Student Survival Guide to Managing Group Projects 2.0

By: Stephanie Ludi
Copyright 1994, 1998


Table of Contents


Introduction

Part I General Group Tasks

Chapter 1 Administrative Duties That Lay the Project and Group Foundation

1.1 Group Organization

1.1.1 Chief Programmer Team

1.1.2 Egoless Programming Team

1.1.3 Administrative Programming Team

1.2 Assigning Roles

1.3 Distributing Tasks

1.3.1 Matching Tasks to Roles

1.3.2 Matching Tasks to Abilities

1.3.3 Time/Schedule Conflicts Between A Group Member and The Milestone or Task At Hand

1.4 Running Group Meetings

Chapter 2 Successful Group Dynamics

2.1 Generating Ideas and Strategies

2.1.1 Participation

2.1.2 Listening

2.2 Coming To Consensus

2.3 Making Diversity Work For You

2.4 Tips For Group Success

Chapter 3 Project Management

3.1 Maintaining the Group's Conceptual Understanding of the Entire Project

3.2 Keeping the Project on track

3.2.1 Working Under Time Constraints and Deadlines

3.2.2 Maintaining the Project Specification's Integrity

Chapter 4  What You Need to Know About Risk

4.1  Identifying Risks

4.2  Analyzing Risks

4.3  Planning for Risks

4.4  Monitoring Risks

Part II. Group Members As Individuals And Their Evolving, Working Relationships

Chapter 5 Interpersonal Communication

5.1  Types of Spoken Behaviors

5.1.1 Initiating Behaviors

5.1.2 Reacting Behaviors

5.1.3 Clarifying Behaviors

5.1.4 Process Behaviors

5.2  Communication as Part of Software Development

Chapter 6 Potential Profiles of A Group Member

6.1 Some or All Group Members Are Not Used To Group Projects

6.2 The Dominant and/or Aggressive Group Member

6.3 The Shy, Passive Group Member

6.4 The Group Member Who Feels Technically Unprepared For The Project

6.5 The "I'll Do It All Myself" or "Anti-Group" Group Member

6.6 Cliques

Chapter 7 Handling Conflict

7.1 Personal Conflict

7.2 Role Conflict

7.3 Issue Conflict

Part III Special Issues That You, As A Student, May Face During The Project

Chapter 8 Time Management and Priorities That Are Unique To Students

8.1 You, The Project, and The Rest Of Your Schedule

8.2 When A Group Member Has A Job (Besides School)

Chapter 9 The Group Grade

9.1 When A Group Member Is Lazy

9.2 When A Group Member Drops Or Withdraws From The Class

9.3 When A Group Member Is A Non-English Speaking Student

9.4 When Group Member(s) Go Home During Weekends and Three-Day Weekends

Chapter 10  Other Useful Stuff

10.1 Keeping a Journal

10.2 Empowerment and Encouragement

Bibliography

Sample Quarterly Planner Sheet

Sample Weekly Planner Sheet