tP: ConstraintstP Week 3: Kickoff


tP: Forming Teams


[Picture: The team that was at the top of early Google]

When to form teams

Teams will be formed around Weeks 2-3. We'll let you know more details closer to the time.

Team composition constraints

We allow some freedom in choosing team members, subject to these constraints:

  • The default team size is five.
  • All team members should be in the same tutorial. Delay forming teams until your place in a tutorial is confirmed. We do not allow changing tutorials to team up with your preferred teammates.
  • Teams of a single nationality are not allowed unless the only language common among all team members is English, e.g., an all-Singaporean team that includes both Chinese and Malay students. Rationale: to train you to work in multicultural teams and to ensure that English is used for all project communication.
  • No more than one exchange student per team. Rationale: to increase interaction between exchange students and NUS students.
  • If you prefer not to form teams yourselves, don't worry; we'll place you in a team.
    If you do not have enough team members, we'll help fill the vacancies.
  • We may modify teams when circumstances require it. You cannot object to such changes. Staying with your preferred team is not guaranteed.

How to form teams

  • You may form teams of up to five members on your own. You are not allowed to form six-person teams on your own.
  • You may form partial teams (i.e., with two, three, or four members). We'll add more members to fill the remaining vacancies.
  • The teaching team can add more members to your team, up to a team size of six. Therefore, even if you form a five-person team, we may assign you a sixth member.
  • All five-member teams you form yourselves must comply with the nationality constraint stated above unless it is impossible for you to do so (i.e., all remaining students in your tutorial group do not satisfy the constraint).
    Partial teams (i.e., with four or fewer members) are encouraged to comply with the nationality constraint to reduce the likelihood that the teaching team will dissolve them.
  • Ensure you have the consent of all proposed team members before submitting the team details.
  • Submission:
    • Submit your team details through the Canvas form, which will open early in Week 2. We'll announce it when it opens.
    • Only one person need to submit on behalf of the entire team. Coordinate among the team members to avoid double-submissions.
    • Please ensure the team member names you specify match their name as shown in Canvas (reason: these submissions are processed by a script).
    • FAQ What if there is a change after we submit the team details?
      A: The same person should resubmit the form with the updated details (Canvas does not allow you to edit previous submissions).

Team ID

  • Your team ID will be given to you after teams are formed.
  • It has the form TUTORIAL_ID-TEAM_NUMBER, e.g., CS2103-W14-2 means you are in tutorial CS2103-W14 (i.e., in course CS2103, on Wednesday, at 1400-1500), team 2.

Team communications

  • Use English for all team communications, both spoken and written.

  • We recommend at least one 1-2-hour synchronous (online or F2F) project meeting per week, in addition to any asynchronous communication. Reason: Having all members available at the same time makes collaboration easier and supports more peer learning.

    • Fix a weekly 1-2 hour time slot for project meetings after the team has been finalized (latest by the end of the week 3 tutorial). All members are expected to attend weekly project meetings (not doing so could lower the peer evaluation ratings you receive, which in turn will be factored into your grade). You should also choose a venue if you prefer F2F meetings.
    • The best time for the weekly project meeting is the period from Saturday to Tuesday, i.e., soon after the weekly briefing but well ahead of the deadline for weekly tasks. Reason: After the briefing → so that you've been briefed about upcoming project tasks; well ahead of the deadline → so that you can use the meeting to plan or do weekly project tasks.
      But it's OK to choose a time slot outside that recommended period if you cannot find a suitable time within it.

tP: ConstraintstP Week 3: Kickoff