Introduction Working in teams
7.5.5 Resource allocation histograms
In order to identify which members of your team are working on which tasks at partic- ular times, you could use a resource allocation histogram RAH. RAHs are used by project managers to balance out work commitments amongst staff and resources and show, quite clearly, which resources are working on which tasks at any given time. A RAH is usually put together during the project’s planning stage and is a useful tool for project control. An example of a RAH is shown in Figure 7.4 – in this case, showing two people working on a software development project over a period of 13 weeks. You can see from this figure that it is quite easy to determine who is working on which task at any particular time. The RAH can easily be extended to several team members by adding extra rows and can include non-project work too for example, holidays, field trips, etc..7.5.6 Group work reports and the allocation of marks
Quite often, in addition to completing a group project, institutions expect individual students to reflect on their experience of teamwork and report on the conduct of other members of the group. Examiners may also want to know how to distribute marks amongst the team members – should everyone be given an equal share or have some members con- tributed more than others? The requirements for such reports will vary from one depart- ment to the next – some requiring little more than an honest percentage breakdown of each 174 Chapter 7 n Controlling your project team member’s contribution while others may require a more reflective review presented as an essay or a report. Examiners may also be interested in a reflective account of how the team worked together. For example, did you have a single team leader, how did the team communicate, how was work allocated, how was the team managed, what was your role and was this an appropriate use of your skills, what would you do differently next time, etc.? Ideally, if the team has worked well together and everyone has done their fair share, each student will claim an equal share of the marks and the marks will be allocated evenly. However, when discrepancies appear the examiners must decide on a means of reaching a compromise. If the students are claiming similar contributions but not exactly the same, a simple averaging of the claims may be fair. Examiners may adjust marks if at least two members corroborate a different percentage split. If the claims are wildly different for example, one team member claims he did 80 of the work while the other team members think he did only 30 the examiners may well interview the team individually andor as a team to determine a compromise or identify why such discrepancies have arisen. It is at times like these that documentary evidence is impor- tant – so make sure you minute your meetings. The following are some tips that should help you if you are asked to produce an appraisal of your team’s performance as a team and from an individual perspective: n Be honest. If you write an honest account of your contribution to the team and the team performance it will be accurate and should be supported by your other team members. n Try to come to an agreement as a team before you hand in your summative reports – so you are agreed on who contributed what to the project. n Be willing to fight your corner if you feel you have been unfairly treated. n Ensure you have documentary evidence to back up your claims – minutes of team meetings, for example. n Make sure that all meetings are fully documented and people ‘sign up’ to work commitments. Not only does this provide people with a ‘contract’ which they feel obliged to fulfil but, also, if things go wrong, arguments won’t start over claims that ‘X said they would do this’ and ‘Y promised that’. These ideas should help you to deal with members of the team who don’t seem to pull their weight. n Try to monitor individual contributions as the project is progressing rather than at the end. At an interim meeting you could ask all team members to complete a contribu- tion sheet – indicating what they feel each member of the team is contributing to the project for example, for a team of five, an equal contribution would be 20 each. If there are discrepancies at this stage for example, X feels she is doing the bulk of the work, while everyone else thinks work is split evenly, try to sort them out sooner rather than later. Get people to explain their reasoning as to why contributions appear to differ you may find out, for example, that someone is doing a lot more work than you thought or reassign tasks to try and even up the workloads.7.5.7 Systems to support team work
There are a number of online systems available that can help your team perform more effectively. These systems include those that allow you to share documents, those that allow you to manage the team arranging meetings, assigning work, etc., configurationParts
» Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» Introduction What are computing projects?
» Computing project types What are computing projects?
» Programming in computing projects
» Degree structures Degree requirements
» Degree requirements for projects
» Overview Your supervisor Stakeholders
» Clients and users Stakeholders
» Evaluators and testers Stakeholders
» Overview How this book is arranged
» Taught degree projects versus research degrees
» Summary Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» A definition What is research?
» Originality What is research?
» Gaincontribution What is research?
» Knowledge and understanding What is research?
» Identify the broad area of study.
» Plan how you will perform the research.
» Gather data and information.
» Analyse and interpret these data.
» Present the results and findings.
» Review the field – i.e., perform a literature survey.
» Build a theory – based on your understanding and interpretations of the field.
» Test the theory – does it work?
» Reflect and integrate – i.e., update your ideas based on your ‘tests’ and contribute
» Intellectual discovery The research process
» Research methods Research methods
» List or multiple choice. Provides the respondent with a number of options to
» Scale. Used to rate the respondent’s feelings towards something.
» Ranking. Used to order a series of options. You should not provide too many
» Complex grid or table. Used to gather similar responses on a range of questions.
» Open-ended. Used to obtain extended, qualitative answers.
» Summary Further reading Action points
» Techniques and Information Sources
» Additional considerations Choosing a project
» Follow any guidelines precisely. Most institutions require specific information; for
» Proofread thoroughly and get someone else to check it. Any errors or omissions
» Introduction to the subject area. This will provide the reader with an under-
» Current research in the field. This will emphasise that your project is not based in
» Identify a gap. You should be able to identify some aspect of the field that requires
» Identify how your work fills the gap. Having identified a gap in the field, your
» Identify risks and solutions. It is also useful in a project proposal to highlight any
» Explicit sections Preparing a project proposal
» Reviewing your proposal Preparing a project proposal
» Exercise Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» The project process Introduction
» Definition The project’s stages
» Planning The project’s stages
» Initiation The project’s stages
» Control The project’s stages
» Closure. The project’s stages
» Complete a literature search and literature review of existing stock market prediction
» Develop a suitable artificial neural network model.
