R&D SDM 1
Software Project Management
Team Management
Project organizations
2010
Theo Schouten
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Content
People, motivation, management
Working in groups
Group organization
Organization paradigms
Book:
21. (24)Project Management Concepts
2.6.2 (2.6.2) Team Software process
4.2.2 (3.3.3) Human Factors (Agile team)
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People
• People are an organisation’s most important assets.
• The tasks of a manager are essentially peopleoriented. Unless there is some understanding of
people, management will be unsuccessful.
• Poor people management is an important contributor
to project failure.
People
Technology
Process
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Stakeholders
• senior managers: define business issues
• project (technical) managers: plan, motivate, organize
and control the workers
• practitioners: deliver the technical skills
• customers: specify the requirements or have other
interests in the product (finance, maintenance, etc.)
• end-users: use the software after release
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People management factors
• Consistency
– Team members should all be treated in a comparable way
without favourites or discrimination.
• Respect
– Different team members have different skills and these
differences should be respected.
• Inclusion
– Involve all team members and make sure that people’s
views are considered.
• Honesty
– You should always be honest about what is going well and
what is going badly in a project.
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MOI model of leadership
• Motivation:
– the ability to encourage (by push or pull) technical
people to produce to their best ability
• Organization:
– the ability to mold existing processes (or find new
ones) that will enable the initial concept to be
translated into a final product
• Ideas or innovation:
– the ability to encourage people to create and feel
creative even when they must work within bounds
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Motivation by satisfying needs (Maslov)
• Physiological needs (e.g. food, sleep, etc.)
• Safety needs
• Social needs
– Provide communal facilities;
– Allow informal
communications.
• Esteem needs
– Recognition of achievements;
– Appropriate rewards.
• Self-realization needs
– Training - people want to learn more;
– Responsibility.
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Personality types
• Motivation should also take into account different personality
types regarding motivation:
• Task-oriented
– The principal motivation for doing the work is the work
itself
• Self-oriented
– The principal motivation is personal success and
recognition. The work is a means to an end which is the
achievement of individual goals - e.g. to get rich, etc.
• Interaction-oriented
– The principal motivation is the presence and actions of
co-workers. People go to work because they like to go to
work.
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other personality types
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Characteristics of software teams
Innovation
Delivery of reliable software with predictable good
quality and performance
Solving complex problems
Working under time pressure
Many different roles (programmer, analyst, architect,
tester, librarian, database administrator, technical project
leader, program manager, etc.)
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…continued
Interaction between software team and user organization
Combination of ‘technical skills’ and ‘soft skills’:
getting user requirements
user interfaces for non-technical users
web design team, content providers
Combination of technical, human and management
aspects
Combinations present in whole team and individual
members in different ways
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Working in groups factors
The following factors influence the working in groups:
Group composition: Is there a good balance of skills,
experience and personalities in a team?
Group cohesion: Thinks the group of itself as a team or is it a
gathering of individuals that work together?
Group communication: Is the communication in the group
effective?
Group organization: Is the group organized such that every
member feels that he is respected and is satisfied with the
role he plays?
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Group composition
• Group composed of members who share the same motivation
can be problematic
– Task-oriented - everyone wants to do their own thing;
– Self-oriented - everyone wants to be the boss;
– Interaction-oriented - too much chatting, not enough work.
• An effective group has a balance of all types.
• This can be difficult to achieve, software engineers are often
task-oriented.
• Interaction-oriented people are very important as they can
detect and defuse tensions that arise
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Group cohesiveness
• In a cohesive group, members consider the group to
be more important than any individual in it.
• The advantages of a cohesive group are:
– Group quality standards can be developed
– Group members work closely together so
inhibitions caused by ignorance are reduced
– Team members learn from each other and get to
know each other’s work
– Egoless programming where members strive to
improve each other’s programs, can be practiced.
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Developing cohesiveness
• Cohesiveness is influenced by factors such as the
organizational culture and the personalities in the
group.
• Cohesiveness can be encouraged through
– Social events
– Developing a group identity and territory
– Explicit team-building activities
• Openness with information is a simple way of
ensuring all group members feel part of the group
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Group communications
• Good communications are essential for effective
group working.
• Information must be exchanged on the status of work,
design decisions and changes to previous decisions.
• Good communications also strengthens group
cohesion as it promotes understanding.
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Factors in group communications
• Group size
– The larger the group, the harder it is for people to
communicate with other group members.
• Group structure
– Communication is better in informally structured groups
than in hierarchically structured groups.
