Editing Management Principles (Winter 2026) (section)

= Assignments =


The assignments in this class are designed to give you an opportunity to try your hand at using the conceptual material taught in the class, including numerous in-class exercises. We will do one group project and have one short writing assignment reflecting on that project and course topics. Quizzes will be short and low-stakes. There will be no exams. 

Unless otherwise noted, all assignments are due at the end of the day (i.e., 11:59pm on the day they are listed as being due, Pacific time zone).

== In Class: Discuss, Interact, Collaborate ==

Class will be split roughly into quarters: one quarter activity, one quarter discussion, one quarter spent conducting meetings, and one quarter allowing for group co-working.

=== Activities ===

When possible, class will include a range of activities and games intended to reinforce the themes we are learning. I will expect you to reflect on your experience in these activities and to apply class vocabulary and concepts to them. Therefore, your participation is expected and required.

=== Case discussion ===

The course includes discussions using the case study method: a particular form of instructor-mediated discussion. A standard "case" usually involves reading an example—an event, or about an organization or group. It is important to realize that '''I will not summarize case material in class and I will not cover it in lecture'''. I expect you all to have read it and we will jump in and start discussing it.

Cases ask students to put themselves in the positions of individuals facing difficult situations to tease out the tensions and forces at play in the case and to construct — through group discussion — the broader lessons and takeaways. Cases are a wonderful way to connect the sometimes abstract concepts taught in many academic courses to real examples of the type of ambiguous situations that you will likely encounter in your career. Generally speaking, there are multiple right answers in cases, and there are definitely poorly-prepared answers versus carefully-considered ones!

I have placed detailed information on case study-based discussion on [[User:Kaylea/Assessment#Case Discussion|the case discussion section of my assessment page]]. This describes both the rubrics I will use to assess your case discussion and how I will compute the final grades in the course.

==== Cold Calling ====

Cases rely roughly on the [[:wikipedia:Socratic method|socratic method]] where instructors teaching cases cold call on students—i.e., instructors call on people ''without'' asking for volunteers first. I will be doing this in each class. Modern technical work environments include very similar situations: very few lectures (except for "all hands" type meetings and "training" activities), and a range of types of team meetings and group conversations, where you will be expected to be prepared and then participate in key moments.

Because I understand that cold calling can intimidate some students, I will be circulating a list of questions (labeled "Reading Note" in the syllabus) that we will discuss. These will be finalized at least 6 days in advance. I will only cold call to ask questions for which you have time to prepare your answers, or where the general format / structure has been announced in advance so that you can prepare. Although it is a very good idea to write out answers to these questions in advance, I will not be collecting these answers. You are welcome to work with other students to brainstorm possible answers. Although I may also ask spontaneous questions that I do not distribute ahead of time, I will never cold call when asking these questions.

I have written a computer program that will generate a random list of students each day and I will use this list to '''randomly''' cold call students in the class. To try to maintain participation balance, the program will try to ensure that everybody is cold called a similar number of times during the quarter. Although there is always some chance that you will called upon next, you will become less likely to be called upon relative to your classmates each time you are called upon.

;Due: as made available in class
;Turn in: None. Will be assessed 'live' in class with grades released at the end of the quarter.

=== Weekly Team Meetings (1/week: Tuesdays) ===

It is typical for teams to have regular meetings; we'll do the same. During your allocated meeting time, you'll update the manager on your progress and any issues that are coming up. You'll update your team Jira and send notes to your team chat.

;Due: Tuesdays
;Turn in: All individual contributors will send notes to the team chat, and the manager will update the Jira and submit a screenshot.

=== Management Team Meetings (1/week: Thursdays) ===

I will meet with the management team each week -- management as a role will rotate among members of your group. The manager will report on your team's activities, ask questions, share feedback with me, and then share notes from the meeting back to your team chat.

;Due: Thursdays
;Turn in: See assignment-specific notes; your message will be assessed from Discord (see rubric on Canvas).

