CS 425625 Software Engineering Managing People

1
CS 425/625 Software Engineering Managing People

• Based on Chapter 22 of the textbook Somm00 Ian
  Sommerville,
• Software Engineering, 6th Ed., Addison-Wesley,
  2000 and on the
• Ch22 PowerPoint presentation available at the
  books web-site
• www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/computing/resources/IanS/SE6/
  Slides/index.html
• November 24, 2003

2
Outline

• People in the Software Process
• Limits to Thinking
• Group Working
• Choosing and Keeping People

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People in the Software Process.

• People are an organizations most important
  assets
• The managers tasks are essentially people
  oriented
• Software engineering is a cognitive and social
  activity
• Cognitive limitations should be taken into
  consideration in the software process

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.People in the Software Process

• Management activities include
• Problem solving using available people
• Motivating people who work on a project
• Planning what people are going to do
• Estimating how fast people will work
• Controlling people's activities
• Organizing the way in which people work

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Limits to Thinking

• People are very diverse, and do not all think in
  the same way
• However, all people are subject to the same
  constraints on their thinking due to
• Memory organization
• Knowledge representation
• Motivation influences
• Awareness of the limits to the way people think
  is important in software process management

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Limits to Thinking Memory Organization.

• Memory organization Fig. 22.1 Somm00

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Limits to Thinking .Memory Organization

• Short term memory
• Fast access time
• Limited capacity
• Holds 5-7 chunks of information
• Fast decay time
• Working memory
• Larger capacity
• Longer access time
• Used for information processing
• Can retain information longer than the short term
  memory
• Relatively fast decay time
• Long term memory
• Slow access time
• Very large capacity
• Somewhat unreliable retrieval mechanism (we
  forget things)
• Relatively high threshold (work/time/repetition
  needed to retain things in long term memory)
• Slow decay time

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Limits to Thinking Cognitive Chunking

• Cognitive chunking Fig. 22.2, Somm00

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Limits to Thinking Semantic and Syntactic
Knowledge.

• Knowledge types
• Semantic knowledge, knowledge of concepts such
  as the operation of assignment statement, the
  notion of an object class, etc.
• Organized, structured, acquired through
  experience and active learning, deeper and less
  volatile than the syntactic knowledge
• Syntactic knowledge, knowledge of details such as
  how to write a class description in UML, etc.
• Disorganized, arbitrary, acquired through
  memorization, easier to forget than the semantic
  knowledge

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Limits to Thinking .Semantic and Syntactic
Knowledge

• Syntactic and semantic knowledge Fig. 22.3
  Somm00

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Limits to Thinking Problem Solving.

• Problem solving requires integration of different
  types of knowledge, e.g., computer, task, domain,
  and organization knowledge
• A semantic model of the problem as well as a
  corresponding model of the solution are built
• The process of program design involves
• 1 Integration of computer and task knowledge to
  create new knowledge and understand the problem
• 2 Development of a semantic model of the solution
  and testing of this model against the problem
• 3 Representation of this model in an appropriate
  notation or programming language

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Limits to Thinking .Problem Solving

• Problem solving Fig. 22.4, Somm00

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Limits to Thinking Motivation.

• A manager must know how to motivate the people
  working on a project
• Different types of motivation are related to
• Basic needs (e.g., food, sleep, etc.)
• Personal needs (e.g. respect, self-esteem)
• Social needs (e.g., to be accepted as part of a
  group)
• Motivation should also take into account
  different personality types
• Task-oriented
• Self-oriented
• Interaction-oriented

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Limits to Thinking .Motivation

• Human needs hierarchy Fig. 22.5, Somm00

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Group Working Introduction

• Software engineering typically requires group
  activity
• The development schedule for most non-trivial
  software projects is such that they cannot be
  completed by one person working alone
• Group interaction is a key factor of group
  performance
• But flexibility in group composition is often
  limited and managers must do the best they can
  with available people

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Group Working Main Factors

• Factors that influence group working
• Group composition
• Group leadership
• Group cohesiveness
• Group communications
• Group organization

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Group Working Composition

• Group composed of members who share the same
  motivation can be problematic
• Task-oriented everyone wants to do their own
  thing
• Self-oriented everyone wants to be the boss
• Interaction-oriented too much chatting, not
  enough work
• An effective group has a balance of all types
• However, this can be difficult to achieve because
  most engineers are task-oriented
• Also, there is a need for all members to be
  involved in decisions which affect the group

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Group Working Leadership

• Leadership depends on respect, not on titular
  status
• In a team, there may be both a technical and an
  administrative leader
• Democratic leadership is more effective than
  autocratic leadership
• A career path based on technical competence
  should be supported

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Group Working Cohesiveness

• In a cohesive group, members consider the group
  more important than the individuals
• Advantages of cohesive groups
• Group quality standards can be developed
• Group members work closely together
• Team members learn from each other
• Egoless programming can be practised
• Cohesiveness can be build through
• Social events
• Developing a group identity and territory
• Explicit team-building activities
• Open access to information
• Strong, cohesive groups can lead however to
  irrational resistance to leadership change and to
  groupthink

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Group Working Communications

• Good communications are vital for group working
• Information must be exchanged on the status of
  work, design decisions and changes to previous
  decisions
• Good communications also strengthens group
  cohesion and promotes understanding
• Factors that influence the effectiveness of group
  communications
• Group size
• Group structure
• Group composition
• Physical work environment of the group

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Group Working Organization

• Software engineering group sizes should be
  relatively small (at most 8 members)
• Small teams can follow a democratic team
  organization
• On the other hand, chief programmer teams try to
  make the most effective use of skills and
  experience
• Extreme programming involves democratic team
  organization

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Group Working .Organization..

• In democratic team organization
• The group acts as a whole and comes to a
  consensus on decisions affecting the group
• The group leader serves as the external interface
  of the group but does not allocate specific work
  items
• The work is discussed by the group and tasks are
  allocated according to ability and experience
• This approach is successful for groups where all
  members are experienced and competent

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Group Working ..Organization.

• Chief programmer teams consist of a kernel of
  specialists helped by others added to the project
  as needed
• This group organization allow very capable
  programmers to be responsible for most of the
  software development

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Group Working Organization

• Issues with chief programmer teams
• Talented designers and programmers are difficult
  to find
• Group members may resent the chief programmer
  taking the credit for the groups success
• Projects will fail if both the chief and deputy
  programmer become unavailable
• Organizational structures may not be able to
  accommodate this type of group

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Choosing and Keeping People

• Hiring people for a project is a major managerial
  responsibility
• Appointment decisions are based on
• Information provided by the candidates in their
  resumés
• Information obtained at an interview
• Recommendations from people who know the
  candidates
• Some companies use psychological or aptitude
  tests

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.Choosing and Keeping People..

• Staff selection factors Fig. 22.7 Somm00

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..Choosing and Keeping People.

• Working environments
• The physical workplace has an important effect on
  individual productivity and satisfaction
  (comfort, facilities, privacy)
• Health and safety aspects must also be taken into
  consideration (e.g., lighting, heating,
  furniture)
• Important environmental factors
• Privacy each engineer should have his or her
  work area
• Outside awareness people prefer natural light
• Personalization different people organize their
  work environment in different ways
• Spaces for group meeting teams working together
  need spaces for holding formal and informal
  meetings

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Choosing and Keeping People

• Office layout Fig 22.8, Somm00