FIT2002 IT Project Management Summer Semester B 2024
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FIT2002 IT Project Management
Summer Semester B 2024
Assignment Three – Team Assignment
Due Dates:
● Team presentation (15%): Team presentation in the form of a Stand-up Meeting to be conducted
during the Week 5 and 6 Applied sessions. And, Submission of a Scrum or Kanban board (as a team) to Moodle, before the deadline 23.55 Tuesday, 20 February 2024.
● Individual submission (75%): Deliverables 1-4 as an individual using Moodle before the deadline: 23.55 Monday, 19th February 2024.
● Group submission (10%): Team reflection and review deadline 23.55 Tuesday, 20 February 2024 Value: 40% of overall unit assessment
Mode of Submission: Online on Moodle
TEAMS
WHAT IS A TEAM PROJECT?
A “Team Project” is NOT the same as a traditional “Group Project”.
In a “Team Project” the members of a team work on closely related problems (in this case projects within a portfolio of maximum 4 projects). Students submit some work as a team, in this case, (a) the “Team Charter”. Students also submit other work as an individual, in this case, (b) the “Main Submission” (that is, all other components of the assignment).
Even though the “Main Submission” is an individual piece of work, you are expected to work alongside the other members of your team in the unit’s applied sessions as a number of elements of the individual “Main submission” depend upon decisions that you make collectively as a team (e.g. how to navigate your projects towards the success of your portfolio).
If, after reading the above, you are still unclear about the difference between a “Team Project” and a traditional “Group Project” then contact your tutor and/or Chief Examiner ([email protected]).
This assignment requires a collaborative effort by a team of students that was formed for Assignment 2, and includes both a team submission and an individual submission.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
The aim of this assignment is to provide students with the opportunity to learn and demonstrate their adaptive project management skills through the development of an information technology (IT) project management case study. The assignment aims to assess the following aspects of student learning about project management:
● Skills and knowledge in the Software Development Life Cycle through Adaptive Methodologies
● Skills and knowledge of the responsibilities and characteristics of an effective Scrum Master
● Skills and knowledge in collaborative teamwork, coupled with the ability to facilitate constructive reflections to enhance team performance.
THE CONTEXT
This assignment is based on the specifications outlined by the Student Services professional services function of the Faculty of Information Technology (FIT) at Monash University, acting as the client in the project previously selected for Assignment 2. Building on the scenario established in Assignment 2, where detailed project planning has been undertaken, we are now transitioning into phase 3 which is the execution phase. Following a thorough Stacey Diagramming Analysis, the decision has been made to implement the Agile Methodology for the Software Development Life Cycle, specifically utilising the Scrum framework. In this context, you, as the assigned Scrum Master, are leading a project team that is new to the Scrum/Agile paradigm.
Note: you can change your work from Assignment 2 when and as needed to address the requirements in Assignment 3. There won’t be any penalties for making necessary changes.
SPECIFICATION AND DELIVERABLES
Deliverable 1 requires you to support the team and the newly added Product Owner by creating Scrum Personas and crafting a high-level stakeholder vision statement. Now, with a deeper understanding of the client's requirements in the execution phase as per the client’s interviews, you have the opportunity to refine and update information from Assignment 2 to enhance your stakeholder vision statement. This refined information will serve as a foundation for developing the backlog and user stories in Deliverable 2.
As we progress to Deliverable 3, your Scrum team is nearing the completion of the third sprint, but challenges have arisen. As the Scrum Master, you are preparing for a sprint retrospective and will present a well-prepared retrospective analysis document to facilitate the ceremony.
Deliverable 4 is unrelated to your project but will assist in extending your skill as a Scrum Master and Project Manager. You will be conducting research and analysis on these roles as per current industry requirements. You will reflect (as an individual) on your current skill set upon completion of Deliverable 1 to Deliverable 3 and develop an improvement plan.
The final deliverable is a group submission. You will be reflecting as a group on your teamwork experience throughout the project. This holistic review offers valuable insights into the collaborative dynamics of the team, fostering continuous improvement and shared learning.
Note: Similar to in Assignment 2, students will not be required to develop a product as part of this process.
INSTRUCTIONS
1. The workshop topics will address different components of the assignment and you should actively participate and engage in the classes, discuss and work on these as a team. Where required, present your progress to the tutor, who will provide support and advice.
