13--Team Chapter Structure 13.1 Team-Structure Considerations The team structure should be based on the team's broad objectives. Objective Problem resolution Creativity Tactical execution Team Structure Trust Autonomy Clarity Lifecycle Code-and-fix, spiral Evolutionary... Waterfall, ...
A. Kinds of Teams 1. Problem-resolution team--focuses on solving a complex, poorly defined problem. The people on this team need to be trustworthy, intelligent, and pragmatic. 2. Creativity team--charter is to explore possibilities and alternatives. The people on this team need to be selfmotivated, independent, creative, and creative. 3. Tactical-execution team--focuses on carrying out a well-defined plan. The team is characterized by having highly focused tasks and clearly defined roles. Team members have to have a sense of urgency about their mission, be more interested in action than esoteric intellectualizing, and be loyal to the team. B. Additional Team-Design Features Features that seem to characterize all kinds of effectively functioning teams: 1. Clear roles and accountabilities 2. Monitoring of individual performance and providing feedback 3. Effective communication--that is: Information must be easily accessible Information must originate from credible sources There must be opportunities for team members to raise issues not on the formal agenda The communication system must provide for documenting issues raised and decision made C. Which Kind of Team is Best for Rapid Development There is no single team structure that achieves the maximum development speed on every project. The most effective structure depends on the context. 13.2 Team Models 1. Business Team The most common team structure is probably the peer group headed by a technical lead. It is adaptable enough that it can work on all kinds of projects--problem resolution, creativity, and tactical execution. But its generality is also its weakness, and in many cases a different structure can work better. 2. Chief-Programmer Team Takes advantage of the phenomenon that some developers are 10 times as productive as others. A programming superstar is identified as the chief programmer. That person then drafts the entire specification, completes all of the design, writes the vast majority of the production code, and is ultimately responsible for virtually all of the decision on a project. A "backup programmer" serves as the chief programmer's alter ego. An "administrator" handles administrative matters such as money, people, space, and machines. A "toolsmith" is responsible for creating custom tools requested by the chief programmer. A "language lawyer" supports the chief programmer by answering esoteric questions about the programming language being used. The chief-programmer team is appropriate for creative projects, in which having one mind at the top will help to protect the system's conceptual integrity. 3. Skunkworks Team Takes a group of talented, creative product developers, puts them in a facility where they will be freed of the organization's normal bureaucratic restrictions, and turns them loose to develop and innovate. They are most appropriate for exploratory projects on which creativity is all-important.
4. Feature Team Development, quality assurance, documentation, program management, and marketing personnel are arranged in traditional hierarchical reporting structures. Layered on top of this traditional organization are teams that draw one ore more members from each of these groups and that are given responsibility for a chuck of the product's functionality. Feature teams are appropriate for problem-resolution projects because they have the empowerment and accountability needed to resolve issues expediently. They are also good for creativity projects because the interdisciplinary team composition can stimulate ideas. The additional overhead incurred with feature teams will be wasted on tactical-execution projects. 5. Search-and-Rescue Team This type of team focuses on solving a specific problem. It combines specialized knowledge of specific hardware and software tools with equally specialized knowledge of a particular business environment. is It most appropriate for teams that need to focus on problem resolution. It is too bottom-line oriented to support much creativity and too short-term oriented to support tactical execution. 6. SWAT Team The idea behind a SWAT team is to take a group of people who are highly skilled with a particular tool or practice and turn them loose on a problem that is well suited to being solved by that tool or practice. SWAT teams are usually permanent teams. SWAT are especially appropriate on tactical-execution projects. Their job is not to be creative but to implement a solution within the limits of a tool or a practice that they know well. SWAT teams can also work well on problemresolution projects. 7. Professional Athletic Team The software developers are selected at least as carefully as the management is and are probably more critical to the project's success. The software manager is important, but not because of any development capabilities. The manager's role is to clear roadblocks and enable developers to work efficiently. The developers are not expected to perform in any area other than their specialty. This model applies best to tactical-execution projects, which emphasize the highly specialized roles that individual players play. 8. Theater Team Is characterized by strong direction and a lot of negotiation about project roles. The central role on the project is occupied by the director, who maintains the vision of the product and assigns people responsibility for individual areas. Individual contributors can shape their roles, their parts of the project, as their own artistic instincts move them. But they can't take their ideas so far that they clash with the director's vision. The software manager occupies the role of producer and is responsible for obtaining funding, coordinating schedules, and being sure that everyone is in the right place at the right time. The software manager generally does not play an active role in the artistic aspects of the project. This model's strength is that it provides a way to integrate strong individual contributions with a strong central vision on creativity projects. "...conceptual integrity is the most important consideration in system design, and if a system is to have it, one person must control the concepts." It is particularly appropriate for software teams that are dominated by strong personalities. This model is an appropriate model for modern multimedia projects. Large Teams As the number of people on a project increases, the ...