Designing in Teams The Cooperative Game Dr. Alistair Cockburn

People ... Inventing Communicating Creating a solution Solving a problem Expressing ideas in languages Deciding … they don’t understand which keeps changing … they don’t understand which keep changing … they don’t understand which keeps changing To an interpreter unforgiving of error Making decisions every decision has economic consequences and resources are limited.

Design is a cooperative game. Infinite Competitive Cooperative Open-ended Goal-directed Career Management Organization Survival Product Lines King-of-the-hill wrestling Poker Jazz music Rock-Climbing Theater Engineering Journalism Business initiatives Software Development Tennis Chess Swamp Game - Imagine a competition in which each team must build something somewhere in a swamp. They don’t know exactly what they have to build, they don’t know where they have to build it, and they don’t have a map of the swamp, but they are in a race to build it. They will create subteams. Some will scavenge for building materials, others will explore the swamp, and so on. Note that this corresponds to people finding different specialties in software development. If they have to play only one round of the game, they will find it optimal to build the weakest, sloppiest bridges and to draw the most careless maps possible to get to the end of the game. However, if they know another team will be coming in after them, they may choose to make better maps, better bridges, better paths. This difference between strategies corresponds to a software project team updating their system documentation and training their junior people.

Design games are rich - they rarely repeat. Number of people coordinated Comfort Essential moneys Life . . . Prioritized for Legal Liability 1 - 6 - 20 - 40 - 100 - 200 - 500 - 1,000 C6 C20 C40 C100 C200 C500 C1000 D6 D20 D40 D100 D200 D500 D1000 E6 E20 E40 E100 E200 E500 E1000 L6 L20 L40 L100 L200 L500 L1000 Prioritized for Productivity & Tolerance Discretionary Criticality Comfort Essential moneys Life Discretionary Criticality C6 C20 C40 C100 D6 D20 D40 D100 E6 E20 E40 E100 L6 L20 L40 L100 X X Number of people coordinated 1 - 6 - 20 - 40 - 100

Cooperation involves trust. Personal safety Ability to speak without fear of reprisal. Amicability Willingness to listen with good will.

Quick test: What are the communication properties of this office? Photo courtesy of Thoughtworks corp.

Communication is like perfume: stronger when close. 2 people at whiteboard 2 people on phone Effectiveness of Communication (Courtesy of Thoughtworks, inc.) 2 people on chat Videotape (Question-&-Answer) Paper (No Question-&-Answer) Communication channels in play ("warmth" of communication)

Distance is expensive. Kim Pat Co-working / Programming in pairs Kim Pat 12 people: $100,000 / yr penalty Discussion drops after the length of a school bus! Kim Pat 12 people $300,000 / yr penalty

"But these. - Cooperative Game. - People. - Trust. topics are. fluffy

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