Activity 06
Software Project Management
2025-2026
Note: Be sure to include all group member's names in your submission. Use an AI chat application if you need more information about the different roles in a software dev team.
In-Class Activity: Team Dynamics Simulation: Building Trust, Managing Conflict, and Embracing Accountability
Requirements (per group of 4–6 students)
- Blank sheets or Google Doc for notes, digital canvas or any whiteboard (https://webwhiteboard.com/).
- RACI template and Skills Matrix template: can be created using online google sheets or local excel sheet.
High-level scenario
Your team has two weeks to deliver a minimum-viable product for a campus events app: a working event creation flow (create, edit, list). The schedule is tight, the product owner is pushing for visible progress, and stakeholders expect a demo in two weeks. Halfway through your first sprint a critical regression appears in the test environment that breaks event creation for a subset of users. The team must decide how to proceed within today’s lab session.
Activity
- Forming (team planning): Assign roles to your team members; roles include Project Manager (PM), Technical Lead, QA Lead, Product Owner (PO), plus additional developer/designer roles if you are more than 4.
- Roles carry suggested authority and typical influence types (e.g., PM: formal authority and coordination; Tech Lead: specialized knowledge).
- Team reads scenario, introduces themselves briefly, and lists three immediate priorities (that applies to their role: Me, as a PM I need to first….).
- PM writes a one-line team goal and posts it visible to all (on the digital whiteboard).
- Fill out the skill matrix and RACI matrix.
- Storming (first incident introduced)
- An Incident occurs, add a visible note with a specific color on the whiteboard: “Stakeholder demands a demo feature change that conflicts with current sprint commitments.”
- Team has 5 minutes to debate and choose an approach. They must document: decision, who is Responsible/Accountable/Consulted/Informed for the change using the RACI template, and one communication message to stakeholders (using notes on the whiteboard).
- Norming (establish norms and trust building)
- Team spends 10 minutes writing 5 team norms (rules of engagement for conflict, meeting cadence, commit policy) and performs a 2-minute vulnerability round: each member states one skill they can contribute and one area where they need support.
- Team updates Skills Matrix to reflect strengths.
- Performing (second incident: technical crisis)
- New Incident Happens: “Critical regression discovered affecting 30% of users; root cause unclear and two team members disagree on rollback vs. hotfix.”
- 5 minutes for problem solving: define root problem, propose up to three solutions, pick one, assign RACI roles, and create a 5-step implementation checklist.
- Accountability check and measurement
- Team creates a short accountability plan: measurable commitments for the next 48 hours (who does what by when), and two metrics they will use to judge success.
- Fill in a short retrospective card on the whiteboard: What went well, what blocked us, one improvement.
- Rapid presentations (2 minutes per group; adjust for class size)
- Each group presents: team goal, the chosen solution to Incidents, and the accountability plan.
Debrief questions (written reflection)
- Which Tuckman stage did you notice most strongly during the activity and why?
- Where did trust help or hinder decision making? Give a concrete example.
- Which conflict technique did your team use and what were the outcomes?
- How did your RACI and Skills Matrix change decisions or speed of resolution?
- Did leadership type (technical vs. adaptive) influence the team’s choice? How would you change the leader’s approach?
- What single actionable improvement will your team adopt in the next sprint?