WORKING AND

WRITING IN GROUP

An Effective Team / Group

A small number of people with

complementary skills who are committed to a
common purpose, performance goals, and
approach for which they hold themselves
mutually accountable.
-- Katzenbach & Smith

Group has tasks/objectives

Group works on tasks. Individual are assigned

sub-tasks whose accomplishment contributes to
the accomplishment of the objective(s).
In most cases, when working on tasks you are
actively working with other in your group.
Many projects have subgroups distributed around
the world.
Do you know of any such projects?
3

Working in Teams

Be able to define team structure

Develop a team process
Learn about team culture

Team Structure

What type of team?

What is the purpose of the team?
Who is the leader of the team?

Types of Teams

Work Teams

Task Teams

Management teams

Team Structure

Team Size
Team
Membership
Team Skills
Stability of
the team
7

Purpose of the Team

What is the purpose of the team?
Each member
must understand
Team members
interest

Once the teams purpose is clarified,

team members must set the goals
the team wishes to accomplish!

Performance Measures

In order to know how the team is

performing, you have to have measures to
gage progress
How to choose measures

Appropriateness of measures
Progress towards content goals
Progress towards process goals
Team member growth and development
10

Leadership

If external, then old style command and

control
Team needs to have ownership of their
activities
Behaviors of the leader

Liaison
Resource provider
Counselor

1/18/09 - L7 Teamworik

Mentor
Teacher
Challenger
11

Team Process

Reinforcement

Learning

Definition

Renewal

Transformation

12

Formation

First meeting of the team

Define what they need to accomplish and
how the team will operate
Develop measures for short and long term
success

Having short term goals, reinvigorates

Long term is the ultimate purpose

Establish ground rules of operation

13

Ground Rules

When and where the team meets

Substitutes allowed at meetings
Team records, what,who,how
Work expectations
of members
Confidentiality
Participation...
14

Participation
Conversation Continuum
Open

Closed

Debate

Discussion

Focus is on
defending and
winning

Focus in on
persuading,
prioritizing, and
deciding

Dialogue
Focus is on
exploring and
understanding
ideas and
15
people

Verbal Behaviors

What behaviors encourage effective

participation

Set context
Ask questions of members
Use supportive statements
Seek out different perspectives
Share feelings

Contributor Skills

Initiation - draw out information, clarify

ideas
Energize - show enthusiasm, engage in team
process, show commitment
Organize
Build relationships
Be flexible
Learn

Adjustment

Revisions of the initial rules and goals

A reality check of what can be accomplished
Tensions usually come up here, must reach
consensus, usually about personalities
Breakpoint comes when the team gets mired
in discussions about what to do and who
should do what...

Development

Cohesion

Reinforcement

Cohesion

Comes together as a
team
High energy
High interest
Progress is made
Team is supportive
Develop
relationships

Reinforcement

Cohesion builds
Homogeneity builds
Team members are comfortable with each
other
Start to be interested in self-preservation
and self-perpetuation
Goals should be on creativity and
exploration

Renewal

Learning

Transformation

Learning

Team learns new skills

Build relationships to accomplish task
Commitment and mutual accountability
Now, team may be confrontational over
issues

Transformation

Results are produced from team activities

Innovative
To sustain energy, must stress and press
the team
Needs new challenges, new members, new
tasks, new relationships or...

Team Culture
Team Values
Team Rituals
Team Learning

Team Values

Commitment to
task and team
members
Accountability

Lead to trust between

team members

Team Rituals

How to add new members

How to provide information to new
members
How a member exits
Work rituals
How the team celebrates!

Team Learning

Continuous improvement process

How team resolves conflict
How the team handles diversity
Harness team creativity

Team Writing

29

Team writing

When working on a project as a group, the

group produces the report.
Parts of the report are written by the various
group members.
Usually have a single person who assembles
the report.
A team produced report should be of higher
quality than if only generated by one person.
30

Team writing (2)

Also call group writing.

A good news-bad new scenario

Good news several people with varied backgrounds

and skills.
Bad news several people with varied backgrounds
and skills.

To be good news you need to be part of a team

vs. part of a group. (Individuals have to put their
ego on a shelf and work constructively.)
31

Team writing process

Requirements

Determine what has to be done to solve the problem

Ascertain the kind of document needed
Specify document themes and organization

Preliminary Actions

Designate a leader and provide adequate authority and

responsibility
Determine specific resources (skills, data, and
material) needed
Assign sub-teams and/or individuals to provide the
focus needed
32

Team writing process (2)

Document Production

Define specific writing responsibilities and schedules.

Task team members to produce draft inputs for their
area.
Edit and revise inputs as needed
Consider the overall effectiveness of the document
Conduct a final review of all aspects of the document
(done by all team members)
Deliver as required

1/18/09 - L7 Teamworik

Copyright 2009 - Joanne DeGroat, ECE, OSU

33

Tools assist team documentation

Software systems are now in place to assist

teams in generating team documentation.

