Post One 2: The Sequel

The journey continues, in spite of the storm.

In class on Wednesday we had a good bit of discussion about the nature of a contract for the class. This contract is to be something between the members of the groups in the class, and will provide some structure of standards for communication, interaction, and work done by the individuals. It's all very tedious and boring, but it is an important component in assessing feedback so I guess we'll talk about it. 

As we discussed some different characteristics of a "good" student/teammate/developer, there was a strong emphasis on ideas related to communication. I think that this is important, as communication tends to be one place in which groups of students frequently fall short. Specifying effective methods of communication within a group, and identifying strategies for appropriate communication is important for any group, as it provides the basis of accountability for the students within the group. The ways in which communication is handled also contributes to the nature of the group. I believe that any good contract would specify methods of communication to be used for official interactions, and what kind of language, etc. is appropriate in those interactions. 

Another idea that came up multiple times was the idea of accountability for the work done by each member in a group. No one wants to carry their group member through a course. A notion of "equal contribution" was brought up, and I think it is worth looking at. Every line of code and word of a document does not correlate to another of the same, and so it's important to factor more than volume alone when evaluating someone's work. It will be important for group members to discuss any issues they have so that progress can continue being made, perhaps expressed as part of some sort of weekly To-Do List or something similar. I think that evaluating whether or not members are contributing equal work will be best done through conversations, though, due to the nature of the work. 

All in all, I am interested to see what form the contract will take. I'm also excited to look further into OpenMRS and to see who I will be working with.

-Craig