Create a document that describes your role in the creation of the SRS. This is not a creative writing exercise; instead describe as concisely as possible your role as member of a team and how your role will move the project forward.
Membership in a team
This week, a project manager should have been selected, the class should have been sub-divided into teams, team leaders should have been selected, and every member of the class should be assigned to a team. Please state your role (project manager, team leader, or individual contributor), your team membership (for all but the project manager), and the main responsibility of the team.
If you are the project manager, expect to answer questions from your team leaders and individual contributors during the last few days of the week. If you need help, feel free to contact the instructor as often as necessary. It is usually a good idea to broadcast answers to the entire class or an entire team rather than repeating answers again and again. Please list all the team leaders and anyone who reports directly to you.
If you are a team leader, expect to answer questions from your team members. You might want to reach out to your team members proactively and let them know they are part of your team and what your team is to accomplish. Before sending that e-mail, you might want to confirm your understanding of the role of your team with the project manager. Please list all the members of your team and their roles.
If you are an individual contributor, please contact your team leader for all questions.
Role on the project
In the academic context, group work is usually synonymous with trying to do the smallest amount of work possible. Interestingly, this is almost never the case in the workplace. In fact, members of a team often go out of their way to take the largest share of the work possible. The reason for this is compensation is frequently tied to perceived value on the team. The more valuable you are, the more you get paid. For this reason, everyone tries to be indispensable.
CSE 372 is designed to more closely model the workplace rather than the academic environment. On the SRS, your individual grade will be a combination of the grade on the document and your perceived value on the team. For example, if the document score is 80% but you are perceived as being the key player on the team, your individual score may be 95%. Similarly, if you are a non-contributor, you may get an 'F' on the SRS regardless of the score on the document.
In order to maximize your score on the assignment and in the class, it is in your interest to appear as valuable as possible to your classmates and teammates. That work starts here. As you negotiate with your team lead and project manager, attempt to take the largest role possible. A big role might result in a greater workload, but it will also probably result in a higher grade. Note that if you accept a large role and fail to deliver, your perceived contribution will be severely affected. Thus, negotiate a role that you are confident you can fulfill.
Note that next week, each member of the class will be assigned to a Community of Practice (CoP). You can look ahead to next week's reading if you wish to learn more about the CoP. During that process, your role within the team will be clarified and a support structure will be introduced so you can be successful in the team. This week's assignment is meant to be your first draft regarding your role on the team; it is not meant to be the final contract by which you will be held to for the rest of the semester.
The class is organized into a matrix organization. You will be a member of a team, and within that team, you will fulfill a specific role. You will also meet with students with the same role from other teams as a Community of Practice (CoP). The teams do the work and the CoP turn in the deliverables.
Each week the class, teams and CoP work on different stages of the Software Requirements Specifications, starting with Elicitation Techniques through the final draft of the SRS.
Each stage of the SRS is dependent on the previous stage of the SRS.
The Community of Practice and the Teams work together during each phase to accomplish tasking, do reviews, complete fixes, determine performance, and deliver a version of the SRS as the product.
Please read up on the different roles’ responsibilities to know the expectations of Teams members and the Community of Practice.
Roles:
- Project Manager and Leads
- Chief Editor
- Quality Assurance
- Scrum Master (Functional)
- Technical Specialist
Assessment
Write a paper describing your part of the SRS document creation process.
As you write your paper, put some thought into the format of the document. How can you most clearly communicate your ideas? You may need to do external research to properly fulfill the assignment. Please provide citations for any external sources used.
This document should be approximately 500 words. Please note that this is not a hard-and-fast rule. In fact, no part of your grade will be based on word count. However, this should give you a general idea of how much detail is required. Submit a single PDF here.
Grading will be individual. Your submission will be evaluated according to the following rubric:
| Exceptional 100% |
Good 90% |
Acceptable 70% |
Developing 50% |
Missing 0% |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Unambiguous 40% |
All responsibilities are unambiguously described | It is clear what is to be done on the SRS | All responsibilities are described to some degree of detail but ambiguity exists | Part of the role is described | It is unclear what is to be done on the SRS |
| Contribution 60% |
By following this plan, more than a fair share of the work will be done | A critical and important part of the process will be accomplished | You will "pull your weight" | It is unclear that the fair share of work will be done | It appears that most of the work will be done by others |