Software Engineering Report Documents
Name:
ALI, YAHYA SULEIMAN
ID: 2120226088
Submission Date: 02th Dec, 2022
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Topics One
Please describe the advantages and disadvantages of democratic
team approach and chief programmer team approach, and give
some reasons for you selection.
Team Structure
Team structure addresses the issue of arrangement of the individual
project teams.
The best team structure for any particular project
depends on the nature of the project, product and also the individual
characteristics of the team members. There are some possible methods
in which the different project teams can be organized.
There are primarily three formal team structures/approaches:
1. Ego-less or democratic team approach
2. Chief programmer team approach and
3. The mixed team organizations approach
Even several other variations to these structures are possible. Problems
of various complexities and sizes often need different team structures
for the chief solution.
1. Ego-less or democratic team approach
Ego-Less teams subsist of a team of fewer programmers. The
objective of the group is set by consensus, and input from each
member is taken for significant decisions. Group leadership
revolves among the group members. Due to its nature, egoless
teams are consistently known as “democratic teams”.
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The structure allows input from all representatives, which can
lead to better decisions in various problems. This suggests that
this method is well suited for long-term research-type projects
that do not have time constraints.
Advantages of the democratic team approach
Here are some of the most common advantages of democratic team
approach:
a) Job satisfaction and commitment: When team members feel
included in the decision-making process, they often feel more
valued by their leader.
b) Greater innovation: Open discussion encourages creativity and
innovation in project. The more people share new ideas, the more
existing processes can be improved and updated.
c) Multiple solutions generated: When the decision-making
process requires collaboration and multiple opinions, the
discussion covers more possible solutions. The group can analyze
more aspects of a particular project and find solutions that better
address the organization's needs.
d) Less absenteeism: Members who find more satisfaction in their
jobs are more likely to be absent from work. When members feel
valued, they are more likely to commit to deadlines and even
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overtime, to complete projects and help their team and project
succeed.
e)
Team
cohesion:
Involving
team
members
in
the
decision-making process can help reinforce the project vision.
Everybody is a part of the group's decision and understands the
motivations behind this decision. They know they are working
towards a common goal. It promotes greater cohesion within the
group.
f) Trust between group members: When team members and
management have equal decision-making power and access to
the same information, it increases the feeling of trust among
them. Each group member knows the motives behind their
leader's decision and doesn't need to question them."
Disadvantages of the democratic team Approach
Democratic
team
Approach
can
also
present
some
potential
disadvantages:
a) Decision-making slows down: It might be more challenging to
make fast decisions when the decision-making process requires
the input of everybody. The time needed to organize meetings and
discussions can be detrimental to business when it necessitates
quick decisions or involves deadlines.
b) Performance may falter: Some team members are less able to
perform under democratic team approach because they don't like
making decisions.
c) Leaders can feel overwhelmed: Leaders can find it this style of
team approach takes more time and effort when a team
consensus is needed. This extra work may contribute to missed
deadlines and potential leader burnout.
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2. Chief Programmer Team
A chief-programmer team, in contrast to the ego-less team, has a
hierarchy. It consists of a chief-programmer, who has a backup
programmer, a program librarian, and some programmers. The
chief programmer is essential for all major technical decisions of
the project. He does most of the designs, and he assigns coding of
the different part of the design to the programmers.
The backup programmer uses the chief programmer makes
technical decisions, and takes over the chief programmer if the
chief programmer drops sick or leaves.
The program librarian is vital for maintaining the documentation
and
other
communication-related
work.
This
considerably reduces interpersonal communication.
The communication paths, as shown in fig:"
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structure
Advantages of Chief-programmer team approach:
a) Centralized decision-making
b) Reduced communication paths
c) Small teams are more productive than large teams
d) The chief programmer is directly involved in system development
and can exercise the better control function.
Disadvantages of Chief-programmer team approach:
a) Project survival depends on one person only.
b) Can cause the psychological problems as the “chief programmer”
is like the “king” who takes all the credit and other members are
resentful.
c) Team organization is limited to only small team and small team
cannot handle every project.
d) Effectiveness of team is very sensitive to Chief programmer’s
technical and managerial activities.
The reason of my selection
For me “the Democratic Team Approach” is the best and is more
productive because:
It encourages their team members to think creatively and
adaptable to new solutions and changing existing processes.
Democratic Team Approach is often:
a) Team-focused
b) Flexible
c) Adaptable to change
d) Engaged listeners
e) Honest and
f) Communicative
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To conclude, a software project is doomed without competent and well
trained software engineers. However, having the right people is not
enough, teams must be organized in such a way that members can be
productive; tasks can be shared in software engineering. If one person
can pick a strawberry field in ten days, then ten people can pick all
strawberries in a day.
For my opinions; In order to have the good performance of risk
management during preparing, implementing and running the
projects, the democratic team approach is the solution because; there
are positive attitude towards finding faults – the more faults found, the
happier the team. Not only that but also the team members are allowed
to pen discussion that encourages creativity and innovation, so the
more people share new ideas, the more existing processes can be
improved and updated. Also when the decision-making process
requires collaboration and multiple opinions, the discussion covers
more possible solutions and the group can analyze more aspects of a
particular project and find solutions that better address the
organization's needs.
Reference
https://www.javatpoint.com/software-engineering-personnel-planning.
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/democrati
c-leadership
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