» Identify and collect suitable data for analyses and evaluation.
» Evaluate the model using appropriate statistical techniques.
» Complete final report. Setting objectives
» Step 1 – Work Breakdown Project planning
» Step 2 – Time estimates Project planning
» Step 3 – Identify milestones Project planning
» Step 4 – Activity sequencing Project planning
» Step 5 – Scheduling Project planning
» Step 6 – Re-planning Project planning
» Rolling wave planning Project planning
» Risks. Include a list of critical risk factors and means of dealing with these risks
» Organisation. If you are undertaking a group project it would be worthwhile
» Alleviate critical risks Introduction
» Identify risks Risk management
» Alleviate critical risks Risk management
» Controlling risks Risk management
» Research degrees versus taught degree projects
» A starting point Introduction
» The literature survey process
» Format of information Literature searching
» Tracing the information Literature searching
» Inter-library loans Literature searching
» Some tips for performing a literature search
» Critical evaluation Writing literature reviews
» Overview The past Introduction
» Introduction The software development life cycle SDLC
» Requirements definition Requirements capture
» Requirements specification Requirements capture
» Functional specification Requirements capture
» Design The software development life cycle SDLC
» Build The software development life cycle SDLC
» Test The software development life cycle SDLC
» Implementation The software development life cycle SDLC
» The earliest ’model’: build-and-fix
» The stage-wise and classical waterfall models conventional models
» explore the requirements of the system with the user – requirements capture, andor
» explore the technical feasibility of a system – experimental prototyping.
» Which development approach should I use?
» Which programming language should I use?
» Introduction Top-down and bottom-up development
» Top-down development Top-down and bottom-up development
» Bottom-up development Top-down and bottom-up development
» Verification Verification, validation and testing
» Validation Verification, validation and testing
» Testing Verification, validation and testing
» Who is involved with testing and evaluation?
» Test plans Miscellaneous testing types
» Quality assurance and quality control
» Exercises Projects in Computing and Information Systems A Student's Guide 0273721313 Pearson 2009
» Getting started – project initiation
» Managing the five project elements
» Introduction Dealing with problems
» Weakening Dealing with problems
» Personal problems Dealing with problems
» Hardware failure Dealing with problems
» Data availability Dealing with problems
» Discovering your workresearch has been done before
» Analyse what you are currently doing.
» Change what you are doing to achieve your aims.
» eliminate activities you don’t need to do; and
» be more efficient doing the things you have to do.
» Time management tips Procrastination
» Using your supervisor effectively
» Introduction Working in teams
» Team development Working in teams
» Managing the team Working in teams
» Teamwork tips Working in teams
» Considerations Writing and structuring reports
» Approaches to writing Writing and structuring reports
» When should I start writing?
» Identify structure. This relates to the content of your report, using a report break-
» Identify presentational style. You should also try to set standards at this stage on
» Draft the introduction. The introduction gives the reader an idea of the
» Develop the main body. The main body of your report is the next part you
» Articulate conclusions and make recommendations. Quite clearly, your conclu-
» Complete the introduction. As part of the evolutionary approach to writing,
» Write the abstract. You cannot really write a clear abstract for your report until
» Add references and appendices. Although you will be collating references and
» Arrange contents list, index. Leave the completion of an index if one is required
» Proofread, check and correct. It is vitally important to proofread your report after
» Introductionliterature review – the first chapter of your report should always be
» Main body – the content of which depends on the type of project you are un-
» Conclusionsrecommendations – summarises the contribution of the work and
» Style Writing and structuring reports
» Word processing Writing and structuring reports
» Tips Writing and structuring reports
» Presenting charts and graphs
» Common mistakes Data presentation
» Miscellaneous charts Data presentation
» Other data presentation Data presentation
» Introduction Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism
» Citing references Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism
» Listing references Referencing material and avoiding plagiarism
» Commenting program code Documenting software
» Writing user guides Documenting software
» The presentation content Visual aids
» Introduction. One or two slides that introduce you and your talk.
» Main body. The slides that constitute the bulk of your presentation and cover the
» Summaryconclusion. A few slides that summarise your presentation and perhaps
» Dealing with questions Oral presentations
» Poster preparation tips Poster presentations
» Introduction Preparation Demonstrating software
» Demonstration tips Demonstrating software
» Introduction Viva voce examinations
» Introduction Examiners and the marking of your project
» General. Examiners will look at the relevance and appropriateness of the topic
» Report. Examiners will look for clarity, consistency, an appropriate use of
» Defence. Examiners will assess the types of arguments you have made to support
» Other. Examiners will review the administrative issues of your project. For example,
» What was the research question?
» Is it a ‘good’ question? This involves a comprehensive literature review to ensure
» Has the student answered the question adequately?
» Has the student made an adequate contribution to knowledge?
» The project approach from a technical perspective i.e., not a project management
» General project considerations subject independent
» Literature reviewproject foundation Assessment criteria
» Project approachmethods Assessment criteria
» Results and contributions Assessment criteria
» Introduction Taking your project further
» Seeking funding Developing commercial software packages
» Copyright and patents Taking your project further
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