• Group composition
– Communication is better when there are different
personality types in a group and when groups are mixed
rather than single sex.
• The physical work environment
– Good workplace organization can help encourage
communications.
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Group organization
• Small software engineering groups are usually organized
informally without a rigid structure:
– The group acts as a whole and comes to a consensus on
decisions affecting the system.
– The group leader serves as the external interface of the
group but does not allocate specific work items.
– Rather, work is discussed by the group as a whole and tasks
are allocated according to ability and experience.
– This approach is successful for groups where all members
are experienced and competent
• For large projects, there may be a hierarchical structure where
different groups are responsible for different sub-projects
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Describing groups
Described on 3 levels (Constantine, 1993):
Operational level, the level of observed behavior
Process level, the structures which leads to patterns in observed
behavior. E.g. the way in which a report is written is done according
an instruction.
Paradigm level, the model and culture that influence the organization
and the behavior of a group. The whole of assumptions that form the
basis of the structure and way of working of an organization is called
the organization paradigm.
Oxford English Dictionary: "a pattern or model, an exemplar."
Merriam-Webster dictionary: “a philosophical or theoretical
framework of any kind”
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Organization paradigm: 4 extremes
RANDOM
Innovative
Independent
OPEN
Adaptive
Collaboration
Group
Flexibility
SYNCHRONOUS
Harmony
in same direction
Intrinsic
Cohesion
CLOSED
Traditional
Hierarchy
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Traditional hierarchy
also called closed paradigm
standards and rules of operation aim at increasing continuity and
stability
a control mechanism prohibits deviations from norms and
patterns
structured as a hierarchical pyramid with clearly described tasks,
authorizations and responsibilities
Information streams are strongly controlled and decisions of
managers are passed downwards to be executed.
The general goals of the organizations are leading
Examples are the military or government
usable for teams which have to solve routine tactical problems
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Innovative, Independent
•antithesis of the traditional hierarchy
•also called random paradigm
•direction and decision process of the project organization is
dependent on independent initiatives of the individuals
•directed towards innovation and creative autonomy
•the freedom of the individual with as goal creative and
independent operation is more important than the collective goals
•examples are research&development departments of large
companies or project teams which have to develop completely
new products
•especially suited for teams that have to realize creative
breakthroughs
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Adaptive collaboration
also called open paradigm
a synthesis between the random and the closed paradigm.
innovation is integrated with collective goals by means of
discussions and negotiations.
it is a model of equal partnership in which roles and
responsibilities are shared and assigned in a flexible way
the open paradigm is especially suited for teams which have to
solve complex problems
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Synchronous paradigm
working in harmony
the antithesis of the open paradigm.
team members share a common vision of a common goal and a
way of working to achieve that goal
such a group maintains its common and parallel action by
means of silent agreement and shared knowledge of what should
be achieved and how
Example is a group of agricultural workers busy getting the
harvest in
Especially suited for teams that must achieve repeated critical
performance
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Exercise
A.Which paradigm is best suited for a software team?
B. Which paradigm best fits your own GIP team?
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Concrete
Experience
Kolb
Feeling
Kolb's
learning
styles
Active
Experimentation
Doing
Accommodating
Diverging
(feel and do)
CE/AE
Perc
eptio
n
Conti
nuu
Processing
m
how we
Converging
(think and do)
AC/AE
how
we
think
about
thing
s
(feel and watch)
CE/RO
Continuum
do things
Abstract
Conceptualisation
Thinking
Reflective
Observation
Watching
Assimilating
(think and watch)
AC/RO
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Belbin Team roles
•Action Oriented Role:
•Implementer – translating the team’s decisions and ideas into manageable and
practical tasks or actions.
•Shaper – goal directe., a dynamic individual who boldly challenges others during
discussions, can handle work pressures and has the courage to overcome obstacles.
•Completer/Finisher - attention to detail and the ability to meet deadlines.
•People Skills Oriented Role:
•Co-ordinator - enabling and facilitating interaction and decision making.
•Teamworker - a good listener, being collaborative, co-operative, easy going and
tactful.
•Resource Investigator - an extrovert who can develop contacts, communicate well,
explore new ideas and opportunities, and bring enthusiasm and drive to the team effort.
•Cerebral/Intellectual Role:
•Planter - problem solving and out-of-the-box thinking.
•Monitor/Evaluator - good judgment and good strategic thinking ability.
•Specialist – dedicated and focused individual who likes to learn and constantly build
his or her knowledge.
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