Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine January 2018 - 17

Hussein, Silva-Martinez, and Wilson

PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT
The ISU-SSP is an intensive program by its nature. Participants are very busy between attending core lectures, evening
talks, workshops, theme days, department activities, individual
projects, and team projects. Being away from family and close
friends for more than nine weeks in a new environment with a
different culture, and having limited communication with them
due to the limited free time in the program was also a challenging aspect that influenced team members. The SSP environment is quite similar to an analog space mission regarding the
stress and the amount of work that each participant needs to
produce, which can lead to isolation from the outside world.
From the human factors perspective, if the workload is not
well balanced according to the team members' capabilities and
limitations, they may not be able to perform as expected [4].
Hence, working at a personal level to address each member's
concerns helped to get accountability for responsibilities of
each member. Many activities absorbed most the participant's
time and thus managing a team of 34 people in such environment to meet deadlines and achieve certain deliverables validated the use of the IPPD methodology for systems engineering approach. Having considered the stressful situation of each
member, team-building activities were implemented throughout the project.

team members to collaborate further our planetary defense work
and coauthor in publications after SSP.
Here we summarize our recommendations when managing a
similar group that helped our project to be successful:
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RISKS AND CONTINGENCY PLANS
The management team produced a Risk Log using PRojects IN
Controlled Environments, version 2 (PRINCE2) as a tool to record
all the risks in our project [5]. We recorded possible obstacles and
issues that may occur during the project, along with an alternative
approach for keeping the process of the project on track [6]. That
was used as a contingency plan summarizing the project's risks,
their impact, and status. There was a general risk that the project
might not have to be delivered on time. Therefore, the team allowed a safety margin in each milestone's section, which is necessary to prevent project overruns.

TEAM BUILDING AND TEAM DYNAMICS
As in any team, there are different opinions and backgrounds,
which can be challenging when trying to get to a consensus. We
adopted an organizational structure early in the project which,
along with a clear mission design process, helped us to tackle the
different tasks in an organized manner. Within this organization,
there were two important roles to keep a positive team dynamics
and motivation in the team [3]. Those included a Social Activities
Lead, who was in charge of planning activities during the meetings
and throughout the team project. These activities helped to improve performance within such an intensive environment [6]. The
other role was the Communications Lead, who was in charge of
setting up online polls. This method proved to be effective for fast
decision-making processes within the team. Team building during
the READI project led to an effective collaboration even after SSP.
The Post-SSP Activities Lead coordinated with interested READI
JANUARY 2018

Setting team ground rules to ensure each member is respected and his or her opinion is heard.
Having management control on the content from an early
stage of the project.
Delivering internal drafts before the final deadlines.
Using simple explanations to overcome the language barriers challenge.
Scheduling social and team building activities are essential
to ease the difference between each other's backgrounds
(e.g. include icebreaking activities within meetings).
Ensuring all participants understand the project's time constraints and deadlines (there can be different perceptions to
the word "deadline" especially in an environment where everyone shortage of time).
Agreeing on a communications protocol and platform is necessary to make sure all team members are on the same page
and up to date with team tasks, decisions, and others (some
team members may not be familiar with the communication
technology used).
Selecting the right people for the writing tasks are crucial.
However, for special roles, it works better to let people volunteer, rather than recruiting them.
Giving freedom to each member to pick a task and take
ownership works very well. However, from the managing
point of view, selecting the right people for the right tasks
is crucial, as with a broad range of workloads it is necessary
to have some team members who can step up to support and
meet deliverables on time.
It is wise to discourage participants from taking on more
than one leadership role unless they demonstrate they can
take on such responsibility and that it will not impact other
team members and deadlines.
Using online polls and surveys with reminders works well
and encourages team members to get their opinions across. It
should be noted that not all team members may respond due
to the lack of time (reading and replying to all emails during
SSP was very challenging).
Providing team functions in a smooth manner by identifying
the project needs and allocating tasks to groups and team
members in a way that is comfortable and acceptable for
most, if not all, team members.
Having one-on-one conversations with individual team
members early on to understand their strengths, desired
communication methods, and preferences for their contributions is a great benefit for the overall project.

IEEE A&E SYSTEMS MAGAZINE

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Aerospace and Electronic Systems Magazine January 2018