I have done numerous projects – with people I know, with people I do not know, or with people I thought I know.
For this ES 2007S project, I had a great time partnering Pei Jin and Yi Ni, who are fellow life sciences course mates. Though we are course mates, it was the first time the 3 of us were working together. I would first like to attribute the pleasant experience I had to both my active and responsible team mates.
Pei Jin helped kick start the project by consolidating our random suggestions, together with her opinions, into a comprehensive document that listed all the possible problems and solutions we could address. She did this without any prompting, and it catalysed the progress of our project.
I volunteered to draw a detailed timeline for everything we need to do before 24th March, the day of submission. The timeline took into consideration other modules’ assignments, so as not to impose unreasonable datelines. Our team adhered closely to the timeline, except when our interview dates had to be postponed due to the rejection from our interview candidates.
After we got rejected on our first request for an interview, Yi Ni proactively researched on other possible interview candidates before proposing them to us. She emailed and followed up on it, which finally helped the team landed a chance to speak with Professor Lee.
Our team relied mostly on emails and SMS for notifying and contacting each other, while our numerous files and drafts were shared through the Dropbox platform. The wiki site, which was largely maintained by me with several updates by Pei Jin, was mainly for documentation instead of discussion. We seldom depended on the site for discussion nor files hosting because it was not intuitive enough to use or even to find our site. We met up for discussions, or through online group conferencing tools. The wiki site seemed unnecessary for a humble team of 3 like ours. However, I still find the wiki especially useful for large project groups involving near 8 or more members.
For meetings, we would set the agenda prior to the meet-up, and usually came prepared with the materials we wanted to share or discuss. This ensured that the team could work efficiently.
The work was often split up equally among us. This was done primarily to get us started on individual portions concurrently at the initial phase. Although we were supposedly responsible for different parts of the proposal, I would always make the effort to peer review each other’s work, and also volunteer to research and write on “other’s part”. My peers made similar efforts too.
Along the course of the project, it is undeniable that there were times when we do not always agree. For instance, this was more evident nearing the submission dateline when we had to reduce our content to fit the 6 – 8 pages requirement. Nonetheless, we spoke to each other with respect, and will convince each other logically of why some ideas had to be rejected, or why we need to remove or retain certain information.
I have learnt that being initiative is a key driving factor that accelerates progress. Besides, a clear timeline helps keep everyone on the same page. We should also try to keep abreast of new technology or software as they can aid us in facilitating group work. More importantly, group work essentially entails working with others. Thus, we should be aware of our interpersonal skills, such as how we express ourselves verbally or non-verbally. Showing consideration and encouraging your team mates helps pump the group morale too.
Given the few weeks to complete, this project seemed daunting at first, as we even had to consolidate survey results and conduct interviews. Hence, looking back, I am glad to have supportive team members, whom I worked cooperatively with, to complete everything together.
