Student Originated Software 1997-1998 Fall Quarter
		A Software Engineering Course at The Evergreen State College

SOS Project Ground Rules and Guidelines Version 1.1 Last Revised: October 22, 1997 Ground Rules. The following are intended to be non-negotiable. Each project team will consist of 3 - 6 team members. Each team member must work with the rest of the team in an inter-dependent (not independent) manner. Team members are in charge of their project but certain actions can only be undertaken after discussion and concurrence of faculty members. These include switching team members from one project to another or removing a team member from a project. Preferably, each team will have a "real world client"; alternatively, a team may identify a real-world consultant who is willing to spend time working with them on "reality checks" write a seriously researched survey of similar software available. Students are expected to work full-time in this program and must discuss any deviation from this with the faculty members and other team members. Guidelines. These guidelines, unlike the ground rules, are suggestions. We believe that if you follow them -- or at least consider them -- you will make your life and those of your team members easier. One of the most crucial aspects of future success is shared expectations and we hope that these guidelines can help you build those shared expectations. We encourage students to develop their own convenants. These convenants are intended to reflect your team's philosophy as well as individual and broad team roles and responsibilities. These team convenents should be developed collaboratively and signed by each team member. We also encourage students to develop a management plan for the project. This plan should delineate roles, scheduling and other resource management issues, responsibilities, decision-making procedures, modes of communication, change management, and other aspects of maintaining effective teamwork. Although it may not be "the Evergreen Way" it might be a good idea for the team to designate a "manager" with managerial responsibilities such as monitoring the schedule and checking the progress of other team members. This job generally provides very good experience and should probably be rotated among all team members. Team members should treat the client with respect and communicate regularly with him or her. They are volunteering their time to assist with your education. Team members must work with the clients to determine the best way to communicate and coordinate over the course of the project. Team members have the responsibility to communicate with each other. Information should be communicated efficiently to all appropriate team members. If a team member needs to be out of town or is ill, he or she must let others know. It will be important for teams to divide up and assign specialized tasks to individual team members. At the same time, this is an educational project and all team members are expected to participate in all aspects of the project; including communicating with the client, attending team meetings, writing documents, and writing software. Finally it should be mentioned, everybody is part of a team. It will be necessary to help each other in a variety of ways throughout the year to make the project successful. This may include providing information or advice or, on occasion, emotional support.