Transcript Managing people - Official Site of Achmad Benny Mutiara

Drafting your Dream-Team
Selecting the best people and
managing people working as
individuals and in groups
Where we are…
 we know how to define what the project is about (scope planning)
 we know how to assess what the risks are (risk management) […
and actually explained how to deal with them during the project]
… today we will look at issues related to selecting the “best people in town” (here
we are between scoping and planning) and issues related to managing
people (analogously to risk management, we will dig a little deeper and
explore topics related to managing people during project execution and
monitoring)
Objectives
The basics
How to draft your team: some of the issues involved in
selecting and retaining staff
To describe factors that influence individual motivation
Key issues of team working including composition,
cohesiveness and communications
People capability maturity model (P-CMM) - a framework
for enhancing the capabilities of people in an organisation
People in the process
People are an organisation’s most important
assets.
The tasks of a manager are essentially peopleoriented. Unless there is some understanding of
people, management will be unsuccessful.
Poor people management is an important
contributor to project failure.
People management factors
 Consistency
 Team members should all be treated in a comparable way without
favourites or discrimination.
 Respect
 Different team members have different skills and these differences
should be respected.
 Inclusion
 Involve all team members and make sure that people’s views are
considered.
 Honesty
 You should always be honest about what is going well and what is
going badly in a project.
Selecting staff
An important project management task is defining
the team requirements for your project and
selecting your team.
Staff Requirements
 Information on defining team requirements depends on various factors
among which:
 Organizational
Are there any constraint in the organization related to acquiring the
staff for the project
What departments will be involved?
 Technical
What are the technical skills needed to achieve the project goals?
 Interpersonal
What kind of relationships exists among the candidates?
Language differences? Supplier/customer relationships?
 Logistical
We are the people located?
 Political
Individual goals and agendas of the stakeholders?
Staff Selection
Information on selecting team members comes
from:
Information provided by the candidates.
Information gained by interviewing and talking with
candidates.
Recommendations and comments from other people
who know or who have worked with the candidates.
Staff selection factors 1
 Application domain experience.
 For a project to develop a successful system, the developers must
understand the application domain. It is essential that some members of a
development team have some domain experience.
 Platform experience.
 This may be significant if low-level programming is involved. Otherwise, not
usually a critical attribute.
 Programming language experience.
 This is normally only significant for short duration projects where there is not
enough time to learn a new language. While learning a language itself is not
difficult, it takes several months to become proficient in using the associated
libraries and components.
 Problem solving ability.
 This is very important for software engineers who constantly have to solve
technical problems. However, it is almost impossible to judge without knowing
the work of the potential team member.
Staff selection factors 2
 Educational background.
 This may provide an indicator of the basic fundamentals that the candidate should
know and of their ability to learn. This factor becomes increasingly irrelevant as
engineers gain experience across a range of projects.
 Communication Ability.
 This is important because of the need for project staff to communicate orally and in
writing with other engineers, managers and customers.
 Adaptability.
 Adaptability may be judged by looking at the different types of experience that
candidates have had. This is an important attribute as it indicates an ability to learn.
 Attitude.
 Project staff should have a positive attitude to their work and should be willing to learn
new skills. This is an important attribute but often very difficult to assess.
 Personality.
 This is an important attribute but difficult to assess. Candidates must be reasonably
compatible with other team members. No particular type of personality is more or less
suited to software engineering.
… and some constraints
Availability
is the resource available when needed by the project?
Interests
Is there a real interest in working in the project?
Costs
How much will each person be paid?
General Considerations
 (When selecting staff from within the company) Managers in a
company may not wish to lose people to a new project.
 “Hard” skills are in short supply.
-> Part-time involvement may be inevitable.
 Recent graduates may not have specific skills but may be a way of
introducing new skills.
-> Technical proficiency may be less important than social skills.
Motivating people
An important role of a manager is to motivate the people
working on a project.
Motivation is a complex issue but it appears that their are
different types of motivation based on:
 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).
Theory X
Taylor 1911
• Human beings have little interest in working and they will
try to avoid it, if possible
• The majority of people is not ambitious and not interested
in taking responsibilities
• Human beings are poorly creative in solving organizational
problems
• Motivation is mainly related to satisfying physical/security
needs
Theory Y
Mc Gregor 1960
• Working is a natural activity, like playing and
resting
• People are, on average, very creative
• Motivation is often self-realization and self-esteem
Theory Z
Ouchi 1981 (mix of american and japanese management
styles)
•
•
•
•
•
To keep people motivated they have to have clear goals
Motivation is essential for the success of any industrial activity: management
must contribute to keep people motivated
Motivated people can make mistakes: management must correct incorrect
behaviors and ensuring people actions are in accordance with the strategies of
the company
High efficiency can be achieved where tasks are highly standardised
People’s goal must change with working conditions and companies’ needs
Theory W
Boehm (1988) (Have all stakeholders win)
• Comprehend what each person means by “winning” (e.g.
