PDT Contract for Team 17
1. Contact Information
Subteam 17 (Penn State University)
Subteam 17 (University College Dublin, Ireland)
Subteam 17 (Curtin University)
Steven Mancini
sjm5597@psu.edu
stevenmancini92, Google Hangouts
Steven Mancini, Groupme
862-684-2377
Greg Becker
gqb5064@psu.edu
gbecker30, Google Hangouts
Daniel Bellisario
djb5609@psu.edu / danjbellisario@gmail.com (psu webmail/gmail)
Cell (412)-770-6161
Available anytime after 3:30. P.M. and Weekends.
Available Wed and Fri Before 1 P.M.
Name: Patrick Walsh
Email: patrick.walsh.4@ucdconnect.ie/13200649@ucdconnect.ie
Cell/Mobile: +353 87 980 9168
Available: 9am to 12pm, inclusive of weekends
Name: Gagan Sadrish Vasisht
Email: gagan.vasisht@ucdconnect.ie /13201104@ucdconnect.ie
Cell/Mobile: +353 89 952 9147
Available: 10am to 12pm, inclusive of weekends
Name: Bartosz Zaleski
Email: bartosz.zaleski@ucdconnect.ie
Cell/Mobile: +353 87 219 3325
Available: 10am to 12pm, inclusive of weekends
Matthew Chee
matthew.chee@student.curtin.edu.au
Matthew, Curtin (webmail)
+61 406 836 562
Jia Chen Chua
jiachen.chua@student.curtin.edu.au
Chen, Curtin (webmail)
+61 405 839 222
Jeremy Gatchalian
jeremy.gatchalian@student.curtin.edu.au
Jeremy, Curtin (webmail)
+61 470 137 178
Zachary Hall
zachary.hall@student.curtin.edu.au
Zachary, Curtin (webmail)
2. Project Management and Team Leadership
a. Identify leaders: Daniel Bellisario (Penn State), Patrick Walsh (UCD), Jia Chen Chua
(CUA)
b. How will milestones and due dates be established and acknowledged?
● PSU: At the start of each week our subteam will meet to layout a project plan
including meeting dates, due dates, and important project milestone goals that
our team plans to achieve for that week.
● UCD: Our Sub-team will meet each week using various forms of media
such as Moodle, Facebook, Skype, Whatsapp, etc… while face to face
meetings will be included in this. In these meetings we will address:
○ 1. The weekly project deliverables
○ 2. Long term project goals
○ 3. Any issues with other team members
○ 4. Our strategic plan for delivering said project on time
● CUA: At the beginning of each week, the subteam leader will organize the
meeting dates, and ask the whole subteam to decide on the due dates
that can fit all of our schedules. All of us will determine the key project
milestone goals to achieve for each single week.
c. How will team progress be monitored?
○ PSU: We will schedule weekly meetings to work on projects, track progress,
meet due dates, and make sure everybody is on track.
○ UCD: 1.We plan to monitor the team’s progress through one of the many
Project Management Smartphone apps. 2. We could also use a
timeline/Gantt Chart in excel
○ CUA: Each week we will go through a subteam meeting to distribute the
workloads, making sure everyone understands the project, and exchange
the workloads with each other after we are done to check progress. Our
subteam will conduct sub team meetings on Monday using Skype.
d. What methods will be used to inform others about the status of work-in-progress and
open issues?
○ PSU: We will use google documents and a group messaging application in order
to inform others about work in progress and open issues.
○ UCD: We plan to use the file sharing service ‘Google Docs’ along with
various media platforms such as Whatsapp, Skype, Facebook Messenger,
etc…
○ CUA: Google documents is the main tool we will be using to upload work,
also we will use the group messaging application like WhatsApp to inform
the changes we make and any open issues.
3. Communication between subteams
Regular and timely communication between subteams is important to your team’s success.
Answer the following questions.
a. How frequently will subteams communicate with one another? (e.g., daily, every two
days)
○ PSU: The amount of times the sub team meets in person is dependant upon how
much time is needed to completed the current weeks deliverables. However, we
will at least meet once a week in person (other than class time) to work on the
project. We will communicate with the subteams daily to monitor progress and
make sure that everybody is participating in completing the deliverables.
