Managing people

Managing people working as
individuals and in groups
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 1
People in the process

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People are an organisation’s most important assets
The tasks of a manager are essentially people
oriented. Unless there is some understanding
of people, management will be unsuccessful
Software engineering is primarily a cognitive
activity. Cognitive limitations effectively limit the
software process
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 4
Management activities
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Problem solving (using available people)
Motivating (people who work on a project)
Planning (what people are going to do)
Estimating (how fast people will work)
Controlling (people's activities)
Organizing (the way in which people work)
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 5
Limits to thinking

People don’t all think the same way but everyone
is subject to some basic constraints on their
thinking due to
•
•
•

Memory organisation
Knowledge representation
Motivation influences
If we understand these constraints, we can
understand how they affect people participating in
the software process
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 6
Memory organisation
From
senses
Short-term
memory
Working memory
Long-ter m memory
(Lar ge capacity, slow access)
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 7
Long-term memory
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Slow access, very large capacity
Unreliable retrieval mechanism
Slow but finite decay time - information needs
to be reinforced
Relatively high threshold - work has to be done
to get information into long-term memory.
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 10
Cognitive chunking
Loop (process entir e array)
Loop (process unsorted part of array)
Compare adjacent elements
Swap if necessary so that smaller comes first
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 12
Knowledge modelling
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Semantic knowledge knowledge of concepts
such as the operation of assignment, concept
of parameter passing etc.
Syntactic knowledge knowledge of details of
a representation e.g. a C++ for loop.
Semantic knowledge seems to be stored in a
structured, representation independent way.
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 13
Syntactic/semantic knowledge
Task knowledge
Computer knowledge
Semantic knowledge
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Syntactic knowledge
Slide 14
Knowledge acquisition

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Semantic knowledge through experience and
active learning
Syntactic knowledge acquired by memorization.
New syntactic knowledge can interfere with
existing syntactic knowledge.
•
Problems arise for experienced programmers in
mixing up syntax of different programming
languages
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 15
Problem solving
Problem
Partial
solutions
Ne w knowledge
Existing knowledge
Solution
Working
memory
Long-ter m memory
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 18
Management Implications

When choosing members of a long term project –
should look for problem solving ability, and
domain experience rather than specific language
skills
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 19
Management Implications

Structured Programming works for a reason
•
•
Based on semantic concepts
Short term memory not overloaded
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 20
Motivation


An important role of a manager is to motivate the
people working on a project
Motivation is a complex issue but it appears that
their are different types of motivation based on
•
•
•
Basic needs (e.g. food, sleep, etc., safety)
Social needs (e.g. to be accepted as part of a group)
Personal needs (e.g. respect, self-esteem, self realization
(personal development)
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 21
Mazlow’s Human needs hierarchy
Selfrealization needs
Esteem needs
Social needs
Safety needs
Physiological needs
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 22
Motivating people
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Motivations depend on satisfying needs
It can be assumed that physiological and safety
needs are satisfied
Social, esteem and self-realization needs are
most significant from a managerial viewpoint
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 23
Need satisfaction

Social
•
•
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Esteem
•
•

Provide communal facilities
Allow informal communications
Recognition of achievements
Appropriate rewards
Self-realization
•
•
Training - people want to learn more
Responsibility
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 24
Personality types

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The needs hierarchy is almost certainly an oversimplification
Motivation should also take into account different
personality types:
•
•
•
Task-oriented
Self-oriented
Interaction-oriented
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 25
Motivation balance

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Individual motivations are made up of elements
of each class
Balance can change depending on personal
circumstances and external events
However, people are not just motivated by personal
factors but also by being part of a group and culture.
People go to work because they are motivated by the
people that they work with and the work that they do
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 27
22.2 Group working

Most software engineering is a group activity
•


The development schedule for most non-trivial software projects
is such that they cannot be completed by one person working
alone
Group interaction is a key determinant of group
performance
Flexibility in group composition is limited
•
Managers must do the best they can with available people
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 28
Time distribution
20%
Non-productive
activities
30%
Working alone
©Ian Sommerville 2000
50%
Interaction with
other people
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 29
Group composition

Group composed of members who share the
same motivation can be problematic
•
•
•

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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
Can be difficult to achieve because most
engineers are task-oriented
Need for all members to be involved in decisions
which affect the group
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 30
Group leadership
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Leadership depends on respect not title
There may be both a technical and an
administrative leader
Democratic leadership is more effective than
autocratic leadership
A career path based on technical competence
should be supported
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 31
Group cohesiveness


In a cohesive group, members consider the group
to be more important than any individual in it
Advantages of a cohesive group are:
•
•
•
•
Group quality standards can be developed
Group members work closely together – learn from each other
and together
Team members get to know each other’s work
Egoless programming where members strive to improve each
other’s programs can be practiced
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 32
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
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 33
Group loyalties

Group members tend to be loyal to cohesive groups
•


Downside – if leadership changes to somebody outside the
group, they may face resistance from the group
'Groupthink' is preservation of group irrespective of
technical or organizational considerations
Management should act positively to avoid groupthink
by forcing external involvement with each group
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 34
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
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 35
Group communications


