TPP-1 Team Process Plan

Team Process Plan

TPP-1 Team Process Plan

Team Process Plan , The TPP-1 is about thinking through and planning how the team will manage the weekly gradable assignments; a good plan for coming together and working as a team on a weekly basis will allow you to succeed in the team projects of this course.  In other words, TPP-1 is HOW you and your team will work from week-to-week.  For each week, what needs to be done, who needs to do what, and when does it need to be done for the team to submit the assignment on time.

The purpose of TPP-1 is simply to get your team working together and figuring out how you will work together throughout the semester to accomplish the project deliverables (ITP-1 through ITP-7) throughout the course.  The reason for doing this is so that you don’t “wing it” or muddle through it, but actually think through in advance a plan to ensure that your team will successfully meet each of the project deadlines.

The TPP deliverables (TPP-1 and TPP-2) are not part of the Authentic Assessment.  All ITP deliverables are part of the Authentic Assessment.

Full requirements for both the TPP and the ITP assignments are below. For EACH assignment, please be sure to read the Team Contribution Assessment and Grading of Team Assignments and the Project Documentation Requirements sections of this ITP Master Document.

The purpose of TPP-1 is simply to get your team working together and figuring out how you will work together throughout the semester to accomplish the project deliverables (ITP-1 through ITP-7) throughout the course.  A week-to-week and a day-to-day plan will help ensure that your team will successfully meet each of the assignment deadlines.

We find that, especially in these short 8-week classes, teams sometimes underestimate the effort required to plan, research, draft, redraft and finalize each assignment.  The teams sometimes struggle with collaboration problems such as team members not doing their team-assigned tasks or not doing them on time so that others can use their input for their own tasks or to merge and prepare the final draft, or perhaps leaving everything to the last minute then being unable to complete it or unable to integrate the contributions of all team members.  Or other team process problems.

We want to prevent that.  So TPP-1 asks you to develop a team process plan for how you’re going to work together to accomplish the project goals.  This is not asking you to plan the project itself.  That comes later.  Rather, this requires that your team think through and plan what your team process will be and how you will work together to do assignment work.The TPP deliverables (TPP-1 and TPP-2) are not part of the Authentic Assessment.  All ITP deliverables are part of the Authentic Assessment.

Teammates who do not contribute in a substantial and timely manner should be notified email (with a copy to me) that the team member will not be included for grading.

Important Note:  This project is due on Wednesday of Week 2 (rather than the usual Sunday).

 

Assignment for the TPP-1 Project Deliverable

The teams for the Integrated Team Project (ITP) will be assigned by the first day of class.  Within the first week of class, each team is to:

• Meet together virtually, using the assigned LEO Group for your team.
• Get acquainted.
• Figure out what you have in common.   Determine what skills and experience you each have that would be useful for the team.
• SELECT A TEAM NAME and have one team member send it to the instructor via PAGER no later than FRIDAY, 11:59 pm.

• Proceed with the TPP-1 Team Process Plan project and Team Process Schedule, below.

Determine and discuss the initial team roles of each team member.  Your team should consider rotating the Team Leader’s role among the teammates, but if your team agrees to a single team leader for all assignments, this is acceptable.  Rotating gives each team member an opportunity to take the lead for at least one ITP deliverable.  This spreads the responsibilities and the learning among the members of the team. 

• Some assignment team roles might include

• Team Leader for the semesterORindividual Team Leaders for each deliverable (e.g, Team Leader for the Charter; Team Leader for WBS; Team Leader for Schedule and Durations, etc.). In other words, the Team Leader role can be rotated to give each team member experience in managing a project.  Your team is responsible for managing itself, so this is your decision to make as a team.
• A variant of this is to decide to have a permanent team leader in order to have continuity through the entire semester, but to have rotate assignment deliverable manager or responsibilities each week so that each team member gets to experience project leadership.  This, too, can work well (but is not required).
• Documentation manager to manage the team’s documents, including consolidating and finalizing the deliverable.
• Editor to perform a final quality review and assure that the consolidated document reads as if one person prepared it.
• Configuration manager to keep the master version of Microsoft Project with other teammates’ input.
• Research manager to confirm and verify references/sources and formatting.
• Deputy team leaver to fill in for the team leader when the team leader is unavailable.
• Other roles your team determines are needed.  Please refer to the ITP document in the Course Content area.