=== Skiplevel 1-on-1 Meetings (1/quarter/person) ===

It is very typical in professional life to have a weekly 1-on-1 meeting between an employee and a supervisor for perhaps 30 minutes. The purpose of these meetings is to allow the supervisor to coach and mentor the employee, provide feedback on their work, and allow for questions and discussion. Given that "management" of your group will rotate among peers, this is a tough thing to simulate exactly. Our solution will be a skiplevel 1-on-1 -- a skiplevel meeting is also a common pattern in professional life, and it means you meet with your boss's boss; these are typically not on a weekly cadence and involve more mentoring and less reporting. We will have one 15 minute, 1-on-1 meeting over the course of the quarter, scheduled during the last 30 minutes of the class (when others are doing group work); if you do not schedule this to occur during class, you'll need to schedule it during my office hours. If we put this into the language of teaching and learning, we'd call it an oral exam.

;Due: Before the end of the quarter. See Canvas for the scheduling link.
;Turn In: none -- you'll receive feedback from me.

'''Steps:'''
# We will sit in a corner of the classroom.
# You will come prepared: these conversations are friendly but are also evaluative.
# I will ask:
## A course content question (based on topics we've covered so far). This will not be a 'trivia' or 'trick' question -- but rather a conceptual question, with a range of right answers.
## How are things going in the course so far? What questions do you have for me? (Example answers: I understand x and y, but I didn't really understand topic A, and I'm worried about C).

'''Tips:'''
# My availability can be very tight at the end of the quarter. Don't wait.

== Out of Class: Read, Watch, Write, and Create ==

Each class session will require advance preparation from you, including engagement with class materials and working on course projects. More details on the class materials are in the daily schedule, and more details on course projects are in the assignments section.

=== Project === 

You will participate in a group project to create and organize a new organization, then to develop and launch a new product or service inside that organization. 

==== The project as a team member ====
When you are acting as a team member, your job is to work on the parts of the project assigned to you. If you have questions or issues, please raise them to your manager.

==== Doing the project as a manager ====
During a two-week span, you will act as the manager of your team, and you will be responsible for additional tasks during that time (Note: this means you will do the same work as the team, as well as a manager task, unless otherwise noted.) Your team will ask questions, and you will do your best to answer them; if you can't answer them, you should relay them to the boss (Dr. Champion) and bring back answers. Your main job will involve coordinating the work of the team, including making sure that communication flows and that task assignments are fair and clear. You are a working manager, so you should expect to also do a share of the group's current tasks, trimmed down slightly to account for your time in management meetings and doing coordination work. In general, you can expect to be assessed on your communication, your fairness, and your diligence.

==== Notes on Group Work ====
In a school context, group work can be frustrating -- but real life organizations are full of group work. The project in this course is designed to be lightweight: the purpose is to practice the processes we are learning about, which are mostly about working together. That means group process is key to this course. Think carefully about what kind of group member you want to be, and how you will respond to potential sources of conflict. In general, groups work well when students have motivations that align with the work of the group, varying skillsets, and display mutual respect. I will assess your work based on the evidence I see in behavioral traces: the records left behind in the tools we use for the course.

Building awareness of your own priorities and skills is crucial to being a good group member. I will be collecting confidential feedback on how groups are functioning, and I reserve the right to rearrange group membership to support everyone's learning.

* Do you want an excellent grade in the course? Be clear about your expectations and priorities, and seek out groupmates who share your level of commitment.
* Are your skills still emerging? Be ready to work hard, to learn from classmates, and to be flexible about which tasks you take on (but don't plan to coast on the efforts of others!).
* Have you made life choices that mean you will need to simply be satisfied with an okay grade? Be transparent with your groupmates and only make commitments you can keep.

Although some technology professionals work alone or nearly so, that is '''not''' the model for this course. Most of our learning goals require trying out ideas related to coordinating the work of groups of people.

=== Extra Credit: Team Bonding Activity ===

Many classes include a necessity for students to meet outside of class, and you may find that in order to complete work your group likewise needs to arrange to meet up. But outside-of-work events are also a common way for organizational work teams to develop social relationships -- and research has found this to be valuable if everyone's needs and perspectives are respected. If your group meets up outside class for '''non-work''' purposes, take a selfie and send it to me for a little extra credit (available only once and in the first 3 weeks of the quarter). Only one group member needs to send this to me.

