Software Engineering. hm. some parts of the lecture are a no brainer. Things like planning milestones and buffer time. easy peasy.
the difficult bit is sticking to the plan. and not just you but everyone in the team. It takes discipline to follow through, even more so when you are planning for an arduous journey. unfortunately, alot of people i have worked with in the past do not possess such discipline. For the average projects in nus, I have had group mates telling me that it okay to take it slow because there's buffer time to eat into. (thats not what buffer time is for)
As for myself, i find sticking to plans okay as long as im not burning out. I think thats my weakness. fatigue gets to me.
By the way, planning also only works when everyone in the team actually believes that planning helps the teams reach the goal. Some people think of it has just a formality and no amount of nagging will work on them. Not everyone believes in plans unfortunately. I'm still in the midst of figuring out how to work with these kind of people. If anyone knows, please enlighten me. A temple where i can pray for an amulet/talisman to ward them off will also do.
That said, I have no worries of that sort for my projects in CS3216. Everyone is so motivated and on the ball. I even recieved an email from my mobile cloud group today. haha. CS3216 projects may be painful, but i have no complaints as long as the pain does not come from my groupmates. provided i survive.
By the way, planning also only works when everyone in the team actually believes that planning helps the teams reach the goal.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely right.
I'm still in the midst of figuring out how to work with these kind of people.
The solution is simply NOT to work with these sorts of people if you can help it. I did very well for all my projects as an undergrad because I always chose very good teammates. The only one instance I got stuck with a lousy team because it was allocated to me, I just tanked the project myself. :-)
For CS3216, I tried to do you people a favour but letting in only the best and the most motivated students so it minimizes this "slacker" problem. The most common problem in CS3216 is the converse, called the "Indian Chief" problem.
Aiyah, you all will figure it out. :-)
provided i survive.
Just have to endure, 12 weeks only, just like BMT. :-)
What is the Indian Chief problem?
ReplyDelete