1. COMP3615/5615 Capstone Projects
Week 3
2015

2. This lab and week Group work terminology based on Big-5
Cf. XP roles and methods
First user stories
Grading for Week 5 and 6 assessments

3. About working in groups
And learning how to do it more effectively

4. Why is this here?
Provides vocabulary which aids communication and thinking
Enables you to report challenges faced and strategies used to overcome them
Use these terms in reports
Connect them to XP terms, roles and processes

5. Why group learning? Group Work Success Factors Learning Individual
Motivation
Cognition
Learn to
Work in teams
Collaborative
Learning
Values
Social Capital

6. Learning group work skills is very important
Reflected in accreditation requirements
Reflected in University’s generic attributes
Project and Team Skills (Level 3)
Level 3: Small project proficiency. Proficiently applies standard project management tools & methods for assigned project activities on a small team scale.

7. Problems for groups Establishing common ground
Social loafing (free-riding)
Increased rudeness/aggression
Tend to focus on task/production at the cost of catering to psychological needs
Tend to focus on action at the cost of reflection
Frustration with quality of interaction
Feel collaboration overhead too high
Groups producing solutions very quickly are often the least stable

8. Big Five Theory Team Effectiveness
Salas, Eduardo, Dana E. Sims, and C. Shawn Burke. "Is there a “Big Five” in teamwork?." Small group research 36.5 (2005):

9. S1. Shared Mental
Models
1. Team
Leadership
2. Mutual
Performance
Monitoring
5. Team
Orientation
3. Back-up
Behavior
S2. Mutual Trust
S3. Closed Loop
Communication
4. Adaptibility
Goal: Team
Effectiveness
Support

10. Team leadership
Ability to direct and coordinate the activities of other team members, assess team performance, assign tasks, develop team knowledge, skills, and abilities, motivate team members, plan and organize, and establish a positive atmosphere.

11. Mutual performance monitoring
The ability to develop common understandings of the team environment and apply appropriate task strategies to accurately monitor team mate performance.

12. Backup behaviour
Ability to anticipate other team members’ needs through accurate knowledge about their responsibilities. This includes the ability to shift workload among members to achieve balance during high periods of workload or pressure.

13. Adaptability
Ability to adjust strategies based on information gathered from the environment through the use of backup behaviour and reallocation of intra-team resources. Altering a course of action or team repertoire in response to changing conditions (internal or external).

14. Team orientation
Propensity to take other’s behaviour into account during group interaction and the belief in the importance of team goal’s over individual members’ goals.

15. Three Support Elements

16. Shared mental models
An organizing knowledge structure of the relationships among the task the team is engaged in and how the team members will interact.

17. Mutual trust
The shared belief that team members will perform their roles and protect the interests of their teammates.

18. Closed-loop communication
The exchange of information between a sender and a receiver irrespective of the medium. Easy case: 3-step communication

19. How does this relate to XP?
Leadership
Performance monitoring
Backup behaviour
Adaptability
Team orientation
Shared mental models
Mutual trust
Closed Loop Communication (3 steps on wiki)

20. Priority tasks for this week
Based on tutor feedback, refine, improve, complete targets for this week.
Select first target stories, with client agreement that they are the top priority, with allocation of work to each team member
Research foundations ready to share with the client and to seek advice on what they would like you to research