=== Project: Your New Organization ===

Your team will create and launch a new organization, and then a product or service, in ways that indicate your understanding of key course concepts as they apply to technology-centric organizations. This overall project has been broken up into multiple tasks, each building on the previous.

==== Project Task 0 Specification: Managing during startup mode ====
;Task: Steer your group through the hectic early days and reflect on the experience
;Due: Sunday, January 25th
;Turn In: Group members do not turn anything in
;Manager 1 Turn In: A 300-500 word reflection on the first few weeks of the class. 

;Tips:
# If you're not sure what to write, think about some of the following topics, connecting your experience and our course materials: How did the course materials relate to your experience and what we did in class? What did you do well? Where did you struggle? What would you do differently if you had to do it again? Do you think you would like to play a role like this again in the future?
# Do not just answer prompts in order! This is not an interview or quiz, these are prompts for you to think about your experience and activities. Format your essay in paragraphs.
# Do not use AI tools. This reflection should be something only you could write, because it will directly connect your experience and the course.
# Directly cite evidence from readings, Discord, Jira, management meetings, etc.

==== Project Task 1 Specification: Startup Time ====
You and your colleagues are starting a new organization. What kind of organization will you create? How will it be organized?
;Task: Found your organization.
;Due: Friday, January 23rd
;Deliverables: You are done with task 1 if you have a name, an essential scope / concept, and an organization type
;Turn In: a link to the team Google doc with your name and scope / concept; a screenshot of your Jira board
;Manager 2 Turn In: None, but anticipate doing a report-out during 1/29 Management Meeting

'''Steps'''
# Devise a team name.
# Create a Jira board.
# All group members and Dr. Champion need invites to and should join all group environments.
# Collaboratively author your scope / concept (one paragraph) and share a link to a Google doc.

;Tips:
* Feel free to add customizations / tweak the icons (it will help you tell your environments apart from your classmates')
* Feel free to use AI tools as a tutor or source for debugging any issues that come up.
* Note that participation / contribution will be assessed based on the history of collaboration I see in the document, so make sure you are logged in when you write.
* Review the deliverables for the rest of the course: Make sure your concept will be enjoyable and viable for the duration of the quarter.

==== Project Task 2 Specification: Communication and Prototyping Tools ====
;Task: Learn more about prototyping tools and visual / interactive communication tools, then choose what tools your team will use to work together, create other deliverables for your organization, and communicate what you've learned. Your prototype can be paper, wood, plastic, or digital -- this is an opportunity to learn new tools to express your ideas. 
;Due: Friday, January 30th
;Deliverables: You are done with task 2 if:
# You have taken at least one LinkedIn Learning tutorial (45min+ duration, options: Figma, Canva, Miro, GitHub, others by approval -- see list of [https://www.uwb.edu/sea/makerspace/machine-information UWB makerspace software tools here] and [https://www.uwb.edu/career-services/resources/linkedin-tips a guide to accessing LinkedIn Learning here]) 
# You have shared your thoughts on the tool and tutorial via Discord
# You have contributed to a discussion on the tools you will use as a group (Options: makerspace, Figma, Canva, Miro, GitHub, Google Slides, a wiki, others by approval). Face to face discussion is fine for this, but if you don't reach consensus in class, Discord is a good place to continue the discussion.
# The final decision should be a consensus, relayed by the manager.
;Turn In: a screenshot of your LinkedInLearning completion certificate; I will also examine your Discord post
;Manager 2 Turn In: None, but anticipate doing a report-out during Management Meeting on February 5th
;Tips and notes:
* Think about your skills, curiosities, and goals. 
* You can propose different tools than those I've listed -- however, any tool used for group work needs to have the ability to share / collaborate online and I need to be able to see precisely who did what (often this shows up in a 'History' type dropdown), or else tasks need to be divided up so they can be done individually (claiming credit for the work of others is not permitted).
* Review the deliverables for the rest of the course: What do you want to use when fulfilling those deliverables?

