Tracking the groups. Weeks 3 - 4.

I was unable to track the first two weeks of the project as I had not been given access to the emails or the JIRA of the groups that I have been tracking, however after I was given access to the emails and JIRA of the groups that I have been tracking I felt that I should give you an update into what I have been seeing during the first two weeks of tracking.During this time I have been able to see that some of the groups have been communicating well with each other and that they have been meeting to discuss the game and the tasks that they have set for the weeks, I know this as the groups have been producing meeting minutes for these meetings, some of the minutes are more detailed than others, however they all discuss the tasks that they are setting for the weeks work.

In the future for these blog posts I will be showing the spreadsheet and if there has been anything happen that has been brought to my attention I will be speaking about that also.

Looking at small team groups using contemporary methods. Are the methods being used well?

Now that group projects are underway, I have been given the opportunity to look into how they are operating. After being able to watch ten groups perform their initial pitch for the brief, I have been able to select five of those groups to be able to watch how they progress and if they are using the methods that they have been taught.

I have created a small spreadsheet so that I can track things that are important to project management while using the agile methodology. Here is what I am looking at with the groups that I am tracking;

Emails.
Meeting minutes.
If all members are present at meetings.
Estimated hours.
Total hours spent.
Tasks set.
Tasks completed.
Unfinished tasks.

These are all things that are relevant when you are using the agile methodology. If I feel that a group are not using this methodology then I will introduce them to some of the aspects within in it.

The end goal of my dissertation is to find out if using these methods will yield better results than that of another method. So if by the end of the group projects if a group that has constantly avoided the help provided by myself in regards to the agile methodology has a product that is in later stages of development other than that of a group that has used the agile methodology. Then I will present these findings to look at ways of either improving agile or by changing the methodology that is used.

This has been a short blog due to the fact that I only received access to the groups that I am tracking on the 08/02/16 which means that I have only been tracking them for a week, but so far I already have some interesting data that I look forward to sharing with you in the future.

Thank you for reading.