Study Group Guidelines

The following guidelines provide an overview of how skill teams may be realized in industry. This is an example of informal "skill teams" from one company.

This is to be presented in "Improving Technical Knowledge Through Study Groups," by Nathan Ward of Raytheon E-Systems (Falls Church) at the Software Development - East Conference, Washington, D.C., October 1997.

Study Group Guidelines
Introduction
Study groups were started at E-Systems Melpar Division in October 1994 and are now a regular event in the E-Systems Falls Church Division . The Software Study Group Support Group (SSGSG) was formed in June of 1994 to support study groups. This document was developed by the SSGSG to share what we have learned about running study groups. The information on this page may be all that you need if you are considering joining a study group. However, the rest of this document will be more useful to you if you are considering organizing a study group. If you have any comments or questions on this document or study groups in general, please contact us.

A study group is basically a group of people that read a book and meet periodically to discuss what they've read. More specifically, our study groups typically consist of six to ten people that meet for 1.5 hours at lunch time once a week for eight to ten weeks. The reading assignments often require at least two to three hours per week. However, each study group can decide on their own pace. The meeting time is on your own time, but the lunch and books are provided by the company. The books are company property, but the study group members can keep the books as long as they are with the company unless we need them for another study group.

You can participate in more than one study group at a time assuming that the study groups do not meet at the same time. We strongly recommend that new members do not attempt to participate in more than one study group at a time. The effort to keep up with a study group can be considerable. Regular participation in a study group often requires at least 2 - 3 hours of reading each week plus the meeting time. Don't overextend yourself at first! Spreading yourself too thin could reduce what you get out of study groups as well as reduce the benefit to the other study group members. Your participation is an important part of a study group.

Coordinator Responsibilities A study group coordinator is the person that organizes a study group and keeps it going. Whether or not the coordinator knows much about the topic has no bearing on his/her ability to be a coordinator. A study group is not a teacher/student situation. A coordinator is responsible for the following activities:

select a topic
select a book or other study material
define the reading schedule and duration for the study group
lead the kick-off meeting
order books
order lunch for each meeting
schedule a conference room
request certificates of completion
distribute and collect questionnaires
report information to the training department

The rest of this document provides guidelines on performing these activities.

Study Group Duration
A study group typically meets once a week for eight week to ten weeks. We've found that attendance often drops off significantly around the sixth week. Perhaps six weeks would be a better duration for a study group. The main reason that we usually schedule eight (and often ten) weeks is that it's not easy to cover a topic in six weeks.

Reading Schedule
As a rule of thumb, the reading assignment should take at least as long as the meeting time and no more than twice as long as the meeting time. Study group meetings are usually 1.5 hours long; so, the reading assignment should take two to three hours per week. A good estimate for reading time is 2 - 3 minutes per page. That comes out to forty to sixty pages per week at three minutes per page.

Leading the Kick-off Meeting
Each study group should have a kick-off meeting to meet each other and decide how they want to run the study group. Here's a possible agenda for the kick-off meeting:

Agenda:

Introductions
Determine Meeting Format

The study group coordinator may choose to add the following items to the agenda if he/she hasn't already resolved these issues: what book to use, day of week to hold study group meetings, reading schedule and study group duration. However, it saves time if the coordinator resolves these issues before or at least outside of the kick-off meeting.

The introductions in the kick-off meeting typically consists of everyone introducing themselves and saying a few words about:

Their background in software
Why they joined the study group
What they expect to achieve through the study group

If issues such as the meeting format are being determined in the kick-off meeting, it may be helpful for the coordinator to summarize the various meeting formats that have been suggested and write them on a whiteboard. Then take a vote. Voting can be very helpful in the kick-off meeting. The meeting can easily turn into a debate over which option is better. Some discussion may be worthwhile, but there comes a point when you need to take a vote and move on.

Meeting Format
The meeting format of past study groups has varied from an open discussion to more structured formats. Each group will have to decide what works best for them. Following are a few ideas to get you started.

No matter what the meeting format, the following meeting rules can be helpful:

no more than one person talks at a time
no interruptions while someone is talking
no one is allowed to hold the floor for more than three minutes at a time
no personal attacks or put-downs.

It's important to get agreement on the ground rules during the kick-off meeting. Once you've agreed on the rules, people are less likely to take it personally if someone points out that they have violated a rule.