2. There are two group submissions (reflective report and presentation/Kanban demonstration) and one individual submission:
a. Team Presentation:
i. Team presentation in the form of Stand-up Meeting to be conducted in Week 5 and 6 Applied sessions. There is no alternative assessment or extension to the time for this task.
ii. Submission of a Scrum or Kanban board (as a team) to Moodle, due Week 8 (Tuesday, 20 February 2024, 11:55 PM).
b. Individual submission (Deliverable 1 to Deliverable 4), due Week 8 (Monday, 19 February 2024, 11:55 PM).
c. Group submission (Deliverable 5) due Week 8 (Tuesday, 20 February 2024, 11:55 PM).
3. Submissions (group and individual) must take the form of a single PDF document.
● Group submission should be named: <<Group #>>
● Individual submission should be named: <<Group #>><<Student#>>.pdf, where <<Group#>> is the group number that will be assigned to your group when you enrol yourself in groups through the Moodle portal and <<Student #>> is your unique Monash University student number.
PLAGIARISM DECLARATION
The moment you upload your assignment on Moodle, you are required to accept the Student Statement (which includes a declaration that you have not plagiarised during the preparation of your assignment solution). You are required to ACCEPT the Student Statement; otherwise, you won’t be able to submit your assignment electronically and your assignment will NOT be assessed.
GENERATIVE AI
No restrictions on use of generative AI for this assessment. Any use of generative AI must be appropriately acknowledged (see Learn HQ).
LATE SUBMISSION
1. Submission must be made by the due date. Unless an extension or special consideration has been granted, or otherwise specified in the learning management system, students who submit an assessment task after the due date will receive a late-submission penalty of 10 percent of the available marks in that task. A further penalty of 10 percent of the available marks will be applied for each additional day (24-hour period), or part thereof, the assessment task is overdue.
2. If you can’t complete an assessment (due to exceptional circumstances beyond your control), you may be eligible for a short extension or special consideration. A short extension is two calendar days and is available once for each eligible assessment. The first short extension for a unit will be granted without a reason given. All subsequent extensions require a reason when the application is submitted. Special consideration is a longer extension (for more than two days). Eligible students must supply a reason and supporting documentation.
3. For more details of the Special Consideration procedure and rules, and how to apply, visit:
https://www.monash.edu/students/admin/exams/changes/special-consideration
ASSIGNMENT TASKS
To formulate a successful portfolio, your team and you (as a Scrum Master for your individual project) will complete the following deliverables. Discussion of the Team Presentation and the five deliverables will be the focus of Applied Sessions as indicated below:
● Team presentation in the form of stand-up meetings and report (15%):
○ Team presentation in the form of Stand-up Meetings to be conducted in Weeks 5 and 6 Applied sessions. There is no alternative assessment or extensions for this task.
○ Group Submission of a Scrum or Kanban board to Moodle.
● Individual Submissions:
○ Deliverable 1 (20%): Scrum Persona and Stakeholder Vision Document
○ Deliverable 2 (20%): Backlog and User Story
○ Deliverable 3 (15%): Sprint Retrospective Scenario
○ Deliverable 4 (20%): Scrum Master job advertisement analysis and reflection
● Group Submission:
○ Deliverable 5 (10%): Team reflection and review
TEAM PRESENTATION
Task A. The daily scrum (also called the daily coordination meeting) allows the team to coordinate work. This is typically done by answering three questions:
- What did I do yesterday?
- What do I plan to do today?
- Is there anything blocking my work?
In each team stand up meeting, one of the team members should take on the role of scrum master and facilitate the meeting. The facilitator should make sure that everyone gets time to speak and all team members are heard. If there are any risks or blockers, the facilitator should make sure that the client (role played by your tutors) is aware and necessary steps are taken.
Task B. Team members will demonstrate task progress updates to the tutor on the Scrum board/Kanban, transitioning from "To Do" to "In Progress," "Blocked," or "Done". Utilise either a physical Scrum board with post-it notes or digital tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello to demonstrate tracking and collaboration. Photos or screenshots of the artefact, and explanations to demonstrate the objectives and use of the board (in Pdf format) are to be submitted to Moodle by the due date.
A separate document is provided in Moodle to help you prepare for your stand-up meetings.