==== Project Task 3 Specification: Organization Overview ====

Task: An 'Overview' or 'About Us' page describing key facts about your organization. 
;Due: Friday, February 6th at 11:59 p.m.
;Deliverables: 
; A visual overview of your company

;Turn In: 
# A screenshot of your part of the overview
# A description of why each of your contributions make sense
;Manager 2 Turn In: Screenshots and links with a narrative describing your performance on this task (300-500 words). The manager is accountable for distribution of work assignments for the overview, documented on Jira, such that everyone has the opportunity to earn full credit for the assignment, and sharing links / evidence with Dr. Champion.

;Steps:
# Market Research: Visit the web presence of at least 5 organizations that you identify as being similar or related to yours in some way (same industry? competitor product?). 
# Identify traits of their public presence (Overview, About Us, etc.) as presented as features on their website. Which of these informational elements will your about us or overview contain? Which will you not bother with?
## Create the features your research indicates are expected or typical, and / or your own ideas
## Minimum standard (maximum grade: 2.0) -- 5 elements
## Typical standard (maximum grade: 3.0) -- 7 elements
## Top standard (maximum grade: 4.0) -- 10 elements
# Produce a visual artifact (website mockup, poster-style slide or a series of slides, miro board, etc.) presenting these items

;Tips:
# For each of the steps above, it's up to the manager how to split things up. For example, will 1 person do many analyses, or will several people do fewer? Will you negotiate assignments, form subteams, take volunteers who work independently, or co-work on these items? How will you bring your findings together and identify next steps? The manager will be assessed on their fairness and organizational skill, and the group members will be assessed on their execution.
# Managers in this class are working managers: don't just hand out assignments and disappear -- take on tasks with your team.
# What's an 'element'? Fair question. Some examples are: a logo, a color / brand scheme, a mission statement, notes about your history, contact and customer service information, photos of your headquarters or office locations, etc. What is typical for your type of company?
# This is not a web design course, and I'm not looking for showstopping graphics. Feel free to make liberal use of prototyping tools to mock up your 'About'.

==== Project Task 4: Innovation ====

Task: Develop and propose a prototype of a new product or service. Keep this a secret within your group until it is time to present your work! If you are interested in using the UWB Collaboratory to create your prototype, note [[uwb_collaboratory| these details]]. 
;Due: Friday, February 13th
;Deliverables:
# An interactive or multimedia version of your prototype
# A narrative description of the product or service (300-1000 words)
<!-- TODO: in the future, explain more about what I'm looking for here, including tone / audience, single deliverable vs shared -->
;Turn In: 
# Screenshots, photos, links, objects to represent your prototype, and text or links to text to represent your description
;Manager 3 Turn In:
# Screenshots and links with a narrative describing your performance on this task.  The manager is accountable for distribution of work assignments for the prototype, documented on Jira, such that everyone has the opportunity to earn full credit for the assignment, and sharing links to the prototype and documentation with Dr. Champion.

==== Project Task 5 Specification: Organizational Unit ====

Task: Propose an organizational unit that can deliver your product or service, with a budget and revenue model.
;Due: Friday, February 20
;Deliverables: a narrative or detailed presentation document
;Turn In: A description of what you did on the project and a link to the team's proposal. This should include a proposed structure, budget, and projections with contributions visible.
;Manager 3 Turn In: Screenshots and links with a narrative describing your performance on this task. The manager is accountable for distribution of work assignments for the task, documented on Jira, such that everyone has the opportunity to earn full credit for the assignment.
Steps:
# Identify human resources: How many people do you need? How much will you pay them?
# Identify working conditions: How will you organize work? Where will work be done? How much will this cost? 
# Identify other costs: manufacturing, equipment, licensing, training, raw materials
# Identify sources of revenue. What kinds of projections can you make about the revenue you will make and when an investment in this unit might turn a profit?

