Team Preparation Guidelines

Team Preparation Guidelines Organize your team  Do one bonding activity today to help your team’s cohesiveness.

o Race on the stairs up to the classroom

o Take a team photo with all of you doing something stupid…but, not too stupid.

o Have everyone tell a joke.

o Play a simple game.

 Develop a team name & discuss your team logo.

 Exchange everyone’s contact information: email, phone, work schedules…etc.

 Agree upon a common workspace to share team artifacts: schedule, design documentation, code…etc. (Like Google Docs)

 Agree on one person to develop the team Website. This is how I will see your work. The site should contain documents related to your project, including schedules, reports, resumes …etc.

 Prepare name tags that show your name in large letters. This makes it easier for the customer to remember and communicate with you. Prepare business cards for each team member.

 Define team roles. Everybody works and everybody speaks.

 Begin preparing a team sheet with recognizable photos of each team member and their role on the project.

 Have everyone share a resume with the team. These will be posted on the Website. (leave off your address)

 Select a team leader.

Develop Team Norms for Your Group  Mandatory Team Norms

o Teams Meet Face-to-Face for 10 hours/week. Team Contract Due Tonight.

o Participate fully in team work. No excuses. No intellectual loafing. If the team fires you, you get an F.

o All team communication will be open, honest and respectful.

 Sample Norms

o Decision making will be made by majority vote. Decisions made by the majority will be adopted and embraced by each team members. Don’t take it personally.

o Each member of the team is expected to attend all scheduled team meetings, unless previously exempted by the Team Leader. If a scheduling conflict arises, the group member will contact the Team Leader in advance and will submit all work ahead of time. o Team members will be responsible for tasks assigned to them regardless of their role.

o All work turned in must be of the highest quality and written to team standards.

o General team communication will be via the groups shared workspace. In emergencies, contact will be made by phone to the team leader.

o Conflicts will be reported to the Team Leader who will determine the appropriate action to be taken.

o Each member of our team will be proactive and will have assignments completed by the deadline set by the Project Manager.

o In any member of the team wishes to modify the norms, the entire group will discuss it and consider the proposed changes. Changes will be documented and the client informed.

Discuss Developer/Client Etiquette  Dress

 Timeliness

 Cell Phones

 Communication channels

 Documentation

 Leading formal meetings

 Rehearsals

 What ifs?

o Client wants to fire a team member?

o Client doesn’t give you any content, documentation, feedback….etc.

o Client misses a meeting.

Client Meetings  Speak up during meetings. Leaders make sure everyone speaks.

 Leaders should

o develop the agenda in accordance with project objectives

o invite the client and the professor (classroom, library, CBA, client facility)

o control the meeting so the agenda is covered

o include a Gantt chart of the schedule in the meeting  Meeting roles

o Every person is responsible for one part of the agenda

o Take notes – the person(s) who takes notes can summarize the meeting at the end

o Record Action Items – one person responsible for this can go over action items and track their status

 Summarize the meeting and follow up with a short memo. In the memo, restate to the client what the next part of the project is.

Weekly Planning Meeting (Tuesday in class)  Report on previous week’s tasks.

 Review work that needs to be done to meet project plan.

 Review time estimates for each task.

 Agree on who does what.

 Review: Schedule, Time sheets, Action Items, Burndowns….etc.