Team Presentation structure & requirements:
DELIVERABLE 1: Scrum Persona and Stakeholder Vision Document
Task 1.1 Scrum Persona
Create four Scrum personas for the project that you have been working on in your Assignment 2. Please use the template in Moodle for this task. Scrum personas are fictional characters created to represent different user types within a project team's target audience. These personas help the Scrum team understand the diverse needs, goals, and behaviours of end users, enabling them to design and prioritise features that cater to a broad range of user requirements. Include the following in your submission:
● The end user's name and photo.
● Describe the individual - identify key information about the customer/end user including the demographic, age, skill level, intended use for the product, occupation, character description, needs and wants.
● Identify their goals or needs that they wish to have achieved or considered by the product.
● At the end of the task, you should feel as if you have described a real person.
Some additional resources that may be helpful:
➔ To generate persona’s image: https://generated.photos/faces
➔ Examples of personas: https://www.vistaprint.com/hub/how-to-create-user-personas
Task 1.2 Stakeholder Vision Document
Based on the persona in Task 1.1, develop a comprehensive stakeholder vision document using the template in Moodle for the project. This document serves as an initial common agreement on concepts like the high- level scope, the release plan, who the consumer is, how will your team gather feedback, and acceptance criteria, before the team commences software development.
● Project Scope: Clearly define the project's objectives and outcomes.
● Release Plan: Outline agile phases - build, test, feedback, launch - prioritising swift delivery and iterative enhancement based on user input.
● Project Consumers: Identify those utilising the product.
● Feedback Gathering: Specify methods for continuous user feedback.
● Acceptance Criteria: Define a set of predefined requirements that must be met in order to mark that something (in this case, your product) is complete.
Deliverable 1: structure & requirements
DELIVERABLE 2: Product Backlog & User Story
Task 2.1. Develop a comprehensive product backlog incorporating five user stories specific to your project. Utilise the provided template in Moodle for this assignment, ensuring that the product backlog encompasses the following essential categories:
● Feature: Clear articulate the primary functionality that the final product is expected to deliver.
● User Story: Craft user-centric narratives that capture the product requirements. Each user story should be granular enough to be efficiently designed, coded, and tested within a single iteration.
● Acceptance Criteria: Development of a set of statements, each presenting a clear pass/fail criterion, serving as benchmarks that ascertain the proper completion of each task.
● Priority: Utilisation an Agile prioritisation technique, such as MoSCoW or the Kano model, to systematically prioritise items within the backlog. This strategic ordering ensures that the most critical features are addressed with the highest priority.
● Story Points: Assign Story Points to each user story using the Fibonacci Sequence or other Agile estimation methods. Story Points aid in quantifying the relative effort and complexity of each task, facilitating a more informed approach to project planning and resource allocation.
Follow the provided Moodle template to encapsulate these elements, creating a robust product backlog that not only outlines the project's trajectory but also serves as a valuable reference for agile development iterations.
You will use the provided template “FIT2002_A3_Template_Product Backlog User Story.xlsx” for Task 2.1.
Task 2.2 Provide a rationale for the chosen priority order and story points in Task 2.1. Justify the prioritization and story points in Task 2.1. Clarify the decision-making process behind the chosen priority order, aligning with Agile principles, and explain the rationale for utilizing specific story points.
Deliverable 2: Structure & requirements:
DELIVERABLE 3: Analyse a Scenario - Develop a Retrospective
In this deliverable you will develop a retrospective worksheet (with template in Moodle) from the following scenario:
Your Scrum Team, under your guidance as a Scrum Master and led by Product Owner Farheen, comprises skilled members such as a software engineer, front-end developer, educational technology specialist, quality assurance analyst, instructional designer, and a project manager. With a history of effective collaboration, the team initiates the third Sprint for the Moodle extension project.
However, the team encounters challenges as the project progresses. Despite the initial enthusiasm, collaboration within the team diminishes, leading to sluggish progress. Team members invest long hours but their energy wanes due to other projects and daily challenges.
Alex, the educational technology specialist, advocates for additional design tools to enhance the user interface. Unfortunately, their manager, Yilin, denies the request citing budget constraints. This denial adds to the team's frustration, and daily stand-ups reveal minimal engagement and collaboration. Moreover, the absence of the QA analyst - Juan - due to personal reasons, exacerbates challenges which leads to a backlog of testing activities.
