Seabase II Case Study

Module H

Wednesday, 6th April, 2005 – Sunday,17th April, 2005

Story

The CS team meets as a unit twice: their regular meeting on Thursday the 7th, then again in the ME building on Sunday to “run the model”, then again for their usual Tuesday meeting with Hank.

 

Listen to the parts of the meeting on the 7th, as Denise updates Bob on the meeting he missed, and the individual members report on “how far they got”. Listen also for the discussions of terms (deadman again!), what Hank wants, and results of communication with the ME team:

[Team Progress 4-7.mp3, 14 min]

Denise: (taking updates) How far along are you at the code?

Bob: I looked at the stuff that you sent me. And need to change the numbering.

Denise: Changing parenthesis to brackets would work.

(code variables discussion between Justin and Denise)

Denise: Did you try a function declaration for dot?

Justin: Yes, I tried it and still doesn't work, I will have to rearrange the some other functions that do the same thing in there.


Bob: What happened in the meeting on Tuesday with Hank?

Denise: We went over the diagram .He loved the diagram. We talked a little bit about solution and dead man and how encoders work/ He didnt care about much else.


Justin: Another problem I ran into was that error gets set in one of those functions.

Denise: I think it gets passed.

(more code specific discussion)


Denise: (checking everyone's share of responsibilities) (to Justin) Your part is good, you know what to do with that. I gotta finish off the setup. (to Bob)

Do you guys want to get work done over the next couple of days and meet on Sunday. We'll meet in the MEEM, since no one has a copy of matlab on their laptop.

I will fix setup , I've been planning on doing it but I've been lazy. Have we heard from the other team

Bob: Nope, not a word.

Denise: I complained to him(Hank) about not hearing from the other team. He asked if we should tell them or he would, I told him it would be better if he talked to them, cause we cant seem to get a response from them, but he keeps stressing that we should talk to them about the input, like Analog to digital and from encoders. Apparently they are writing some code, but we are not sure.

Bob: I have a friend in the crane team, he said they are writing some code.

Denise: Can you push him for a meeting?

Bob: Yes, I'll do that.

In this meeting it appears that Denise is in charge. It is also decided that Denise needs to rework init. The team is seeing errors while functions from inside .h files. inv-kin, helper.h

Justin or Bob will take the responsibility to replace and rearrange some things in the code as per their discussion.

They are also having some problems with returning arrays, where matlab is not allowing pointers to be returned from local context switch.

Denise reports that Hank loved the diagram. They also discussed about the fact that some code does not work even if copied directly.

Denise shows the other two folks where all the structs are declared and how to change specifications of a function, by double clicking.

Then they decide where to meet next.


The team meets and reflects on the last semester, including some gender issues in the CS department:

[Reflections 4-7.mp3, 10 min.]

Bob: I am surprised we have got so far. I never thought we would. In the last semester, we did not get anything done. One of the guys was never around and the girl did not know anything.

(discussion about their personal preference of courses and teachers)

Initial: In the last semester Redesigning it and basing it off of the original and then you find out that you have to port it. Hank made it sound really simple.

Denise: and you found out that nothing works.

(more discussion about their personal lives)

Bob: When do we do the presentation?

Justin : I don't know, probably the last week sometime. It might not take all week.

Bob: I may have to go downstate during the last week.

Denise sends out a reminder for the meeting on Sunday the 10th :

 

 

They get together, only to find they don’t have a lot of the things they need:

[Access 4-10 mp3, 10 min.]

Bob: I will not be available for a week. And I still haven't heard anything from those guys(other team).

Denise: I forgot I was supposed to send that data out.

Justin: there were certain things that were not working in C.

Denise: Yes, there were some things which cannot be done in C the way they are done in Matlab.

(discussion on version of data and getting things to run, and having troubles with the compiler)

Denise: I don't know why but the compiler is not running. Every time I try running it , it closes saying the application has to close, We will have to talk to Hank about that.

In this meeting it was revealed that compiling the code was turning out to be a problem for Denise

There were problems with versions of matlab and simulink and whose machine the code works on.

They were having trouble opening models in the lab in that they cannot get the diagram to open and cannot make it run on the current machine.

So Denise and Bob leave the ME-EM mid-meeting, and email to themselves:

They are also missing information from the other teams:

[Other Teams 4-10.mp3, 2 min.]

Bob disclosed that he had still not heard back from any of the other ME teams that they had been trying to contact. Denise said that she still had questions about the input. 

 

After the meeting, Justin posts the results:

 

 

At the next meeting with Hank on the 12th, they discuss the “version” problems:

[Access 4-12.mp3, 4 min.]

They discussed about the issue that there was no backward compatibility for versions of matlab, so the team could not use other machines but could use the lab on 2nd floor or Hank's machine, since it had both Matlab 7 and 6. Hank informed the team that the PCs which have matlab 7 are on the 1st floor. Hank also informed them that if they had trouble logging into the ME building machines, that they should drop him an email.

 

And the lack of information from the other team:

[Other Team 4-12.mp3, 3 min.]

Denise tells Hank about the trouble they have been having getting a response from the other teams.