Group Size
Status of group members
•

Group Structure and Communication channels
•

Too many people of the same personality type can be a problem
Sexual composition of group
•

Communications channelled though a central coordinator tend to be
ineffective
Personalities in groups
•

Higher status members tend to dominate conversations
Mixed-sex groups tend to communicate better
Physical work environment
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 36
Group organization



Software engineering group sizes should be relatively
small (< 8 members)
Break big projects down into multiple smaller projects
To be discussed in turn:
• Small teams may be organized in an informal,
democratic way
• Extreme variant – Extreme Programming
• Chief programmer teams try to make the most
effective use of skills and experience
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 37
Democratic team organisation

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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
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 38
Extreme programming groups

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Extreme programming groups are variants of
democratic organization
Extremely rapid prototyping
In extreme programming groups, some ‘management’
decisions are devolved to group members
Programmers work in pairs and take a collective
responsibility for code that is developed
Extreme Programming Explained: embrace
change, by Kent Beck, Addison Wesley 2000
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 39
12 Practices of Extreme Programming
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Customer On-Site with development
Daily Planning, involving customer/ developers
Small Releases
Simple Design
Continuous Integration
Testing constantly – planned in advance
Strict coding standards
Refactoring (re-work) encouraged
Collective Ownership of Code
Pair Programming (at same computer)
40 hour work week
Collective vision (“metaphor”)
Practices work as a group, they depend on each other!
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 40
Watch Out

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Will not work in Dibertesque corporations
Will not work for large projects (> 20 people)
Will not work if customers are slow to give feedback
Will not work if programmers are physically separate
Generally seems to assume OO environment
Not Appropriate if maintaining Legacy Code or earlier
release structure is important
May require highly qualified and motivated staff in
order to be successful
Concern – Return of quick and dirty?
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 42
Chief programmer teams
(IBM developed)
Specialist pool
Nucleus of chief programmer team
Administrator
Toolsmith
Chief
progr ammer
Backup
programmer
OS specialist
Tech. author
Libr arian
Outside
Communica tion
Test specialist
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 43
Problems


This chief programmer approach, in various forms, has been
successful
However, it suffers from a number of problems
•
•
•
•
Talented designers and programmers are hard to find. Without
exceptional people in these roles, the approach will fail
Other group members may resent the chief programmer taking
the credit for success so may deliberately undermine his/her role
While backup programmer is prepared to take over for chief
programmer, if both the chief and deputy programmer are
unavailable, there is a high risk that the project will fail
Organizational structures and programmer levels (e.g. Sr
Programmer etc) may be unable to accommodate this type of
group
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 45
22.3 Choosing and keeping people


Choosing people to work on a project is a major
managerial responsibility
Appointment decisions are usually based on
•
•
•

information provided by the candidate (their resumé or CV)
information gained at an interview
recommendations from other people who know the candidate
Some companies use psychological or aptitude
tests
•
There is no agreement on whether or not these tests are actually
useful
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 46
Factor
Application domain
experience
Platform experience
Programming language
experience
Educational background
Communication ability
Adaptability
Attitude
Personality
Explanation
For a project to develop a success ful sys tem, the
developers must understand the application domain.
May be s ignificant if
low-level programming is
involved. Otherwis e, not usually a critical attribute.
Normally only significant for s hort duration projects
where there is ins ufficient time to
learn a new
language.
May provide an indicator of the basic fundamentals
which the candidate should know and of their ability
to learn. This factor becomes increas ingly irrelevant
as engineers gain experience across a
range of
projects.
Very important because of the need for project s taff to
communicate orally and in writing with other
engineers, managers and cus tomers .
Adaptability may be judged by looking at the different
types of experience which candidates have had.This is
an important attribute as it indicates an ability to
learn.
Project s taff s hould have a pos itive attitude to their
work and s hould be willing to learn new skills . This
is an important attribute but often very difficult
to
ass es s.
Again, an important attribute but difficult to as sess .
Candidates mus t be reas onably compatible with other
team members. No particular type of pers onality is
more or les s s uited to software engineering.
Staff selection
factors
Working environments

Physical workplace provision has an important
effect on individual productivity and satisfaction
•
•
•

Comfort
Privacy
Facilities
Health and safety considerations must be taken
into account
•
•
•
Lighting
Heating
Furniture
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 48
Environmental factors



Privacy - each engineer requires an area for
uninterrupted work
Outside awareness - people prefer to work in
natural light
Personalization - individuals adopt different
working practices and like to organize their
environment in different ways
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 49
Workspace organisation

Workspaces should provide private spaces where
people can work without interruption
•

Providing individual offices for staff has been shown
to increase productivity!!
However, teams working together also require
spaces where formal and informal meetings can
be held
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Slide 50
Office layout – Really Nice!
Meeting
room
Office
Office
Communal
area
Office
Office
Office
Office
©Ian Sommerville 2000
Window
Of fice
Of fice
Software Engineering, 6th edition. Chapter 22
Shared
documentation
Slide 51