Here's an idea for a more structured meeting format. Please note that we haven't tried this in a study group yet. This was suggested by a consultant named Tom Bragg. This is based on a formal meeting process that is used at Xerox. In addition to the meeting rules previously mentioned, the meeting format defines the following roles:

Timekeeper

Ensure that the meeting starts and ends on time.
Ensure that the agenda is followed (all meetings should have an agenda even if it's as simple as "Discuss Chapter 6").
Ensure that people stay on topic.

Scribe

Take notes of important points made during the meeting. This can be useful for several reasons: to share with others who miss a meeting, to use as an item for the files to refresh learning, and to share with others outside of the study group.

Facilitator

A facilitator doesn't lead the discussion, but interprets, restates, proposes conclusions, etc.
The facilitator may assist the timekeeper with staying on schedule and on topic.
The facilitator is also responsible for enforcing the meeting rules. However, the facilitator may allow some interruptions and more than one person talking at a time to some extent depending on the situation. Good judgement by the facilitator can get more mileage out of a discussion without the stifling effect of too many rules.

These roles should be rotated unless everybody agrees otherwise. Every meeting including the kick-off meeting should have an agenda even if it's as simple as "discuss chapter 6.", and someone should be responsible for making sure that the agenda is followed unless the group agrees that the agenda should be changed. You may want to ask if anyone has any changes to the agenda at the beginning of the meeting. This ensures that everyone has agreed to the agenda and expects the agenda to be followed. Sticking to the agenda will be easier if everyone has a copy of the agenda or the agenda is written on a whiteboard.

Ordering Books
When study group registration is closed, the study group coordinator should should order the books. To order books, send the following information to Celeste:

Name of study group
Coordinator's name, phone number and e-mail address
Title of the book
Author of the book
Publisher
Date of publication
ISBN

Celeste will let you know when the books are in and have been cataloged. It's safe to say that the books will be in your hands in less than two weeks -- often much sooner. Feel free to contact Celeste periodically to check the status of the book orders.

The books are company property, but each person can keep the book until they leave the company and can mark in it as needed.

Making Certificates of Completion
Certificates of completion will be given to study group members that attend at least 75% of the scheduled study group meetings. The study group coordinator can make exceptions to this rule as necessary. The coordinator is responsible for having the certificates made.

To make the certificates, contact Dominique in the training department with the following information.

Title of study group (e.g. "Refining C++ Skills")
Start/End dates of study group (e.g. 11/05/96 - 01/28/97)
Total number of meetings (e.g. 8)
Frequency of meetings and duration (e.g. weekly, 1.5 hours each)
List of study group participants who completed the study group and their mailstops.

Dominique will store this information as part of the companies training records. Dominique will also create the certificates of completion and distribute the certificates to the study group members.

Completing Feedback Forms
Please ask the study group members to fill out a study group feedback form on the web near the end of the study group. The SSGSG uses this information to improve the study group program. You can also view graphs of the feedback results on the web.

Frequently Asked Questions
What if too many people for one study group respond to a study group invitation?
It's hard to have an effective meeting with over ten people. If more than ten want to study a particular subject, we usually create several study groups on the same topic. The original coordinator handles this by asking one or more of the people who responded to be a coordinator.

How can a study group show benefits for the company?
Study groups have inherent benefits for the company. The fact that the individuals are learning and may become more motivated to learn on their own is valuable to the company. However, it's hard to demonstrate such benefits. It's in the best interest of study group members to show benefits for the company if the study group members want support for study groups from the company.

A good way to do this is to look for nuggets of information or ideas that can be presented to management. Each nugget should be less than a page. The type of information that would be useful is things that say "here's a good idea, here's where it can be used at E-Systems right now." This relates the study material to something in the real world. A study group may come across something to be avoided which can also be presented. A 15 - 20 minute presentation to management made within 2 - 3 weeks after the study group is over might work.

Another way to generate and share nuggets is by posting questions, comments, etc. on the material electronically each week. Someone who is not in the study group may grab hold of a point and develop it into some sort of result for the company.

What are some benefits of a study group for the participants?

Different perspective on reading material. Even if you have read the material before, you will notice or learn something new that you missed before.
Solid assessment of ideas that you have learned or read. Feedback from others contributes to this.
Develop more effective communication skills by building a consistency of understanding with other study group members.
Networking with co-workers.