promotions are not always the best expected reward)
• Create the right expectations in each project (e.g. avoid
creating expectations that are too high given budget and
constraints)
• Define and clearly identify tasks based on each person
capability
Summarizing…
Theory
Management
Style
Process
Critical Aspect
X (Taylor 1911)
Scientific
“Waterfall”
Lack of creativity
and initiative
Y (Mc Gregor
1960)
Motivation based
Creativity and
initiative
Conflicts and lack
of coordination
Z (Ouchi 1981)
Japanese
Corporate Culture
Relationships
among different
companies
W (Boehm 1988)
Negotiation based
Maximise
satisfaction
Lack of corporate
strategy
Human needs hierarchy (Maslow,
1954)
Self-realisation
Needs
Esteem Needs
Social Needs
Safety Needs
Physiological Needs
Need satisfaction
Social
 Provide communal facilities;
 Allow informal communications.
Esteem
 Recognition of achievements;
 Appropriate rewards.
Self-realization
 Training - people want to learn more;
 Responsibility.
Situational Leadership
 There is no single management style: it depends upon the managed people
(Blanchard and Hersey)
 the leadership style of the leader must correspond to the development level of the
follower - and it's the leader who adapts.
 Four styles and four commitments:
 S1. Directing
(high guidance and little backing/support): people with low maturity and
low commitment
 S2. Coaching
(high guidance and high backing/support): people mature but not yet
independent
 S3. Supporting
(little guidance and high backing/support): people insecure (but ready to
take responsibilities)
 S4. Delegation
(little guidance and little backing/support): mature and autonomous
people
Situational Leadership
High
S3
S2
example
Supportive
Behavior
S3
Low
S1
Directive Behavior
High
Situational Leadership Examples
 Example:
 a new person joins your team and you're asked to help them through the first few
days. You sit them in front of a PC, show them a pile of invoices that need to be
processed today, and push off to a meeting. They're at level D1, and you've adopted
S4. Everyone loses because the new person feels helpless and demotivated, and
you don't get the invoices processed.
 you're handing over to an experienced colleague before you leave for a holiday.
You've listed all the tasks that need to be done, and a set of instructions on how to
carry out each one. They're at level D4, and you've adopted S1. The work will
probably get done, but not the way you expected, and your colleague despises you for
treating him like an idiot.
 By adopting the right style to suit the follower's development level, work gets done,
relationships are built up, and most importantly, the follower's development level will rise to
D4, to everyone's benefit.
Personality types
There are several dimensions to take into account!
An approach is that of taking into account different
personality types:
 Task-oriented.
The motivation for doing the work is the work itself;
 Self-oriented.
The work is a means to an end which is the achievement of
individual goals - e.g. to get rich, to play tennis, to travel etc.;
 Interaction-oriented.
The principal motivation is the presence and actions of
co-workers. People go to work because they like to go to
work.
Motivation balance
Individual motivations are made up of elements of each
class.
The balance can change depending on personal
circumstances and external events.
However, people are not just motivated by personal
factors but also by being part of a group and culture.
People go to work because they are motivated by the
people that they work with.
Managing groups
Most software engineering is a 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 determinant of group
performance.
Flexibility in group composition is limited
 Managers must do the best they can with available people.
Factors influencing group working
Group composition.
Group cohesiveness.
Group communications.
Group organisation.
Group 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.
 This can be difficult to achieve software engineers are often taskoriented.
 Interaction-oriented people are very important as they can detect
and defuse tensions that arise.
Group Composition
Don’t be tempted and form the team with people all
like you!
(simpler than being challenged all the time… but
less functional and rewarding on the longer term)
Group leadership
Leadership depends on respect not titular status.
There may be both a technical and an
administrative leader.
Democratic leadership is more effective that
autocratic leadership.
Group cohesiveness
In a cohesive group, members consider the group to be
more important than any individual in it.
The advantages of a cohesive group are:
 Group quality standards can be developed;
 Group members work closely together so inhibitions caused by
ignorance are reduced;
 Team members learn from each other and get to know each
other’s work;
 Egoless programming where members strive to improve each
other’s programs can be practised.
Developing cohesiveness
Cohesiveness is influenced by factors such as the
organisational culture and the personalities in the group.
Cohesiveness can be encouraged through
 Social events;
 Developing a group identity and territory;
 Explicit team-building activities.
Openness with information is a simple way of ensuring all
group members feel part of the group.
Group loyalties
Group members tend to be loyal to cohesive groups.