Hank asks if they haven't responded at all. Bob tells him that he has been dropping them emails but without a response.

 

Hank checks up on their progress:

[Checking Progress 4-12.mp3, 14 min.]

Hank: So, how far did you folks get on the coding?

Denise : inv kin and damping remaining and compute S function.

Hank: Is it a time issue?

Denise:Yes a time issue, it is just a matter of finding the time to do it now.

Hank: Who is working on it? And do you know what needs to be done.

Justin: Yes, we know mainly what needs to be done.

The Team together tells Hank that they were having params vector setting up troubles and global defines. Errors that it cannot find params, replacing the THP.

Hank: Do you change the params and then do a 'get params'?

Denise : That could be what is wrong.

Hank explains how to use parameters, inputs, .H and outputs .

 

And they set some goals for the project:

[Setting Goals 4-12.mp3, 7 min.]

In this meeting, Denise is talking about when everyone is available and for whatever they cannot get done, to email Denise by Saturday and she will see if she can get it done instead. She also describes what needs to be made and to what degree and whether it works or not.

 

After the meeting, Denise compiles the goals, and posts a “to-do” schedule:

 

 

She also sends out some updates based on their meeting with Hank:

 

Bob takes the lead on their presentation:

 

Justin tries to set up a meeting with the other team:

 

 

Bob sends the inverse kinematics S-Function:

 

Denise sets another meeting to test the code in the ME-EM:

Questions

We still see the confusion about terms and client wants. Any new suggestions to resolve these isues?

 

Do the comments about how to prepare reports and presentations reflect how you do it?

Are their any things you do differently, and why?

 

Denise seems to be in charge when she asks about progress—“how far did you get”?

Evaluate her and the others’ responses.

 

Evaluate the reflections the team members share about last semester, and the treatment of women in the CS department. Have you seen any of this, in CS or other places? How would you deal with it?

 

The question of access becomes critical during the 4-10 meeting. Is their response appropriate, or can you suggest another method?

They raise the issue with Hank on the 12th. How helpful are his responses?

 

The problems with working with the other team are discussed during all three meetings. What might you do to avoid, or at least minimize, these issues?

Questions:

  1. So far, how involved does the third member of the team, Justin, appear? Does he seem actively involved?
  2. “Denise: (checking everyone's share of responsibilities) (to Justin) Your part is good, you know what to do with that. I gotta finish off the setup. (to Bob) Do you guys want to get work done over the next couple of days and meet on Sunday. We'll meet in the MEEM, since no one has a copy of matlab on their laptop. I will fix setup , I've been planning on doing it but I've been lazy. Have we heard from the other team Bob: Nope, not a word.”
  • Denise appears in charge. Has this role change to leader been gradual?
  • Compare Denise's behavior with the team in the beginning of the project with the behavior at this point.
  • Compare the behavior of Denise with that of JoAnn's(from Seabase II) at similar points in the project.

Wednesday, 6th April, 2005 – Sunday,17th April, 2005

Story

The CS team meets as a unit twice: their regular meeting on Thursday the 7th, then again in the ME building on Sunday to “run the model”, then again for their usual Tuesday meeting with Hank.

 

Listen to the parts of the meeting on the 7th, as Denise updates Bob on the meeting he missed, and the individual members report on “how far they got”. Listen also for the discussions of terms (deadman again!), what Hank wants, and results of communication with the ME team:

[Team Progress 4-7.mp3, 14 min]

Denise: (taking updates)

At this point in the project, Denise is directly taking updates, clearly having completely emerged as the leader in the team.

How far along are you at the code?

Bob: I looked at the stuff that you sent me. And need to change the numbering.

Denise: Changing parenthesis to brackets would work.

(code variables discussion between Justin and Denise)

Denise: Did you try a function declaration for dot?

Justin: Yes, I tried it and still doesn't work, I will have to rearrange the some other functions that do the same thing in there.


Bob: What happened in the meeting on Tuesday with Hank?

Denise: We went over the diagram .He loved the diagram. We talked a little bit about solution and dead man and how encoders work/ He didnt care about much else.


Justin: Another problem I ran into was that error gets set in one of those functions.

Denise: I think it gets passed.

(more code specific discussion)


Denise: (checking everyone's share of responsibilities) (to Justin) Your part is good, you know what to do with that. I gotta finish off the setup. (to Bob)

Do you guys want to get work done over the next couple of days and meet on Sunday. We'll meet in the MEEM, since no one has a copy of matlab on their laptop.

I will fix setup , I've been planning on doing it but I've been lazy.

Denise at this point, almost like a manager, goes through a mental checklist of all the issues that the team has, deciding best next steps and collecting or sharing updates, in the process.

Have we heard from the other team

Bob: Nope, not a word.

Denise: I complained to him(Hank) about not hearing from the other team. He asked if we should tell them or he would, I told him it would be better if he talked to them, cause we cant seem to get a response from them, but he keeps stressing that we should talk to them about the input, like Analog to digital and from encoders. Apparently they are writing some code, but we are not sure.

