20 minutes cs 2212 - winter 20021 your group project as much as possible, we want: everyone should...

20 minutes CS 2212 - Winter 2002 1

Your Group Project

As much as possible, we want:

• Everyone should understand group’s design decisions

• Everyone contributes equally to project

• Everyone to do some design and coding work

Assignments are designed to help you do this

Advise we will give:

• We will give you some general starting advice here

• The TA for your group will help you with week-to-week advice

• We will have more to say about project management later


Do’s and Don’ts for Groups: GeneralDon’t jump straight into codeDon’t have 1 or 2 people do most of the coding; if you do, then the non-coders:

• Will not understand the code and/or design• Will not be able to produce good hand-ins for assignments• May be able to contribute to testing, but not debugging• Will not be able to write a good user manual• i.e. will not be able to contribute very usefully at all

Do spend a lot of time and effort in designing the software

• This will result in documents that everyone in the group can followDo resist the urge to code early, not till at least 1 month into the course (although you will have to build a prototype in Java for the GUI, start it early)Do get everyone involved in coding

• If design documents are good, everyone should be able to code


Dos & Don’ts for Groups: Meetings• Setting up meetings:

– Do try to find a meeting time that everyone can make regularly

– Do meet at least once a week

– Do add extra meetings if necessary

– Don’t announce meetings on the spur of the moment

– Do arrange meetings by email at least 24 hours before they happen, that way, everyone should know about the meeting

– Do set an agenda (list of items to be discussed) for every meeting

• In the meeting:

– Do go through each item on agenda or put them off until a later meeting

– Do listen to everyone’s opinion on design decisions

– Obnoxious people are not always wrong

– Some quiet people may only speak if they think it is very important

– Do keep minutes (see the cs2212 minutes web page for advice on what to keep track of)


Do’s and Don’ts for Groups: Dividing Up Work

Do encourage members to do tasks for the group

• Encourage them early and often

• Make it clear what has to be done

Do encourage members to set deadlines for finishing their tasks for the group

• However, do be a bit flexible on the deadlines

Don’t let a member get away with

• Not coming to properly arranged meetings

• Not doing work

• Delivering work very late

• Delivering inadequate work

Do record everything relevant to the project and to the performance of individuals, in the meeting minutes


Dos and Don’ts for Individuals: Meetings

Setting up meetings:

• Do make clear when you can and cant make it to a meeting

• Do be flexible in meeting times; e.g.

—Don’t insist on spending an entire 5 hour gap between classes at home

• If you cant make a meeting, send regrets, tell the group why you cant make it and give a reasonable reason why

• Do read your email at least once in every 24 hour period during the week, once over the weekend if possible

• Don’t forward your email to a commercial account unless your sure it works (check frequently)

In the meeting:

• Don’t insist on your point of view at all costs

• Do speak up if you have a view you think should be heard

• If you feel a design decision is wrong:

—Do try to explain why clearly and in detail

—Do let your mind remain open to persuasion


Dos and Don’ts for Individuals: Project Work

Do understand the design your group adopts

Do volunteer to do tasks for the group

• Volunteer early and oftenDon’t avoid work up to the last stages of the project

• You may not be able to do a good job then, either

• Your group mates will be annoyed with youDo set reasonable deadlines for tasks

Do your best to meet the deadlines


Dos & Don’ts for Project Leaders & Star Coders

Don’t take on the bulk of coding yourself• Doing almost all the coding yourself:

—May show you are a good coder—Also shows you are a poor software engineer

• A good software engineer uses the resources of the whole team effectively• Play to the strengths of your group members not the weaknesses!

Do contribute usefully to group discussionsDo explain your thinking to other group membersDo put effort into creating clear design documents (Hand-ins)

• This will help everyone implement the projectDo help other members of the group to do their tasks

• Be a teacher when necessary• You might learn something from them too!

Understand people’s schedules—i.e. I enjoy coding at night, so if you assign me something in the morning,

expecting it for 4 or 5, it probably won’t happen. Whose fault is it???