○ UCD: We will aim to communicate at least daily Monday to Friday through
various methods such as a simple post on a forum. As we come closer to
weekly and end project deadlines we envisage that these interactions will
become more and necessary and frequent.
○ CUA: Is all depends on the difficulty of project, if the project is too tough
for us we would organize a meeting every two days. Otherwise, we will
just have one meeting (outside the class) each week and following up by
messaging each day.
b. What time of day works best for subteam members to communicate with one another?
(e. g. morning, afternoon, evening, Note: this may be very useful with teams having
differences in time)
○ PSU: Late afternoon through early evening is the best time of day for our
subteam members to communicate with one another. By this time, each team
member will be out of class for the day.
○ UCD: Late afternoon through early evening is the best time of day for our
sub-team members to communicate with one another. We are flexible
though
○ CUA: We would prefer mid evening as no classes will be held during this
period of time, and everyone finishes their dinners.
c. What is an appropriate response time to reply to messages? (e.g. 12 hours, 24 hours)
○ PSU: Between members of our subteam the appropriate response time is 12
hours max. Between subteams, given the time zone differences, the appropriate
response time is 24 hours.
○ UCD: Between members of our sub-team the appropriate response time is
12 hours. Between sub-teams, given the time zone differences, the
appropriate response time is 24 hours.
○ CUA: For the subteam on the same university would be 12 hours, for the
whole team communication will be 24 hours.
d. What technology platforms will be used for communication? (e.g. PDT System, email,
chat à Note that Asia and Europe typically use MSN while US uses AOL; make sure
both subteams agree on the chat platform.)
○ PSU: We will generally use google drive and group me to facilitate quick
communication between the members of the subteams and the subteams
themselves. This will also allow for the quick sending of documents between
members.
○ UCD: Our members will use Google Drive for file upload and are available
over many media platforms, examples of which are below
i. Skype
ii. Facebook
iii. Whatsapp
iv. Email
○ CUA: For uploading works would be Google Documents, for emailing will
choose Gmail, for online video communication we will use Skype, and
online communication Facebook. Mobile communication will be done
through WhatsApp group and calls.
4. Meetings between subteams
With each team member on a different schedule finding the right time to meet may be a
challenge. It is highly recommended that your team use doodle, found at http://www.doodle.com
to help set up your team meetings. Doodle is a free scheduling tool that your team can use to
help find the best time for all (or most) team members to attend important meetings. Note: Make
sure to select your time zone on doodle when you are entering your available times to meet.
Doodle will automatically convert others’ available times to your time zone.
a. When will meetings occur? How frequently?
● PSU: Meetings will occur whenever everybody in the group is available (unless
unavoidable). We will meet a minimum of once a week, and at least twice a
week when major deliverables are due. We are thinking that we will meet
Tuesdays and possibly Thursdays after our IST 301 class.
● UCD: Meetings will occur whenever everybody in the group is available.
We will meet a minimum of once a week, and at least twice a week when
major deliverables are due. We will aim to meet before PM class on
Wednesday at 16:30.
● CUA: The best is the start of each week; the frequency would depend on
the difficulty of project. For example, if the project is too complex, we
would like to have a meeting every 2 days.
b. Will there be meeting minutes? Will they be posted for all team members to be kept up
to date?
● PSU: Yes there will be a separate folder in our google documents specifically for
meeting minutes. This folder will be shared with all team members so they can
view them at any time.
● UCD: Yes there will be a separate folder in our Google documents
specifically for the minutes of our meetings. This folder will be shared with
all team members so they can view them at any time.
● CUA: Yes they will be posted on the Google Docs so that all group
members can check the minutes and items discussed.
c. What technology platforms will be used for meetings? (e.g., MSN, AOL, Skype?)
● PSU: Each team member will bring their laptop to team meetings. We will
primarily use Google Docs and Google Hangouts at our meetings. For meetings
with our whole team (not just subteam) we will communicate via skype, google
hangouts, and use google docs for collaborative work.
● UCD: Hardware platforms used will range from Laptops to Smartphone’s.
Meetings will be recorded via the minutes (Email, MS Word) and via app
recorders on our phones. For meetings with our whole team (not just subteam) we will communicate via Skype.