'Groupthink' is preservation of group
irrespective of technical or organizational
considerations.
Management should act positively to avoid
groupthink by forcing external involvement with each
group.
Group communications
Good communications are essential for effective
group working.
Information must be exchanged on the status of
work, design decisions and changes to previous
decisions.
Good communications also strengthens group
cohesion as it promotes understanding.
Group communications
 Group size
 The larger the group, the harder it is for people to communicate
with other group members.
 Group structure
 Communication is better in informally structured groups than in
hierarchically structured groups.
 Group composition
 Communication is better when there are different personality
types in a group and when groups are mixed rather than single
sex.
 The physical work environment
 Good workplace organisation can help encourage
communications.
Structuring Communication
Types of meetings:
 Verification
 Decision-taking
 Brainstorming
To be successful:
 Define clearly goals and attendees
 Define an agenda
 Keep the meeting focused
 Define duration and make sure it is kept
 Define people responsible for executing actions decided at the
meeting
Meeting Minutes Structure
Coordinates:
 Date and location
 Attendees
 Invited people that did not attend the meeting
Agenda
Description of the meeting
Actions:
 ID, Action, Due Date, Responsible, WP Reference
Group Structures
Democratic/Informal Groups
Chief Programmer Teams
Decentralized groups
Virtual Teams
Informal groups
 Good for small teams (<= 10 people)
 The group acts as a whole and comes to a consensus on decisions
affecting the system.
 Work is discussed by the group as a whole and tasks are allocated
according to ability and experience.
 Leadership is taken in turn by each member
 The group leader serves as the external interface of the group but
does not allocate specific work items.
 This approach is successful for groups where all members are
experienced and competent.
Extreme programming groups
Extreme programming groups are variants of an informal,
democratic organisation.
In extreme programming groups, some ‘management’
decisions are devolved to group members.
Programmers work in pairs and take a collective
responsibility for code that is developed.
Chief programmer teams
 Consist of a kernel of specialists helped by others added to the
project as required.
 Three roles:
 Chief Programmer: responsible of the project. Coordinates
work and is responsible of development
 Assistant programmer: helps chief programmer (and
substitutes her/him if chief programmer is assigned somewhere
else)
 Librarian: responsible of handling all the results of the project.
 The motivation behind their development is the wide difference in
ability in different programmers.
 Chief programmer teams provide a supporting environment for very
able programmers to be responsible for most of the system
development.
Problems
 This chief programmer approach, in different forms, has been
successful in some settings.
 However, it suffers from a number of problems
 Talented designers and programmers are hard to find. Without
exceptional people in these roles, the approach will fail;
 Other group members may resent the chief programmer taking
the credit for success so may deliberately undermine his/her
role;
 There is a high project risk as the project will fail if both the chief
and deputy programmer are unavailable.
 The organisational structures and grades in a company may be
unable to accommodate this type of group.
Decentralised Control Groups
Two-level hierarchy:
PM coordinates senior programmers
Senior programmers coordinate junior programmers
Tasks assigned either:
By module to be developed
By function (implementation/testing/…)
Virtual Teams
Groups of people with shared goal, who fulfill their roles with little or no time spent
meeting face to face
 Made possible by new communication media
 Opportunities:
 It is possible to define a team with resources geographically located in
different areas
 Special expertise can be added regardless of the physical location
 Home-working
 Teams composed by people with different shifts
 Include people with mobility handicaps
 Move forward with projects that would have been ignored for travel expenses
Virtual Teams (II)
Some examples:
Open source development
European projects
…
Group organisation
Small software engineering groups are usually organised
informally without a rigid structure
 Democratic groups
For large projects, there may be a hierarchical structure
where different groups are responsible for different subprojects.
 Chief Programmer Teams
 Decentralized Control
Working environments
 The physical workplace provision has an important
effect on individual productivity and satisfaction
 Comfort;
 Privacy;
 Facilities.
 Health and safety considerations must be taken
into account
 Lighting;
 Heating;
 Furniture.
Environmental factors
Privacy - each engineer requires an area for
uninterrupted work.
Outside awareness - people prefer to work in natural
light.
Personalization - individuals adopt different
working practices and like to organize their
environment in different ways.
Workspace organisation
Workspaces should provide private spaces where
people can work without interruption
Providing individual offices for staff has been shown to
increase productivity.
However, teams working together also require
spaces where formal and informal meetings can be
held.
Office layout
… so what!?
How do we organize and use all this
information to manage a project?