==== Project Task 6 Specification: Responding to Disruptive Technologies ====

Task: Perform a SWOT analysis with respect to AI. What are your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats with respect to your organization, product, and organizational unit?
;Due: Friday, February 27, 11:59 p.m. Pacific Time
;Deliverables: a summary grid with bullet points in each of four quadrants and a details document explaining each bullet point 
;Turn In: a link to the document
;Manager 4 Turn In:
Screenshots and links with a narrative describing your performance on this task.  The manager is accountable for distribution of work assignments, documented on Jira, such that everyone has the opportunity to earn full credit for the assignment, and sharing a link to the draft with Dr. Champion.

Tips:
* Follow the SWOT analysis process in your group and document the results.
* A table with four large text areas, followed by text explanations divided by sections, is a straightforward way to format this.

==== Project Task 7 Specification: Presentation ====
Time to unveil your innovation and make your pitch for your organization, your product or service prototype, and the organizational unit you propose to deliver that product or service. Your audience is an investor who might fund you, or an executive decisionmaker who can approve your proposal to proceed.

;Due: Tuesday, March 10th, in class
;Deliverables
* A presentation of the organization, prototype, and organizational unit, including elements from Tasks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.
;Turn In
* Individual assessment is based on participation in the presentation's creation and delivery
;Manager 4 Turn In:
Screenshots and links with a narrative describing your performance on this task. The manager is accountable for distribution of work assignments, documented on Jira, such that everyone has the opportunity to earn full credit for the assignment, and sharing a link to the presentation with Dr. Champion.

==== Project Task 8 Specification: Organization Feedback ====

Task: give feedback to other groups
;Due: 
;Deliverables: a paragraph of highly specific feedback for other groups; grading will be according to my detailed rubric for giving feedback in brief
;Turn In: a text submission on Canvas

;Tips:
* Plan to offer at least 2 concrete suggestions, questions, confusions, or criticisms for each group you are assigned to review.
* You will work individually; each group will get feedback from multiple peers as well as from me.
* If you're not sure what to write based on the demo you saw, contact the team manager with questions.
* The feedback should be your view and grounded in your observations: do not use AI tools for this assignment.

==== Project Task 9 Specification: Final Version of Your Organization and Prototype ====

Task: Based on Tasks 1-8 and all content covered in the course, develop a final version of your company profile, proposed innovation, and organizational unit.
;Due: Thursday, March 19
;Turn In: All links and media to fully assess your project and contribution

==== Final Paper: Reflection on Management Principles ====

You will write a reflective essay on your experience in the course and our course content. There are many ways to successfully complete this assignment. See the [[User:Kaylea/Assessment | brief reflection rubric]] for details on my expectations in terms of the content of the reflection. A successful essay will do the following things:

# Use content and concepts from the course.
# Use evidence from your experience and the company project.
# Cite your sources; these sources must be real, they must provide support for the statements associated with the citation, and they must be viewable by me. Note that AI tools are notorious for fabricating these and use of AI tools for this assignment is forbidden.
# Be 1000-1500 words. Under 900 is very unlikely to achieve the depth I am seeking here, and over 1600 words is unfair to others.
# Do not use AI tools.

If you are not sure what to write, think about what happened in the project and choose some of these prompts as jumping off points (do '''not''' treat the following as questions to answer in order!), being sure to combine both your experience and course content in whatever route you choose: Did any of the readings or activities surprise, frustrate, or intrigue you? What did you learn and where did you find your previous knowledge helpful? What kind of work did you end up doing, and how well did you do? Was the project easy or hard, which parts, how, and why? Walk through each topic we covered, and consider how course concepts applied (or fail to apply) to the situations you faced in developing your project. Did anything surprise you or change your mind during the project? Did you experience any failures or problems? How did you solve them? Based on your experience, what is your advice for the students who take this course next? What did you learn about yourself and the ways you prefer to work? Based on your experience in this course and your understanding of the world of work, what topics and lessons do you think will be most important in the future workplace, how, and why? How do you think you did as a manager, and how did your colleagues do? How did your performance compare to what we learned about what management looks like?

