Communication Covenant

This document explains the rules and expectations for the members of the team designing an intelligent course recommendation tool during the Fall semester of SI 682 in 2007. While the agreement is binding, it is also malleable. If any member of the group feels that the terms in the document no longer fit the requirements of the team, we will call a meeting to discuss revision of the document.

Communication

Our primary method of tracking progress on deliverables will be the activecollab website at http://www.lizblankenship/activecollab. Alternatively, e-mail may be used, but other team members may copy the message into activecollab if they would like it there for later easy reference.
When posting about the project on the activecollab space, group members should always check the box for e-mail notification to be sent to the members of the team that the communication involves, or everyone if the communication involves a major upcoming deliverable, deadline, or client meeting. This ensures that we can track each others progress without having to check the activecollab site without being prompted.
Team members are expected to check e-mail at least twice daily Monday through Friday, and once daily on weekends unless they have informed the team of extenuating circumstances.
Messages (via activecollab or e-mail) that require a response should at least be acknowledged shortly after receipt with an estimated time for more detailed response if it is not possible at that moment.
Phone calls are acceptable between 9am and 11pm only, and should primarily be used if decision making is imminent and not all group members are able to be present.

Meetings

Mandatory weekly meetings will be on Tuesdays at 5:30. Need for additional meetings will be assessed throughout the semester. Attendance and promptness to meetings is required of all team members.
If a member cannot make it to a meeting on time, they should contact the rest of the group as soon as they know this.
Meetings with the client will be approximately every other week, as scheduled by the team.
Meetings will be given an end time, at which any team member may leave as he or she wishes.
No meetings scheduled on weekends will be mandatory, but indication of individual efforts outside of the meeting may be required.
At the beginning of each meeting, a note taker should be designated to record items discussed and post them within 24 hours to the activecollab site.
The person designated as organizer for the current milestone should be knowledgeable about the requirements in the course syllabus and decide on meeting agenda to be discussed.

Decision Making

If the team deliberates over a decision for more than 10 minutes, it is up to the current Milestone coordinator to facilitate a vote or other form of decision-making. Members have a right to ask for a more structured debate to consider possibilities.

Client Interaction

All members should report relevant client contact to the rest of the group to ensure we are all informed of any changes to scheduling or any decisions the client makes regarding our project.

Milestones

Each Milestone (as designated in the course syllabus) has a person designated to see it through (listed in activecollab). This person is responsible for ensuring deliverables to be presented to the class are of good quality and completed before the deadlines.
If anyone is unable to complete a task assigned to them by the team or class designated deadline, they should alert the rest of the group as soon as possible, but at a minimum, 24 hours before the scheduled deadline.

Summary

These rules are set forth to act primarily as guidelines, and we will follow them as we are able, but we acknowledge that it is most important to show respect for one another’s time and effort.

If a team member can no longer fulfill the requirements listed in this document, it may be termed grounds for removal from the group. A majority vote must pass for a member to be removed.