Team Dynamics: Case Study

Lanh said, “It would be really bad if we have a great idea but are unable to execute it successfully”. What are your views? Which is more important - the idea or the execution? Why?

One of my favourite lecturers in NUS said this: "An idea cannot be patented; or stolen. It belongs to no-one till it has been realized."
I thus believe that execution is more important. You must realize the resources you have access to as this is the ultimate limiting factor in real-life. Though we say that "Bah! there are always people to code and design" - these are exactly the people who actually realize your ideas. Understanding them and their limitations is very important. For instance - Serene and Jeremy say that they had the poster/marketing part all done but they had no actual screenshots of the application to show! While the challenge for the coders in the team is to realize the application, the challenge for the marketers is to adapt their selling strategies to what has been executed and realized. Though the idea may not be great, an executable application can at least have real interested users - but a really great idea with a buggy implementation will end up frustrating everybody.

What have you learnt about Facebook so far?

Facebook is this really trendy girl with an open mind and fluttering thoughts ready to be influenced with a lot of money to spend. Reach out to her heart. And the world begins again!

What I mean to say is that Facebook has perhaps the most-diverse user-base ever - and thus there and minds and hearts out there that are willing to embrace almost every new idea. And facebook provides the platform for these few people to be trend-setters of the future - by influencing the people around them (and thus the linking begins). One thing though is certain. That people in facebook judge every application - in most instances, the very first time they use it. It must appeal to them in some way. "Success lies in understanding what the people want - but still don't know they want it" . And delivering it in the way they find most acceptable.

Comment on the ideas for Another Life and Fan Gang.

Fan gang I think was a great idea. Simple in implementation and powerful in gathering a user-base. But I agree that the application seems too general. There are crazy fans out there who spend a lot of their time on forums. I know this personally being a fan of a television show - I visit the forum quite frequently, participate in discussion threads and have even created avatars/signatures with my favorite characters from the show. IM friends is an option that I have used frequently as well. If I were able to create a fan page and have my own fan gang for this show on facebook, I would love it. I feel that this idea could have worked better if the developers had thought of a fan page that they would personally create - they would have a clearer idea of what features are the most important and would be all the more passionate about their idea :)

Another Life was an okay idea. I personally prefer using second life. Facebook is already another life! And role-playing still hasn't grown on me. I think that this application would have a harder time garnering users - it is technically more difficult to implement and the returns may not be very huge considering the competition.

Should the team have changed their idea for the Final Project mid-way or stuck to their original idea? Why, or why not?

I think that they were right to change their idea. We must believe in our work. What I feel went wrong was that they didn't learn from their first mistakes. They quit Another Life because they felt the idea was getting too large and fuzzy for them to handle - but their definitions for Fan Gang weren't clear enough.

List the major problems (obvious and non-obvious ones) in faced by the team? How could they have done differently and better?

Communication - email?!
No clear leader/moderator
Scared of team-members dropping out and thus more accomodating of ideas
Split the work, but didn't co-ordinate well (coders and marketeers)

What did the team do right/well?

Had the guts to change to an idea they believed in two weeks before the deadline
Worked hard

What would you do if you were Jeremy on the evening of 24th April (and the deadline for the final project submission was the next day)?

This is quite sad. But honestly, I would just let it go. Changes in the last-minute by a non-coder are the worst thing that can ever happen to a submission. Especially an application like Fan Gang - where proper re-doing would mean completely switching from XML to database!

I would not consider redoing the application. Instead, I would do something that I could - like do a write up - an analysis of what went wrong and where. I would come up with a good and solid feature list - and clear indications on why they would work and how exactly they should be implemented. I would try to ask for a final personal extension (for my team-mates as well if they respond to my email before tomorrow's deadline) where I would work for a week more and get my coder-friend from first year in Hall to help me once she is done with her examinations.

How would you handle a situation where one of your team members is unable to deliver on the work he/she promised because of personal problems?

It depends. If the personal problem is affecting promised delivery - then I deserve to know how big the problem really is and as soon as possible. In this case (like facebook) it would be a personal judgement call. If I feel that; yes, this is indeed a big personal issue and my teammate let me know he/she is facing this problem as soon as it begins affecting his/her contributions, I would accept and consider asking an outside friend to help.

What, in your opinion, are the key learning points from this case study?

Plan and Execute. Revisit the plan again - add features - exectue. Don't completely separate the planning and executing phases.
Voice out your thoughts and concerns as and when they arise (when there is still time!)
Work together. Help everyone else understand what exactly you are doing.