CS 2212 Project Groups

Group organization

Group size

Requesting a change

Picking a meeting time

Questions your group may have on the project specs


Group OrganizationRemember your group number

We will get each group member to find each other in this class

Contact group members who are not in class:

• Look up their email using

the finger command on Gaul

• Also, indicate on the sheet

you hand back to your instructor, which members were absent today

Submit your minutes online (see the website, there is a page to do this for you)

Read over the project as soon as possible

For each group, we will set up, on GAUL

• A group mailing list address

• A Unix file permission group


Group Size

As much as possible, groups are 4, 5 or 6 people

No distinguishable difference in work between a group of 4 and a group of 6

• 4 people: Fewer people to do writing/coding work BUT not as many organizational hassles

• 6 people: Less actual writing/coding work per person BUT more time taken up with organizational issues.

Difference between a group of 5 and a group of 6 even more minor


Requesting a Change

•If you have a reason for NOT being put in a group we have put you in, then tell us by the assigned deadline

•If we agree with your reason, we will move you but you don’t get to pick the group you are moved too.


Group Meetings

•Start setting up group meetings right away

•Decide on three possible times during the week everyone can meet at (must be Monday to Friday between 8:30 and 6)

•We will have the T.A.s pick from those times and let you know who your T.A. is


Questions on the Project

•Include any questions you have in the weekly minutes that you submit online, the administrative TA will forward them to the instructors and the instructor will either reply or post the question on the project FAQ web page

•Check to the FAQ frequently for other groups’ issues


Hints from Teaching Assistants & Faculty For A Successful CS2212 Project

Below is a list of quotes from T.A’s and professors about hints for a successful project in cs2212.

PLEASE read this carefully and repeatedly throughout the term!

•Take ownership of your project, if someone has promised you code and you don't see the code, don't assume it has been done. Make sure everyone shows their work to everyone else in the group. Remember if you are too trusting, it is YOUR mark that is on the line as well as the person who didn’t finish their portion of the code.•Address small issues immediately before they become major issues. •If the group encounters a problem, let your T.A. know immediately. •It can be difficult when dealing with peers to insist that they do their fair share, but if you don't all your other courses may suffer. •It is your responsibility to see that the group works as a whole. •If you don't take responsibility don't expect to have your mark adjusted at the end because a group member did not participate fully.


•Check each other's work to be sure it is done correctly. Be helpful. This is a learning experience: whether you are learning how to help co-workers or whether you are learning how to improve the quality of your work. Working successfully with team members is an important real world asset and knowing how to learn from others will help you to be a success.

•Usually the successful groups are the groups that have created an environment in which everyone feels free to give input, ask questions or ask for help with a problem.

•Remember that compromises may have to be made. Not everything has to be done your way (“There are only two ways to do things my way or the wrong way” is not a productive attitude)

•Attend lectures. You may think that they are unnecessary but lectures give added information and stress what you need to know.

•Work ahead of deadlines, or at least as soon as the assignments are given out. It's hard to do, but you'll be happy when you pass your acceptance testing because of it.

•I mean the obvious ones are start coding early, and integrate early, but they never listen.


•Utilizing the T.A.s you have available for advice on how to do things may also not be a bad idea.

•We make you take 2210 for a reason, so that you can learn how to make proper data structures. You should ask yourself early "how efficient is this".

•Do not program for the test data

•An unsorted Linked List is always inappropriate.

•I think the other hint is start early. It's difficult to take ownership in the last few days.

•TAKE OWNERSHIP OF YOUR PROJECT




•Fill in the blanks: Take ______________ of your ____________


Ice Breakers

I love east Indian food

I love Chinese food

I have been to Berlin, Germany

I have been to Beruit, Lebanon

Write down 2 statements about yourself, 1 must be true one must be false


Meet Your Group

Click here for groupsGet into your groups and:

• Do the 1 false, 1 true statement thing with your group, pick one that will stump the lecturer

•Find out from each group member where one of theirs grandparents worked and his/her occupation

•EACH GROUP WILL PICK ONE PERSON TO INTRODUCE THE GROUP AND TELL A COUNTRY WHERE THAT PERSONS GRANDPARENT IS FROM AND WHAT HE/SHE DID FOR A LIVING

•Fill in your schedule sheet (one for each group member and one for the lecturer). Pick 3 meeting times. Once you have handed me a schedule with 3 meeting times your group can leave.

http://www.csd.uwo.ca/~lreid/cs2212/Groups.html

20 minutes cs 2212 - winter 20021 your group project as much as possible, we want: everyone should...

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