Reflect on the impact of these retrospective actions on team dynamics and consider the continuous improvement aspect of Agile principles. Using the provided template, discuss how these measures contribute to a more cohesive and efficient team, emphasising the importance of open communication and understanding diverse perspectives.
● Define Objectives: Start with clear retrospective objectives aligned with the scenario. Specify them in the provided template to guide the evaluation process.
● Evaluate Performance: Identify successes and challenges from the Sprint, using the scenario description to pinpoint positive aspects (column 2) and areas for improvement (column 3).
● Identify Improvements: Determine actions the team could have executed better and document them in column 4 of the template, fostering accountability and learning from past experiences.
● Root Cause Analysis: Identify potential sources of confusion or issues (root causes) in column 5, promoting a deeper understanding of challenges for targeted improvements.
● Brainstorm Innovations: Encourage creative thinking in column 6 by brainstorming new ideas that can propel the team towards improvement and success.
● Create Forward-Looking Plan: Synthesise retrospective analysis into a comprehensive plan for moving forward, aligned with the continuous improvement goal. This plan should address team functionality, product quality, and overall velocity.
The retrospective aims at holistic assessment and actionable insights. You are asked to consider all aspects of team functioning during the sprint. In this way you extract lessons for tangible adjustments that enhance team functionality, product quality, and velocity.
Key self-reflection questions include assessing the clarity of lessons learned and evaluating whether these insights translate into practical team adjustments.
Deliverable 3: structure & requirements
DELIVERABLE 4: Scrum Master and Project Manager Job Advertisement Analysis and Critical Reflection
Task 4.1 Scrum Master and Project Manager Job Advertisement Analysis
In this deliverable, you will find a job advertisement for a Scrum Master position and a job advertisement for a Project Manager in the software development industry. Summarise and compare the key responsibilities, qualifications, and skills required for both roles. Next, reflect on how the advertised requirements align with the use of tools and techniques in both approaches. Discuss specific tools mentioned in the job advertisement. Remember to provide the screenshot and link of the job advertisements in the appendix.
Task 4.2 Self Reflection for Future Scrum Master or Project Manager Role
How would you assess your inclination towards pursuing a role as a Scrum Master or a Project Manager? Reflect on the inherent qualities within yourself that align with the responsibilities of these positions. Consider the unique attributes you possess that make you well-suited for either role. Additionally, outline a strategic plan detailing the steps you intend to take in order to achieve your goal, emphasising the skills and experiences you aim to acquire to thrive in your chosen path.
You are encouraged to refer back to the Myers-Briggs Personality Test introduced in Workshop 8. While the test results contain private information (which you are not expected to share), you could utilise the information to reflect on your potential to pursue a career as a Scrum Master or Project Manager.
Deliverable 4: structure & requirements:
DELIVERABLE 5: Team reflection and review
In this group work, you and your team will submit one Reflective Report (peer feedback and collaboration) on:
● how closely did you follow through with your Team Charter;
● how you incorporated peer feedback into your work;
● how you managed conflicts and issues with your team (if any) - or
○ If there were no conflicts experienced in your team: Why do you think there has not been any conflict during your collaboration?
● Were there any challenges with your team communication?
Important Note:
This is a group assessment. You should all work collaboratively to come up with one document addressing all requirements. When aiming for submission, one of the team members uploads the document/file and everyone is required to accept the student statement and submit. Make sure you communicate this
requirement with all team members before the due date.
Deliverable 5: structure & requirements:
HOW TO APPROACH THE REFLECTIVE REPORTS
Reflective writing in IT necessitates not just recounting experiences, but analysing them deeply. Analysis entails examining how experiences were, one's emotional responses, lessons learned, and strategies for improvement in similar situations. Despite its importance, students often struggle with reflective writing, often merely describing experiences rather than engaging in deeper reflection. In the Faculty of IT, a common mistake is the absence of true reflection, which can hinder learning and growth. Utilising frameworks like Gibbs’s Reflective Cycle can aid in structuring reflections effectively, enhancing learning outcomes.
To be successful at these tasks, you will need to use reflective thinking and specific writing style
● See the “Resources for Reflective Writing”
○ https://www.monash.edu/learnhq/write-like-a-pro/how-to-write.../reflection ○ https://www.monash.edu/learnhq/write-like-a-pro/annotated-assessment-
samples/information-technology/it-reflective-writing
2024-02-24