Team Building and Formation Model Abdullah AlKahtani CS 577b Individual Research Topic April 21, 2010

Agenda Formation Model Proposal Current Formation Process The Stage Model Importance of Team Building Connecting People … 2

Importance of Team Building  Misconception: Project Managers usually focus on Cost, Time and Quality. Forget about People!  People management is vital to project success.  Without People, the project would not exit!  “The productivity ranges show a factor of 4.18 in productivity difference due to personnel/team capability” [Boehm]  Team Building is not an Easy Task. Connecting People … 3

The Stage Model Stage Model by Dr. Bruce Tuckman: 1)Forming: Uncertainity 3) Norming: Cohesiveness 2) Storming: Conflict 4) Performing: Productivity 5) Adjourning: Mourning/ Wrap up Connecting People … 4

Team Formation Current Formation Process:  Does not stress much on team formation.  Student’s general information form was good, but not enough!  The info entered by students can be overwhelming.  Friends usually tend to form teams.  Isolation of under-represented minorities!  Not many attended the team mixer. Connecting People … 5

Team Formation Team Formation Proposal: 1)Students fill an online questionnaire about skills, experience. 2)Filling Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) to group students in terms of personality. (Optional) 3)The instructor or TAs chooses Project Managers (PMs) of all to be created teams. 4)PMs get to nominate team members they would like to have in their team based on the spreadsheet or DB. 5)PMs start contacting these members in-person or by and ask them to respond within a deadline. Connecting People … 6

Team Formation Team Formation Proposal (cont.): 6)PMs will provide Instructor & TAs with # of people accepted and rejected. 7)PMs will create openings for the skills they still need in their teams. 8)Students can apply for available openings directly to their project managers by or through online forms/templates. 9)Alternatively, TAs will update the Spreadsheet/DB with students who still don’t have teams for another selection cycle. Connecting People … 7

Team Formation Benefits Expected benefits: Improve team’s overall productivity. Have more balanced project teams. Help optimize the effort to recruit new members. Have a team working harmoniously towards achieving the goals. Connecting People … 8

References [1] S. Rodrigues, J. Oliveira, J.M. de Souza, "Competence mining for team formation and virtual community recommendation”, vol. 1, Page: 44 – 49, Vol. 1, Proceedings of the Ninth International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design, [2] Douglass J. Wilde. Teamology: the Construction and Organization of Effective Teams. Springer London. Pages: , [3] Barry Boehm. Software Engineering: Barry W. Boehm’s Lifetime’s Contribution to Software Development, Management, and Research, IEEE Computer Society, Pages: 157 – 163, Connecting People … 9

References [4] Tuckman, B. & Jensen, M. Stages of Small Group Development. Group and Organizational Studies, 2, pages: [5] William Kahn. The student's guide to successful project teams, New York, Routledge, Connecting People … 10