Do not write in a long single paragraph or send me a list of bullets; instead, write a standard essay with an introduction, key points, and conclusion. Choose and use a formatting standard and stick to it (APA, Chicago, ACM, etc.). Do not use AI tools. Do use examples and evidence. This should be an essay that only you could write, because it's about specific events in your experience of the course.

;Due: Sunday, March 22

;Turn in: a well-formatted essay via Canvas

=== Grading ===

I will follow the detailed grading rubric described on [[User:Kaylea/Assessment|my assessment page]]. Please read it carefully. I will assign grades for each of the following items on the UW 4.0 grade scale according to the weights below:

* In-class activities, including case discussion, quizzes, exit tickets, feedback in task 8:  50%
* Your performance as a manager: 5%
* Skiplevel 1-on-1: 5%
* Tasks 1, 2, and 3 (startup, tools, overview): 5%
* Task 4 (innovation): 5%
* Task 5 (unit org): 5%
* Task 6 (disruption): 5%
* Task 7 (present): 5%
* Task 9 (final version, revision of tasks 4 and 5): 10%
* Reflection: 5%

'''Impact of Missing Class'''
If you must miss class, must be late, or must leave early, file the [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeNwK2Ky8VBAqovSNpiYgePK3wYpA4SnCfKIu9bEY5w6A4mig/viewform?usp=publish-editor class absence form] to alert me. Not filing this form ('no call, no show') will impact your in-class activities grade. Advance notice lets you avoid a penalty, but it does not serve as a makeup. There is no direct way to make up for missing in-class activities. Instead, you can expect to be called upon more often in subsequent classes to balance out your participation. Please note that if you miss too many classes, it will eventually become impossible to receive full credit for the in-class activities portion of the grade as I will not be cold calling the same person an excessive number of times in a single class session. 

In addition, if you must miss class, must be late, or must leave early on weeks when you are assigned to be the manager, you should arrange to swap duties with a team member.


'''Grade Questions'''
Everyone makes mistakes and I want to fix mine as quickly as possible. If you have questions about a grade, book a private timeslot on my calendar within 1 week of the grade being released. In a grade consultation session, I will ask you to take the lead: show me in specific detail how your work fulfills the rubric for the assignment type overall, how you fulfilled the criteria for the specific assignment, and how your work meets the learning goals of the course.

'''Mapping Percentage to the 4.0 Scale'''
Instructors have discretion in how we make use of the 4.0 grading scale; we select the weight for each element of the course, the number of points available, and we decide how best to map a percentage of those points into the 4.0 system. This mapping, and the evenness of spacing within the mapping, may vary from class to class, and it may be quite different from what you are accustomed to seeing elsewhere at UWB (or feel unnatural, if you grew up as I did, receiving letter grades!). For this quarter of this class, I will map an overall 97.0% to a 4.0 and a 60.0% to a 0.7, with even spacing in between. This means to receive a 2.0 for the course, you need a 74.6% in the class. Doing the bare minimum is a high-risk approach (what if life gets busy or messy later in the quarter?), and I don't recommend it. Instead, come to class prepared and do all the work on schedule.

'''Late Policy'''
Note assignment due dates are on Fridays. You may choose one task from among tasks 1-6 for which you want to use one 48-hour extension per quarter, no questions asked. Use Canvas to make your request so that it is private and trackable. I suggest not using your extension unless you cannot avoid it (you might need it later!). Note that assignments in this class tend to build upon one another; being late with an assignment means less time to do the next stage. In addition, the group nature of the assignments means that if your work lands late, you may need to work much harder to resolve code conflicts and coordination problems. Do not expect your groupmates to do extra work to accommodate your need for an extension. 

No extension is possible for the Demo and Feedback assignments as those involve coordinating the entire class community and have very tight timing. No extension is possible for Task 9 (final version) and the Reflection assignment because they sits at the very end of the quarter and I must submit grades on time.

If you experience a severe or extraordinary interruption to your ability to complete class work in a timely manner, I expect to follow [https://www.uwb.edu/registrar/incomplete-grade-policy the UWB policy around incompletes] and to work with you, the advising office, and the disability services office as required to navigate your difficult situation.