Seabase I Case Study

Module G

On Sept. 28, with her new understanding of the project, JoAnn tries to jump-start her team by

  • pulling Bob back into the fold,
  • resending some existing documentation, and
  • creating/updating a bunch of other documentation.
Ken and Bob:

Bob, to catch you up, Ken and I had a really productive meeting today doing
planning, so review the minutes for 9/28 carefully, they include a nice to-do
list and the second page is our goals for the next three meetings (team leaders
9/29, class 9/30, and after class 9/30). We look forward to hearing your feedback
by email or at meeting after class this Thursday.
I'm attaching minutes from first meeting with Dave and Hank (9/10, actually
pretty revealing). Also attached is "document list", a helpful table of contents
of docs., there's a DRAFT of timeline, project introduction, resource
requirements, UPDATED risk document and updated existing code functionality list
(which will become a table? see time line and minutes). SO that catches us up
sort of. See whomever can make it to noon's meeting in lab in MEEM.
JoAnn
p.s. I'm scared living near walmart with the knifeman still loose and he was
spotted on my street around 6-7 pm. My back door doesn't lock and it's the
first time I ever cared. Glad to have dog bob! If I don't show to meeting,
send police!?

--JoAnn

She attaches the following documents:

On Wednesday, Sept. 29, JoAnn sends out the design specifications she had received from the ME crane team:

Dear Ken and Bob: 

Here's the specs from Matt. I couldn't email them until I
got home because I can't figure way to forward anything attached and in library,
can't save attachment and re-upload it. Seems like a flaw of my webmail or of me.
See you tomorrow in class and after, we have lots we can talk about, see the last
page of minutes from 9/28 I sent last night (that was the sheet I had at meeting
today).
have great night! Beautiful night for a soccer game (ten year olds in lime green)
and the knifeman might be in custody, so no more fear.
-JoAnn

Initial Design Specs

And on Thursday, Sept. 30, she passes along the results of the Team Leaders meeting she attended:

Ken and Bob: 

Here's the minutes from yesterday's meeting with faculty and team
leaders. Was glad you guys were there and look forward to meeting this afternoon.

--JoAnn

Minutes of Sept. 29 Team Leaders meeting

At the meeting, the team leaders discuss the division of labor: Hank expects the ME team to do low-level controls, while the CS team will do the high-level controls. In particular, the software crane control will compute the "inverse kinematics" that translate into actions that dampen load swing on the crane. JoAnn brings up her request for crane requirements; this appears to have resulted in the "Initial Design Specs" being sent to her.

Also on Sept. 30, the CS Team has a meeting among themselves and another meeting with Dave.

Minutes of Sept. 30 CS students meeting AND in-class meeting with Dave Voelker

The team plans to prepare documentation for Hank and Dave: the diagram that Hank has been asking for, plus an introduction document, with constraints and objectives. There is a discussion of what form the diagram should take. The team also plans to prepare for the Team Leaders meeting. In particular, they plan to raise questions at the meeting about the software input and output values.

Later that evening, Bob responds with a problem, regarding software for editing the timeline:

Thursday, September 30, 2004 5:51 pm
Project Manager not built into Open Office

Sorry guys, I lied, I thought it was but it is part of DIA 
which is used in linux. I am currently looking for a version 
that could be used at home, the project manager should be in 
the labs, if not then I will have to maintain the chart.
  1. JoAnn sends out ten documents in two days.
    • Does this qualify as "too much information"?
    • Could the team keep up?
  2. Look at the "detail" sections of the minutes:
    • Did the team get the answers they answers they were looking for?
    • How did they respond to what they got?
    • Does getting the crane spec's help or hinder their progress? How?
    • What is the effect of not having "project manager"?
This module focuses on JoAnn's attempt to get her team up to speed. As an interesting side note to this attempt, point out JoAnn's closing her e-mails with references to soccer games and the Knifeman (which might require some context). What is the effect of these personal notes on her trying to establish a cordial, collaborative working relationship with her team? Notice that they are still getting information (some new) from the other teams. How does this affect their progress? How can the CS team mitigate the risk of changing requirements? One possible assignment: have the students (individuals or groups) distill the current project requirements, and compare to earlier versions for changes. This could be framed as a short writing assignment. Such an assignment would exercise their summary, synthesis, and deductive organization skills. To continue the "meta" discussion of projects, students could look at: * Methods of keeping the team together * Email problems * Volume of info they must deal with: coping strategies? Notice that in "detail" of minutes, ME team will not have crane built till next semester. Given Hank's earlier comments, what might effect on CS team be? * Can they complete their part without the crane in place? * How does this (might this) development (or lack of) affect their attitudes? If students are still in groups, they can continue analysis, building on last module. Might shift roles: have those that did communication do code/requirements and vice versa. At the Sept. 30 meeting, the team decides NOT to do a flowchart, and realizes that Hank must understand why. Issues to explore: * rationales for this action; * exactly HOW they will "make sure he knows". (How to give the boss "bad news".) Much of the students work on this module will need to be done outside of class.