● CUA: If we cannot meet in person, Skype will be our choice as most of us
do not have Google Talk.
5. Conflict between subteams
Some amount of conflict is normal when working in teams. However, conflict between
subteams, when not recognized and not resolved, can be detrimental to team performance.
1. How will conflict between subteams be dealt with?
○ PSU: Conflict will be dealt with by sharing our opinions regarding the conflicting
problems at hand and then all agreeing on a solution that will be best for the
team as a whole.
○ UCD: Conflict will be dealt with in an open manner. Group members will be
encouraged to sharing their opinions with all teams’ members. All issues
and opinions will be given careful consideration. We will be mindful that all
teams’ members should be involved in the process and there should be no
dominant voice.
○ CUA: The subteam leader will be the middleman, also we would prefer
everyone express their issues as soon as possible. In the subteam level,
we would discuss by meeting up or phone call. In the team level, we would
prefer using PDT team forum or through Skype.
2. What procedures will be followed to address and resolve conflict?
○ PSU: We will all express our ideas to each other and combine our reasonings for
each problem. We will talk as a group and make decisions as a group, not
individually.
○ UCD:
i. Team members will be encouraged to express their opinions with
the sub-team leader.
ii. If the sub-team leader is the issue then the team member will
discuss with other teams members or other sub-team leaders.
○ CUA: We do believe this is a group project, every issue is somehow link to
everyone. So, we will solve this issue as a team and discuss on the PDT
team forum.
3.
Who will address it?
○ PSU: If there is a conflict that someone is aware of, then whoever is aware of it
will address it. If we all are aware of a conflict at hand, we will all meet to
address and resolve it.
○ UCD: As above.
○ CUA: The whole team and the PDT subteam leaders, whoever is aware of
issues.
6. Decision Making
a. How will both subteams be aware of the decisions made?
○ PSU: We will use a group messaging application (if this is not possible, we will
use email) to inform others of decisions being made.
○ UCD: We will use group messaging, email messaging groups, social
media software
○ CUA: We would discuss through online communication using Skype and
then post the decisions made onto the PDT forum.
b. Who is responsible for communicating these decisions?
○ PSU: Depending on the decision being made, one of the subteam members will
be responsible for communicating decisions to the other sub teams using either a
group messenger or email. The decision will be discussed within the subteam
before any suggestion is made to the other subteams. We will also incorporate
the PDT team forum to make suggestions/decisions.
○ UCD: Depending on the decision being made, one of the sub-team
members will be responsible for communicating decisions to the other sub
teams using either a group messenger or email. The decision will be
discussed within the sub-team before any suggestion is made to the other
sub-teams. We will also incorporate the PDT team forum to make
suggestions/decisions.
○ CUA: All the subteam leaders.
c. How will your team incorporate ideas from both subteams?
○ PSU: We will make sure other subteams are involved with all decision making. In
order for us to incorporate their ideas, we will have all the subteams post their
suggestions on the team forum (PDT) and with this we will collaborate and make
sure all subteams input is used for the deliverables.
○
UCD: We will canvass all team members for their opinions on the ideas
presented. Hung decisions will be subject to the chairman of the meeting
at such time
○ CUA: Through Skype, Google Docs, Facebook and the PDT forum.
7. Work Submissions
a. Who is in charge of team submissions?
○ PSU: Steven Mancini will be in charge of team submissions
○ UCD: Some team members will take turns to lead a particular deliverable
and take charge of submissions
○ CUA: Matthew Chee will be in charge of team submissions.
b. Who is in charge of combining subteam work into a final team deliverable?
○ PSU: Greg Becker will be in charge of combining subteam work into a final team
deliverable.
○ UCD: Some team members will take turns to lead a particular deliverable
and take charge of submissions
○ CUA: Greg Becker will be in charge of combining subteam work into a
final team deliverable.
c. How will teams stay informed about the status of team submissions? That is, how will
members know when a deliverable has been submitted?
○ PSU: Whenever a deliverable is submitted there will be a post on the team forum
notifying the other members that said deliverable is submitted.
○ UCD: Through social media updates
○ CUA: Posts made through the PDT team forum where everybody is
notified of deliverable submission.