Call for Contribution
As part of the pilot for this RSE-in-master-education concept we are testing some of the courses developed here. For this particular course we found that there is vast literature available for management and communication purposes but not so much available tailored to RSE. For this reason, we decided to develop the application specifics together with the students following the inquiry-based learning paradigm (Brew 2003).
In order to achieve this in the most realistic fashion we ask the RSE community to provide us with case studies that contain human-level conflicts, management issues, communication failures or general political problems (maybe one page).
You can send this anonymously here https://gi.de/aktuelles/projekte/rse-master/praxisbeispiele-rse-management!
The case study can be old, and no real names, organisations or such should be mentioned. The idea is that the students can learn from real life situations making the course more realistic and useful as a pilot for RSE higher education. This way, you can become part in the project, and find out, what the students learned from literature that could have helped the situation (or not).
In order to standardize the submitted case studies we suggest the critical incident technique.
Alternatively, you could agree to an interview by sending your confirmation to julian.dehne@gi.de.
It would be great if you could follow this schematics:
Focus on a genuinely critical incident: Describe a situation that clearly deviated from everyday routine and had a significant positive or negative impact on the project, collaboration, or outcome. Routine difficulties or generic problems are less useful than moments of escalation, conflict, breakdown, or unexpected success.
Clearly state context and goal: Briefly outline the setting and intended goal of the work at the time of the incident (e.g. project phase, expectations, constraints). This allows students to assess why the incident mattered and what “success” or “failure” meant in that situation.
Describe observable behavior and interactions: Focus on what people did or said, not on general impressions or hindsight judgments. Describe actions, decisions, communication patterns, and reactions as concretely as possible, especially where management, power relations, or communication played a role.
Explain consequences and perceived impact: Describe the immediate and longer-term outcomes of the incident: How did it affect the project, the team, or individuals involved? If relevant, include reflections on which behaviors contributed to success or failure — without assigning blame or naming real people or organizations.