • You have different competences • Graphical designers • Writers • Programmers • Different areas of knowledge  different views & different wor(l)ds • More… • Different levels of ambition • Different ways of working • Keeping your known roles (programmer etc) or switching and learning from another?

  17. Stuck in The Middle

  18. The Project leader • The project leader serves as an interface and sometimes a filter between • the members of the group (or the groups in the group!) • The customer • The own company • Other companies or people involved in the project • The project leader needs to • Keep everyone reasonably happy == compromise • Make sure the project is done on time within budget  lots of administrative work

  19. The Project leader • The project leader needs to be • Sensitive • Rather calm • Self confident • Tough-stomached • The project leader needs to have • Good communication skills • Good negotiation skills

  20. Project management 1a • List all activities you can think of • Make time estimate • Divide them into groups • Time based (e.g. ”preparations”) • Skill based (e.g. ”database programming”) • Assign people to tasks • Make a time line • Leave slack! • Try to foresee problems; can you plan to avoid them? • Fear of computer breakdowns  daily backups to server • Have frequent check-up meetings

  21. Let’s manage a party! • List activities • Divide them into groups • Time based (e.g. ”preparations”) • Skill based (e.g. ”database programming”) • Assign people to tasks • Make a time line • Try to foresee problems • Check-ups?

  22. Easy reading • Meredith Belbin: Management Teams - så skapas framgångsrika team • Management Teams: Why they succeed or fail • Meredith Belbin: Teamroller i praktiken • Team Roles at Work • Ann & Marianne Fredriksson: De elva sammansvurna

  23. Zookeeper: Homework • How many sounds are there in Zookeeper’s game mode? • Do you think the sound feedback matters? Why? Why not? • Which one sound do you think is the most important one?

  24. Marking Shifting places Scoring Cumulative scoring All-of-a-kind scoring Angry animal No more move Running out of time Level done Level up Animals fall down onto new level Game over – animals run away Mouse-over options Pause (actually the same as ”angry animal” – late fix? Background music Zookeeper Sounds • I found some 15

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