SPA Conference session: Comic Communication and Collaboration | |||
| One-line description: | Discover and reflect on problems created and opportunities provided by various restrictions on communication in a collaborative team environment. | ||
| Session format: | Simulation (75 mins) [read about the different session types] | ||
| Abstract: | Alistair Cockburn and others have reported on the varying effectiveness of various forms of communication and the importance of communication in the success of a software project (see http://alistair.cockburn.us/Characterizing+people+as+non-linear,+first-order+components+in+software+development). These communcation variations are usually discussed in terms of the limitations imposed upon two parties who are trying to reach a common understanding of some piece of design work. As characteristics of communication are lost, such as vocal inflections, quick question and answer cycles, shared culture, and so on, the quality and quantity of a group's output declines. Although many software practitioners know and accept the effects of these communication difficulties, we often get little chance to experience the difference that small changes in communication can have on the cohesiveness of a team and the quality of their work. This session provides a way to try out these variations in a controlled environment and reflect on the effect they have on our ability to work. Participants will work together in small groups of around three or four under time and communication constraints to complete a creative task. The task involves completing a comic strip in which the group is provided with a starting point (a single panel from which to start) and a goal (the final panel of the strip). The group needs to work together to create a series of panels that completes a story of the group's devising and connects the starting panel to the goal panel. As this is not an exercise in artistic ability the comic strips will be simple stick figure drawings much like those used in the online comic XKCD (http://xkcd.com). The groups will all be working under communication constraints that attempt to model those possibly encountered in the real world. Constraints will range from only being communication via small written notes (to simulate teams that can only communicate via email) to one-way communication from a controlling member of the team (to simulate siloed teams with a single point of control). Each group will be given the chance to try each variation of communication. After each round of work the groups will come back together to hold a common retrospective and discuss their experience and the comic strip they were able to produce, or not able to produce as the case may be. | ||
| Audience background: | No particular background required; however, those from a project management or team lead background may find the session the most interesting. Participants should be open to creative thinking and drawing stick figures. | ||
| Benefits of participating: | Appreciation of the effects of limited communication when trying to achieve a goal. The session will provide a simulated experience of various patterns of communication in software development teams. Participants will be able to better understand the tradeoffs found in various communication circumstances they may find themselves in. | ||
| Materials provided: | Scratch paper, pens and markers, comic strip panels, adhesive for placing paper on walls. | ||
| Process: | The session will start with the presenters explaining what they hope to get out of the session (a better understanding of how people communicate with each other). They will then explain the communication structures selected for simulation and what these structures are modelling from the real world. The process that will be used for the session is then explained and any questions from the participants will be answered. The participants are next split into groups of three to four. Each group is assigned one of the communication structures and a starting and ending comic panel. The groups are given five minutes to work on completing the comic strip. After the five minutes have passed the groups are brought together for a retrospective. This process is repeated four times so that each participant has an opportunity to try each communication method. | ||
| Detailed timetable: | 00:00-00:10 Intro 00:10-00:15 Splitting into groups 00:15-00:20 Round 1 00:20-00:25 Retro 00:25-00:30 Retro/Split 00:30-00:35 Round 2 00:35-00:40 Retro 00:40-00:45 Retro/Break 00:45-00:50 Break/Split 00:50-00:55 Round 3 00:55-01:00 Retro 01:00-01:05 Retro/Split 01:05-01:10 Round 4 01:10-01:15 Retro/Closing | ||
| Outputs: | The comic strips that are created will be put together into a poster that will be displayed at the conference. Each comic will be labeled with which round it was in and what team conditions it was created under. This will provide an opportunity for other conference participants to see differences in the work artifacts caused by different restrictions on communication. | ||
| History: | None | ||
| Presenters | |||
| 1. Andrew Parker youDevise |
2. Tom Denley YouDevise |
3. Ryan Alexander youDevise |
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