This presentation was delivered as part of the final project for MGMT-4160 at Harvard Extension School.

1. Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group's
Rave Implementation Team
Presented by:
Sam Dowd
Emily Engler
Deborah Grohe
Stein Tan

2. Agenda
● About ECOG
● About the Team
● Survey Responses
● Meeting Observations
● Interviews
● What do you think?
● Analyses
● Recommendations
● Conclusion

3. About ECOG
● Founded in 1955
● One of nine Cooperative Groups in the US
● Primarily funded by the National Cancer
Institute

4. Group
Statistician
Group Chair
ECOG Group Structure
Group Chair's
Office
Research
Operations
(at ECOG CC)
Statistical
Center
Data
Management
Office
(at ECOG CC)
Director of Group AdministrationDirector of Clinical Operations
Protocol
Development
Manager
Data
Management
Manager
Translational
Science
Manager
Manager of
Study Setup
Project Leader
for Grants
Management
Information
Systems
Manager (R)
Information
Systems
Manager (S)
Project Leader
for Information
Design
ECOG Coordinating Center

5. Team Environment
● Managing the NCI mandated implementation
of medidata Rave
● Implementation across all Cooperative
Groups
○ More than 20 working groups across Cooperative
Groups with NCI
● Also, ECOG is currently merging with ACRIN

6. About the Team
● Formed in 2011 to coordinate the Rave
implementation
● Four different departments
represented
○ Biostatistics (Judi)
○ Information Technology (Rick)
○ Data Management (Kerry)
○ Study Setup (Mary)
● Meets weekly for two hours

7. Team Type
● Problem Solving Team with
Tactical elements
● Each person brings problems from the Rave
working groups, or problems from his/her
respective departments
● Have some directives from NCI and from
ECOG leadership team

8. 360 External Exam
● Survey
○ Very broad questions pertinent to team dynamics in
general
○ Included cross-reference questions for checking
○ Included a comment box to expound beyond scale
● Observation
○ Look at team dynamics (3x) and check for
inconsistencies with survey
○ Look at body language, physical arrangement, etc.
● Interview
○ Very targeted questions gathered from Survey and
Observation data

9. Strengths/Weaknesses
● Strengths:
○ Dedication
○ Different
perspectives
○ They genuinely enjoy
working together
○ Intelligence
○ Experience
○ Communication
○ Effectiveness
○ Humor
● Weaknesses:
○ Distractions
○ Factors outside of their
control
○ No agenda for meeting
○ Too reliant on
computer
○ No one taking minutes
and reliant on memory
○ Multi-tasking and not
fully focused on
meeting items

10. Synchronicity

11. Synchronicity

12. Confidence Levels

13. Honesty/Fairness

14. Team Morale

15. Out-of-Work Relationship

16. Autonomy

17. Meeting Observation
● Meeting Arrangement
○ 2 Tables: Host and Guests
○ Open door
● Equality & Respect
○ Age & Sex & Personalities
○ Strengths & Weaknesses
● Open Communication
○ Signposts & Alignment & Peer Support
○ Computer vs. High Listening
○ Group interests & conflicts
● Tight-Knit Bond
○ Warm & Funny
○ Comfortable & High Trust & Proactive

18. Team Creation &
Structure
● Spontaneously created
○ sub-group of ECOG Leadership Group
● Problem-solving team
● Group leader - Judi
○ leadership can be flexible
● No formal agenda
○ evolving agenda based on issues at hand
○ leadership of each meeting reflects topics discussed
● Everyone satisfied with unorthodox format
○ free-flow allows for group to be reactive to issues
that arise between meetings

19. Team Self-Perceptions
● Sense of camaraderie
○ People genuinely like each other
● Meetings seen as useful & important to
ECOG
● "Home room" aspect
● Half of the members more vocal in this
meeting than in other meetings

20. Progress on Rave &
Upcoming Challenges
● Differing perspectives on progress with
RAVE implementation
● Upcoming challenge of incorporating ACRIN
into the team function

21. Your Thoughts?

22. Analysis #1:
High Levels of Trust
● Highly Effective, despite "bad habits"
○ No agenda
○ Spend a lot of time on the laptops
○ Lots of distraction in the meeting

23. Analysis #2:
Respectful
● People are respectful of what others would
say and truly listen
● Team members give benefit of doubt and
respect that what's being said has merits
● Everyone gather together to find support for
missing pieces of one's task or someone
else's
● Respect towards Harmony

24. Analysis #3:
Mindfulness
● Everyone is mindful about team tasks and
direction
● Members are mindful about their contribution
and how it affects the team
● Individuals are mindful about keeping team
harmony

25. Analysis #4:
Lasting Team
● Formed ad-hoc to manage Rave
implementation
● All members say the team will continue to
meet after Rave is implemented
● Filled an unknown need for problem solving
across the four departments

26. Recommendations
● ECOG and ACRIN cannot function in parallel
indefinitely
● Will need to integrate the team's
counterparts from ACRIN
● The members should continue to meet, even
after the end of the project
● In our paper, we will further investigate
whether the team can survive adding ACRIN
counterparts

27. Closing Remarks
● It was a pleasure to investigate the Rave
Implementation Team
● It is a high functioning team
● ACRIN merger will present challenges to the
entire organization, but our
recommendations will focus on the Rave
Implementation Team
● We foresee the team continuing to meet as
necessary, to the benefit of the organization
- they are a viable entity

28. Q&A