Seabase I Case Study

Module L

Following their plan, at the beginning of the tenth week of their project the CS team tries out Matlab. During their regular meeting, they discuss the results of their effort:

Minutes of Nov. 2 CS Team meeting and later phone conversation with Hank

They run the crane controller simulation in Matlab that Hank gave to Bob. This simulation effectively damps the swing in a virtual crane. As they run it, a question arises: why the simulation itself couldn't simply be used as the controller for the real crane. The team decides they need to talk to Hank about this fundamental question, "preferably as a team in private because these new questions [are] embarrassing".

At 2pm on Tuesday, Nov. 2, JoAnn emails Hank:

Subject: please can we meet?
Dear Hank:

Please meet with our CS team about the crane controller. We have some basic
Matlab questions and also about the simulation. We don't want to take up team
leader time (and there's a stupid embarrassment element), so we want another
meeting just with you to talk code.

Thank you!

ps-We can meet: this Wednesday 12-2 or this Thursday 12:30-3, or today from 2-5.
** that's right now!

JoAnn

No luck with the meeting, but she is able to talk to Hank by phone. He explains that the simulation is not appropriate as a controller for the crane. The point of the simulation is simply to illustrate how S-functions work. He then encourages the team to "jump into the main function in the pcs code". He suggests that one team member should become an S-function expert, while the other two should read through the existing C code.

Another email from JoAnn, at 5pm that same day:

Subject: DAVE! LOOK! GOOD NEWS!
Dave, Ken, and Bob; 

OK, so it's not really good news, but I got your attention
and it's not horrible news either.

I did speak to Hank and am satisfied. We don't need to meet with him, which is
better for him.

I told Hank we probably wouldn't come to leaders meeting tomorrow since we had
talked with Hank and are back on track. I will email Nancy and tell her we aren't
coming to leaders and why. IS THAT OK with you all??

Also, I propose that Ken and I do the heads down reading of existing code, and
Ken continue to become our expert in matlab s-functions. Ken and BOB: what do
you think? IS this ok???

JoAnn

And another, to the clients at 5:10:

Dear Nancy and Hank:

I spoke to Hank today about our CS Crane Team progress and got some great
guidance from him. Our team needs to regroup and get going on dissecting the
existing code while one of us learns matlab s-functions.

We're would like to skip the leaders meeting on Wednesday since we have reported
to Hank and gotten his input already. Hank thought this sounded ok on the phone
today.

I hope this is acceptable, to miss team leaders this week. We really need to
spend the time learning the existing code and matlab.

Nancy, I wanted to make sure you knew what was up with us. If you have questions,
or think it's best if one of us IS at the team leaders, please email me!

Thank you.
JoAnn
  1. Is there a shift in JoAnn's tone from before her call to Hank and after?
  2. Do you think the team is (finally) on track?
    • Is the decision to have each team member specialize well-founded?
    • The team chooses to miss the Team Leaders meeting in order to concentrate on the code. Is this a good idea? What are the risks?

Here, in the 10th week (of 14!) the team has finally sat down and "played" with Matlab as Hank has been suggesting all along. When they meet as a group, they recognize their limitations, and try to set up a private meeting with Hank. JoAnn mentions a sense of "embarrassment" about having to ask basic questions so late in the project; this is certainly a situation that other students can relate to.

JoAnn eventually gets in touch with Hank by phone and gets some direction. From her notes, it looks like Hank restated what he has been saying all along, but perhaps more emphatically. Or maybe JoAnn was just ready to hear it.

This is another time it could be good to introduce an outside reading/research task on teams and groups. Students know there are these issues in the workplace (much as there are in classrooms!). Now would be a good time for them to find/develop strategies to deal with them.

Possible topics:

  • JoAnn tries to break the team into specialties, but mistakenly(?) leaves Bob out; assigning Ken to both groups instead. What is the effect of leaving Bob out?
  • JoAnn is truing again to take control of the situation. But does/will the delegation work, or will she end up doing most of it herself?

Both of these moves run counter to what the literature says is good for team health.