Bob: I have a friend in the crane team, he said they are writing some code.

Denise: Can you push him for a meeting?

Bob: Yes, I'll do that.

In this meeting it appears that Denise is in charge. It is also decided that Denise needs to rework init. The team is seeing errors while functions from inside .h files. inv-kin, helper.h

Justin or Bob will take the responsibility to replace and rearrange some things in the code as per their discussion.

They are also having some problems with returning arrays, where matlab is not allowing pointers to be returned from local context switch.

Denise reports that Hank loved the diagram. They also discussed about the fact that some code does not work even if copied directly.

Denise shows the other two folks where all the structs are declared and how to change specifications of a function, by double clicking.

Then they decide where to meet next.


The team meets and reflects on the last semester, including some gender issues in the CS department:

[Reflections 4-7.mp3, 10 min.]

Bob: I am surprised we have got so far. I never thought we would. In the last semester, we did not get anything done. One of the guys was never around and the girl did not know anything.

(discussion about their personal preference of courses and teachers)

Initial: In the last semester Redesigning it and basing it off of the original and then you find out that you have to port it. Hank made it sound really simple.

Denise: and you found out that nothing works.

(more discussion about their personal lives)

Bob: When do we do the presentation?

Justin : I don't know, probably the last week sometime. It might not take all week.

Bob:

Bob informing of his absence in advance.

I may have to go downstate during the last week.

Denise sends out a reminder for the meeting on Sunday the 10th :

 

 

They get together, only to find they don’t have a lot of the things they need:

[Access 4-10 mp3, 10 min.]

Bob: I will not be available for a week. And I still haven't heard anything from those guys(other team).

Denise: I forgot I was supposed to send that data out.

Justin: there were certain things that were not working in C.

Denise: Yes, there were some things which cannot be done in C the way they are done in Matlab.

(discussion on version of data and getting things to run, and having troubles with the compiler)

Denise: I don't know why but the compiler is not running. Every time I try running it , it closes saying the application has to close, We will have to talk to Hank about that.

In this meeting it was revealed that compiling the code was turning out to be a problem for Denise

There were problems with versions of matlab and simulink and whose machine the code works on.

They were having trouble opening models in the lab in that they cannot get the diagram to open and cannot make it run on the current machine.

So Denise and Bob leave the ME-EM mid-meeting, and email to themselves:

They are also missing information from the other teams:

[Other Teams 4-10.mp3, 2 min.]

Bob disclosed that he had still not heard back from any of the other ME teams that they had been trying to contact.

Inability to coordinate with the other ME teams is now becoming a serious unaddressed roadblock.

Denise said that she still had questions about the input. 

 

After the meeting, Justin posts the results:

 

 

At the next meeting with Hank on the 12th, they discuss the “version” problems:

[Access 4-12.mp3, 4 min.]

They discussed about the issue that there was no backward compatibility for versions of matlab, so the team could not use other machines but could use the lab on 2nd floor or Hank's machine, since it had both Matlab 7 and 6. Hank informed the team that the PCs which have matlab 7 are on the 1st floor. Hank also informed them that if they had trouble logging into the ME building machines, that they should drop him an email.

 

And the lack of information from the other team:

[Other Team 4-12.mp3, 3 min.]

Denise tells Hank about the trouble they have been having getting a response from the other teams.

Hank asks if they haven't responded at all. Bob tells him that he has been dropping them emails but without a response.

 

Hank checks up on their progress:

[Checking Progress 4-12.mp3, 14 min.]

Hank: So, how far did you folks get on the coding?

Denise : inv kin and damping remaining and compute S function.

Hank:

This is a regular question Hank normally asks to assess several things: one is whether the team needs his technical help,

Is it a time issue?

Denise:Yes a time issue, it is just a matter of finding the time to do it now.

Hank:

This was perhaps a trust issue, that Hank may have probably felt more confident if Denise had been working on it, as opposed to the rest of the team.

Who is working on it? And do you know what needs to be done.

Justin: Yes, we know mainly what needs to be done.

The Team together tells Hank that they were having params vector setting up troubles and global defines. Errors that it cannot find params, replacing the THP.

Hank: Do you change the params and then do a 'get params'?

Denise : That could be what is wrong.

Hank explains how to use parameters, inputs, .H and outputs .

 

And they set some goals for the project:

[Setting Goals 4-12.mp3, 7 min.]

In this meeting, Denise is talking about when everyone is available and for whatever they cannot get done, to email Denise by Saturday and she will see if she can get it done instead.

We see here that Denise is ready to pick up in the scenario where someone else in the team is not able to do the required work within the designated time. It was true leadership on Denise's part to offer to do that, and also to consider and plan for such a contingency.

She also describes what needs to be made and to what degree and whether it works or not.

 

After the meeting, Denise compiles the goals, and posts a “to-do” schedule:

 

 

She also sends out some updates based on their meeting with Hank:

 

Bob takes the lead on their presentation:

 

Justin tries to set up a meeting with the other team:

 

 

Bob sends the inverse kinematics S-Function:

 

Denise sets another meeting to test the code in the ME-EM:

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