Managing Software Engineering Student Teams Using Pellerin\u27s 4-D System

In this article, we discuss the use of Pellerin’s Four Dimension Leadership System (4-D) as a way to manage teams in a classroom setting. Over a 5-year period, we used a modified version of the 4-D model to manage teams within a senior level Software Engineering capstone course. We found that this approach for team management in a classroom setting led to qualitatively fewer incidents of teams unable to effectively work together, better projects, and greater group cohesion. In this article, we discuss our experience using the 4-D System, which was not originally designed for use in the classroom. We find our modified version of the 4-D System to be viable in a classroom setting and provide the reader with everything needed to implement 4-D in his or her own course