Handle tasks such as revision control

Multiple users editing on same file in real time
Some systems

Google docs, Subversion, DocBook, Central Desktop

Subversion open source Revision Control System

Multi-channel publishing in .pdf Adobe Technical

Communication Suite
34

xTRA documentation guidance

Document the work as you go so writing the final

report is not going to be more than to organize
your notes.
Use a hard bound notebook and take/make notes
as you go.
Keep in a format that allows you to actually use
them. Your notes should have value!!
DONT PUT IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
35

xTRA documentation requirements

Keeping a notebook is a fabulous habit to get into.

And it can pay big dividends
Patentable work require documentation

Patent lawsuits over who is awarded a patent have come down to such notes
Patent Law was recently changed (early 2011 to who filed a complete
patent application first)

With change in law the following is not legally important but still a good
practice.

Notes should be dated

If this is work that could be patented at some point, you include the date on
each page.
A hardbound notebook is required so that pages cannot be added later.
Have the first page, after dating, singed by you and if possible a witness.
Periodically do this as the work proceeds, although a witness is not all that
important after the initial one.
36

Project Management and

Collaboration

Process
Phases
Trello
37

What is a project management

Project management is the application of

processes, methods, knowledge, skills and
experience to achieve the project objectives.

38

General
A project is a unique, transient endeavour,
undertaken to achieve planned objectives, which
could be defined in terms of outputs, outcomes
or benefits. A project is usually deemed to be a
success if it achieves the objectives according to
their acceptance criteria, within an agreed
timescale and budget.
39

40

The core components of project

management are:

defining the reason why a project is necessary;

capturing project requirements, specifying
quality of the deliverables, estimating resources
and timescales;
preparing a business case to justify the
investment;
securing corporate agreement and funding;
41

The core components of project

management are (2)

developing and implementing a management

plan for the project;
leading and motivating the project delivery
team;
managing the risks, issues and changes on the
project;
monitoring progress against plan;
managing the project budget;
42

The core components of project

management are (3)

maintaining communications with

stakeholders and the project
organisation;
provider management;
closing the project in a controlled
fashion when appropriate.

1/18/09 - L7 Teamworik

Copyright 2009 - Joanne DeGroat, ECE, OSU

43

When would you use project

management?

Projects are separate to business-as-usual

activities, requiring people to come together
temporarily to focus on specific project objectives.
As a result, effective teamwork is central to
successful projects.
Project management is concerned with managing
discrete packages of work to acieve objectives. The
way the work is managed depends upon a wide
variety of factors.
44

Why do we use project

management?
Investment in effective project management will

have a number of benefits to both the host

organisation and the people involved in delivering
the project. It will:
provide a greater likelihood of achieving the
desired result;
ensure efficient and best value use of resources;
satisfy the differing needs of the projects
stakeholders.
45

Project Management
Processes

46

Monitoring

Planning is carried out in the early stages of a

project but there should be ongoing
monitoring to ensure the project remains on
budget and schedule; that resources are
available and the expected benefits can be
delivered. Estimates, deadlines and
milestones may need to be altered as the
project progresses.
47

Control

No project is without problems but the project

manager needs to control them so they do not
adversely affect the end result. The control
phase also deals with risk management.

48

Communication

Good communication is one of the most

important factors affecting project success.
Many problems can be avoided if there is
open, honest communication between
everyone involved on a project; written and
verbal, formal and informal.

49

People management

A project manager is responsible for

managing the individuals working on the
project as well as the tasks and risks. In
complex projects there may be segregated
levels of people management but every
project manager will have some responsibility
for individuals. That includes motivating
people, delivering constructive feedback etc.
50

Project Management
Phases

51

Initiation

This first stage of a project defines the business

case, the justification for the project, which will
be used to ensure the project stays on track. It
also states what the project is intended to
achieve, how that will be achieved and the scope
of the work; this is important for controlling
subsequent change requests. In this phase, those
involved in the project will be assigned their
responsibilities.
52

Requirements

The requirements documentation describes the

aims of the project in detail including timescales
and constraints. It should also define the criteria
that will constitute a successful project and will be
used to manage the expectations of the
stakeholders. Many projects use an iterative
process to reach agreement on the requirements,
although some projects take an 'agile' approach to
project management (more on that in a later post).
53

Planning

The project plan includes details about how

the project work will be carried out, how it
will be monitored and controlled, how
communication will be facilitated and
information about costs and timescales. But
once a project is underway it is typically the
project schedule where most attention is
focused.

1/18/09 -

Copyright 2009 - Joanne DeGroat, ECE, OSU

54

Execution

The person or group assigned to carry out a

task will need to know, in detail, what the task
involves as well as any dependencies and
timescales, and will also need to understand
the criteria by which each task is deemed
complete.

1/18/09 - L7 Teamworik

Copyright 2009 - Joanne DeGroat, ECE, OSU

55

Closure

Once there is an approved end product the

project can be formally closed and a final
review held to learn from both the successes
and the mistakes and take that experience
forward to the next project.

56

Trello
Trello is very simple on the surface. Its
just a list of lists. You drag cards to other
lists to show progression. Everybody
immediately understands the simple,
visual metaphor. But underneath, there
are all kinds of power features that help
you switch boards, edit cards, and upload
attachments even faster.
57

Thank you for listening!