Team Issue:
No clear leadership: Although we all were contributing team members and we all bring different strengths to the group, for a multitude of reasons none of us were able to assume the role of a group "leader". We were all ready to contribute to the creation of the ISEC but failed in leadership and initiative.
No long-term planning: We all had the end goal of building an ISEC prototype; however, we failed to create concrete plans to attain this goal. We felt a lot of pressure during lab time to be "doing" and did not plan. Instead, we should have focused on planning out the quarter in the beginning and conducted regular check-ins based on our progress.
Minimum Interaction: We only spent 1 day a week together working on the prototype, and we didn't really converse about the prototype outside of the lab. Sometimes in the lab, we didn't feel like we were able to move forward and achieve anything productive (e.g., needed to go to the store to get something), but we were required to stay for the full duration of lab time. Having blocked out lab time is important, but we believe students should be able to leave early if we decide we wanted to meet up together at a later time.
Team Member Failures:
Alycia: I think I failed in getting ideas across in an empathetic manner and making sure everyone in my group really understood what I was talking about. Because I come from a more technical background and it was my first time in a very long time working with people in other disciplines, I think I lacked empathy at times, especially when my group members were not familiar with things. My intention was never to belittle anyone, but reflecting on the project, I might have come off that way at times based on some of the tension that existed within the group. I also felt a little overwhelmed. I was taking an extremely busy course load, but I felt responsibe for the technical part of the project and felt my group relied on me for those parts even though I wasn't too experienced with some of the things we had to do. Some of my group mates at times also did not seem willing to help or learn. I just dont think they really cared until they felt their grades would be challenged. This led me to work alone without considering contributions or feedback from my group at times. Some of my group mates started to ask me about how the system worked during the week 10 lab. They did not understand even the most basic components of it like for example how there is layers and layers of insulation in it.... I was under the impression that they knew how it worked considering we had spent the whole quarter talking about it and Pete even took it apart with us and explained it and noone asked for clarifications.... I think having 1 more technical person in this group much like the other groups in this class could have been helpful. I think we should have assumed clearer roles. I assumed I was in charge of being a project manager of sorts and making sure we had a working final product and Henry was in charge of the website. I think maybe we could have made more roles to include everyone.
Henry: Throughout this project, I found myself in a difficult position regarding the website development portion. Despite repeatedly reaching out for assistance or clarification from group members, many of my requests went unanswered or were promised help that never materialized. This was especially challenging for me as website building is not an area where I am particularly experienced or comfortable. I want to acknowledge that for a period, I was under a stay-away order from campus, which understandably impacted my ability to collaborate in-person during some lab sessions - though I FaceTimed into all of them and worked on the website during the entire 3 hour block. However, even after that situation was resolved and I dedicated substantial additional hours in the lab trying to finalize the website for our presentation, I found myself essentially working alone on that component with little to no support from the group until the very last minute. Ultimately, I had to bring what I could manage on my own to the final presentation, as I was unable to get the level of engagement or follow-through from others that I had hoped for. This left me in a rather difficult position, struggling to communicate the gaps and lack of collective effort on an aspect that ended up falling largely on my shoulders. I recognize that each person faced their own sets of competing priorities throughout this process. My intention is not to cast blame, but rather to provide an honest perspective on the challenges I encountered and the sense of being overwhelmingly burdened with an unfamiliar task despite my efforts to involve the whole group. Moving forward, clearer channels of communication and accountability may help ensure a more balanced workload distribution.
Marilynn _______
Cole _____
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