HR Management
HR related activities in project management:
 Human Resource Planning
 Identification of project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships, staff
requirements, and staff creation
 Project Team acquisition
 Obtaining the human resources needed to complete the project
 Project Team development
 Improving competences and interaction of team members
 Project Team management
 Tracking each member performances, providing feedback, resolving issues,
and coordinating changes to enhance project performance
Human Resource Planning


Goal: define project roles, responsibilities, and reporting relationships, staff requirements, and staff creation
Techniques:
 Hierarchical type charts
 Organizational breakdown structure: mix of organizational chart and activities.
 Resource breakdown structure: breakdown of the project according to resource types
 Matrix based charts
 RAM (Responsibility Assignment Matrix) illustrates connections between work that needs to be done
and resources
 RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consult, Inform) is a special type of RAM
 Text-oriented formats
 Text-oriented documents (usually adhering to some standards) can be used to describe roles and
responsibilities
 Hard skills/soft skills
 Help identify needs and roles
-> Output: roles and responsibilities,
project organization charts,
staffing management plan
Organizational Breakdown
Structure
Project
Accounting
Task 1
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Task 2
Task 3
PMO
Task 4
Task 5
Resource Breakdown Structure
Project
Developme
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Accounting
Tim
Bob
Analyst
Sandra
PMO
Designer
Lisa
Ralph
Andrea
Text-based formats
Role: …
Responsibilities: …
Authority: …
RACI Matrix
Joe
Tim
Sandra
R
A
C
Analysis
R
C
Design
R
Requirements
Lena
Bart
Homer
Lisa
I
I
I
A
A
…
 Responsibility - People who are expected to actively participate in the activity and contribute to the
best of their abilities.
 Accountability - The person who is ultimately responsible for the results.
 Consultation - People who either have a particular expertise they can contribute to specific decisions
(i.e., their advice will be sought) or who must be consulted for some other reason before a final
decision is made (e.g., finance is often in a consulting role for projects).
 Inform - People who are affected by the activity/decision and therefore need to be kept informed, but
do not participate in the effort. (They are notified after the final decisions are made.)
Skill Matrices
 Can help you build the RACI matrix
Task
Skill Required
Level
Requirements
(analysis and) domain expertise in
avionics
H
What people do I really need?
What are their hard skills?
Person
Hard Skills
Tim
Java guru
Laura
M68000 programming
Person
Thinking Preference
Communication Style
Organization Skills
Process Skills
Tim
Creative, big picture
Open
Poor
Good
Laura
Technical, Detailed
Introvert
Very good
Very good
What are their soft skills?
Project Team Acquisition
 Goal: Obtaining the human resources needed to complete the project
 Techniques
 Pre-assignment: people assigned to a project may be known in advance (for
instance because promised, or if special skills are required)
 Negotiation: on many projects staff is negotiated with other manager in the
organization (functional managers, other project managers, …)
 Acquisition: if in-house staff is lacking (see previous slides)
 Virtual team creation: in any other situation
-> Output: resources and assignments!
Project Team Development
 Goal: Improving competences and interaction of team members
 Techniques:
 General management skills: interpersonal skills (soft skills) empathy, influence, creativity,
group facilitation
 Training
 Team building activities: range from meeting, informal lunches and dinners, to
professionally built activities
 Ground rules: define clear expectations about acceptable behaviour by project team
member
 Co-location: either temporary or for the whole duration of the project (e.g. “war” rooms)
 Recognition and reward: recognizing and rewarding desirable behaviors.
-> Output: improvement in skills, competences,
reduced staff turnover
Project Team Management
 Goal: Tracking each member performances, providing feedback, resolving
issues, and coordinating changes to enhance project performance
 Techniques:
 Observation and conversation
 Project Performance appraisals
 Conflict management
Team ground rules, group norms, and solid pm practices such as
communication planning, and role definition
When dealt with can increase creativity and better decision making
Management is usually from informal to formal
-> Output: Issue Log
The People Capability Maturity Model
Intended as a framework for managing the
development of people involved in software
development.
P-CMM Objectives
To improve organisational capability by improving
workforce capability.
To ensure that software development capability is not
reliant on a small number of individuals.
To align the motivation of individuals with that of the
organisation.
To help retain people with critical knowledge and skills.
P-CMM levels
Five stage model
 Initial. Ad-hoc people management
 Repeatable. Policies developed for capability improvement
 Defined. Standardised people management across the
organisation
 Managed. Quantitative goals for people management in place
 Optimizing. Continuous focus on improving individual
competence and workforce motivation
The people capability model
Key points
Staff selection factors include education, domain
experience, adaptability and personality.
People are motivated by interaction, recognition and
personal development.
Software development groups should be small and
cohesive. Leaders should be competent and should have
administrative and technical support.
Key points
Group communications are affected by status, group size,
group organisation and the gender and personality
composition of the group
Working environments should include spaces for
interaction and spaces for private working.
The People Capability Maturity Model is a framework for
improving the capabilities of staff in an organisation.