• Teams will, within a few weeks, have a team WBS.  Rather than specific team roles, teams may decide to manage specific tasks by individual team members.  For example, Task 1 – gathering requirements, might “belong” to John P.  During the semester, John P. will be responsible for preparing the durations, schedule, resources, etc. for the Gathering Requirements task.  Task 2 – design the system, might “belong” to Mary R.  Mary R, too, will be responsible for preparing the durations, schedule, resources, etc. for the Design the System task.
• Whatever approach you take, the Team Process Plan is to discuss how work will be allocated to ensure that each member has an opportunity to make a significant contribution to each assignment.
• The Team Process Plan in a Word document should include a description of team’s agreed upon governance structure and decision making process. Among other things, this should include whether — and how — the team PM role will be rotated or assigned and for how long, and how team decisions will be made (e.g., by vote, by fiat, by consensus, etc).  The document should include a discussion of who will submit assignments for grading and when the postings will be made.  A contingency plan should be addressed for teammates that have schedule conflicts or emergencies.  And a contingency plan should be addressed to have a second person ready to post the assignment before the time it is due if the team leader is not able to post.
• All team members’ names should be on the cover page if all team members contributed.
• Build a schedule in Excel that demonstrates an understanding of the level of effort involved for each teammate. Review each class deliverable and the due dates.  Determine what group efforts your team will take to submit the assignments and build a schedule in Excel.  Your schedule, for example, might include what effort is being assigned and when it will be assigned to teammates; if there will be weekly “discussions” to clarify who, what, and when the team members are to submit their efforts for first review by teammates; when final contributions are due for consolidation; when the final documents will be distributed for the team’s final review before submittal; and who will be responsible for posting each assignment.  This schedule will also be submitted in in Week 1.
• Team Process Plan
• Your team process schedule in Excel should show at least two things (using a separate tab for each):
  • An 8-week macro schedule of the course, showing what assignments will be worked on in which weeks. Include all assignments and project deliverables; both team and individual assignments.  It would be useful to include projects, deliverables, homework, reading, and Discussion Forums.  Include the due dates, the points each assignment is worth, and arough estimate of the amount of time you think each assignment will take to accomplish.  This should help you plan your time during the semester and see what is coming up when, how big an assignment it is, and how much effort it may take.
  • A 7-day micro schedule of what is to be done on team deliverable assignments either each week separately, or in a typical week if you anticipate each week being similar. Include such weekly items as: reading the textbook assignment, determining project roles and assignments for the week, team meetings/discussions, preparing drafts of assigned documents and files, (virtual) team meetings and discussions, reviewing draft documents and files, revising documents and files, verifying research, consolidating the work of team members, preparing final documents and files, submitting work for grading, and so forth.  Each such task or item should either a timespan, a scheduled date (e.g., for meetings), or a due date (day of the week).  Each task item should also include the personnel role assigned to accomplish it (e.g., all team members, the team leader, the documentation manager, the team editor, etc.).  Assigning names to the roles and the effort will help your team stay on track.  Each week, every member of the team will know what is expected of him/her and when the work has to be completed.It might be useful to a rough estimate of the amount of time you think each task will take to accomplish.  This should help you plan your time during the week so that you are able to get your team work done on time.
  • An example of the 7-day micro-schedule for TPP-1 might include, among other things,such items as:
    • Monday-Tuesday, each team member individually reads the assigned chapters and the ITP assignment
    • Tuesday-Wednesday, the PM and the team jointly decide on specific task assignments for each team member for the week
    • Tuesday-Thursday, each team member posts answers to the individual discussion questions in the weekly class Discussion
    • Wednesday, the team PM sends a message to the instructor stating who the team PM is for the week
    • Thursday-Friday, all team members do a draft of their assigned ITP project work and individually do their class homework
    • Friday or Saturday, all team members post their draft work in the LEO Group then get together for a virtual team meeting in the LEO Group in order to assess progress; all team members also respond to other postings in the weekly class Discussion
    • Saturday, all team members revise their assigned work and post it in the LEO Group;
    • Sunday, another virtual team meeting in the LEO Group to assess progress, integrate their contributions, and edit and revise the final product; when done, the team PM posts the final result in his or her Assignments; and each team member individually posts his or her “Creds” assignments in his or her own Assignments
    • Monday morning before noon, the team PM posts a copy of the submission in the weekly discussion Discussion for class review.
  • This is only an example.  It is not exhaustive (there would be more than this, and more detail); it is not required as-is (you should revise it to fit your team and its operation); it would include specific names and task assignments when possible; and it is not in a good format(a tabular format or a spreadsheet might be better; whatever works best for you).  It is only a suggestion of an example.In other words, these are merely ideas and suggestions to get you started.  This is not a template or a completed plan or schedule.