CS 160 Lecture 13 Professor John Canny Fall

CS 160: Lecture 13 Professor John Canny Fall 2001 Oct 16, 2001 9/11/2021 1

Administrivia 4 Please sign up for a group meeting with JFC or Miriam. E. g. today 4 -5: 15 pm 9/11/2021 2

Teams 4 “A team is a small number of people with complementary skills who are committed to a common purpose, set of performance goals, and approach for which they hold themselves mutually accountable. ” - K&S 4 Unpacking this statement. . . 9/11/2021 3

Teams: Small numbers 4 Two problems arise when teams get too big: 4 Centralization: a few people dominate, and several hardly contribute at all 4 Communication: the overhead for communication goes up with the number of people 9/11/2021 4

Team size 4 Team sizes vary of course, but for much creative work, it seems like 4 -7 is the ideal range, with 5 being about optimal. 9/11/2021 5

Brooks Law 4 In the “Mythical Man Month”, Fred Brooks observed that from many studies the perprogrammer performance in programming teams decreases with the size of the team. 4 This is often called “Brooks Law” (programming teams are less than the sum of their parts). 9/11/2021 6

Communication modes 4 Sproull & Kiesler studied team programming in courses at CMU and found: 4 Teams that did more communication by email rather than in face-to-face meetings were more productive. Teams with only F 2 F meetings were less productive. 9/11/2021 7

Communication modes 4 Sproull and Kiesler’s work reinforces the idea that communication impacts group effectiveness. 4 Email is good for routine coordination and communication. 9/11/2021 8

Common Purpose 4 Sense of purpose is a big part of team success. 4 K&S: Set measurable performance goals 9/11/2021 9

Goal setting 4 Defines specific work products 4 Facilitates communication and constructive conflict 4 Attainable: maintain focus 4 Leveling effect: focus on task rather than status 4 Defines small wins as part of the larger purpose 4 Goals are compelling 9/11/2021 10

Common purpose 4 Common purpose is helped by group affinity (people liking each other), but that is not necessary. 4 Common purpose can also be achieved by interdependence (group members evaluated and rewarded together) 9/11/2021 11

Communication again 4 Face-to-face meetings are a good way to: 4 Create and foster common purpose 4 Resolve conflict 4 Email and phone are good for 4 Routine communication and decision-making 4 Coordination, reporting 9/11/2021 12

Constructive Conflict 4 Sometimes, groups strive for harmony and strong consensus. 4 Generally speaking, the better the group feels about a decision, the less effective that decision is. (groupthink) 4 Good decision-making involves resolution of differing viewpoints - constructive conflict 9/11/2021 13

Conflict and Creativity 4 In fact the most effective generator of creativity in a group is an authentic dissenter: 4 Someone who is credible and who genuinely disagrees with the rest of the group. 4 Some groups use “devil’s advocates” for this reason. They’re not as effective. 9/11/2021 14

Conflict and Creativity 4 The key to constructive conflict is to focus on the task, and on individual ideas. 4 Ideas and opinions must be detached from the individual. 4 Ideas have to be clarified and developed before they can be criticized. 9/11/2021 15

Team membership 4 Skills: 4 Technical/functional (experts) 4 Problem-solving/decision-making 4 Interpersonal skills 9/11/2021 16

Interdisciplinary teams 4 Communication on the programming team was a problem. For the interdisciplinary team, it is a big problem. 4 Teams often depend on “gatekeepers” or facilitators with interdisciplinary skills and vocabulary to help team members understand each other. The differences are: 4 Vocabulary, Meaning, Purpose 9/11/2021 17

Interdisciplinary teams 4 Communication on the programming team was a problem. For the interdisciplinary team, it is a big problem. 4 Teams often depend on “gatekeepers” or facilitators with interdisciplinary skills and vocabulary to help team members understand each other. The differences are: 4 Vocabulary, Meaning, Purpose 9/11/2021 18

Building teams: Urgency 4 Establish Urgency 4 Purpose is worthwhile 4 There is a clear way to move ahead 9/11/2021 19

Building teams: Select for Skill 4 Manager should choose team based on skills of members, and potential skills. 4 Should personality be a factor? … stay tuned. 9/11/2021 20

Setting rules of behavior 4 E. g. no phone calls in meetings 4 no sacred cows 4 one conversation at a time 4 encourage wild ideas 4 no finger-pointing. . . 9/11/2021 21

Set a few immediate goals 4 Make them performance-oriented 4 When results occur, the team starts feeling like a team 9/11/2021 22

Bring in fresh facts and ideas 4 Fact: teams do not share enough information (Hinds 199 x). 4 Regular updates and exchanges are much more valuable than they seem. 4 This builds a sense of community and common knowledge. 9/11/2021 23

Spend time together 4 Casual or “unstructured” interactions are very important for building shared context. 4 Putting people in the same space is the best way to do that. 4 Recreating this online is a bit of a challenge. 9/11/2021 24

Positive Feedback 4 Don’t miss an opportunity to reward or encourage legitimate effort. 4 Positive reinforcement encourages more effort and performance beyond expectations. 9/11/2021 25