team report reflection

Sammi Branch

Team Report Reflection

This team project was one of the tougher ones I have worked on at Westminster. A combination of busy schedules and tons of deadlines with a group of five students was stressful and got confusing a lot of the time. I think that as a group we worked well with each other, but it got harder as the project went on. Since it was assigned over such a long period of time it was hard to make a schedule that worked for everyone and it was also hard keeping due dates in mind. For me personally, the beginning of this project went a lot smoother because I had a lot more time to invest in the project, but as the semester went on I had less and less time to devote to this project.

Our group was successful because everything was completed on time and of good quality. Our communication within the group could have been improved, but as I mentioned it was difficult because of all of the variables going on outside of this class and this project. We tried to overcome the challenges of schedules, time constraints, and tons of due dates by texting each other reminders, emailing documents back and forth to each other, and planning who would be the person responsible for actually turning in each document or step.

I contributed more during the beginning of the project, but as the semester went by I found myself so busy that I couldn’t help out as much as I was in the beginning. I helped with writing the proposals, thinking of questions to ask Mark Ferne, editing our documents, and I designed the survey that Lauryn and I distributed and collected in Shaw and at the library. I feel like I was successful because I did the pieces I signed up for and tried to help out as much as I could. I also tried to make everything my best work before turning it into the group. In my head I still feel like I could have done more because I am used to taking charge in group projects, but I did not for this one because of how busy I am. I think not taking charge was my biggest personal struggle because since I have always done so I wasn’t sure how to give my input and create my pieces without being the final person to see the documents.

If I could do this project again I would try and set more specific deadlines for the group as a group which would also mean meeting as a complete group more often. It wasn’t really possible for this project this semester, but I prefer to do group projects as a group because I like to work off my group member’s ideas as well. I think that one way our group could have been more efficient would have been if we had been able to sit down and plan out each deadline and what needed to be done by each person before that deadline, but since a lot of the deadlines were shifting and changing and we weren’t able to meet as a group very often that became more difficult as time went on.

As a team I would give us a B+. I think we all tried very hard and under the conditions put our best work forward. We handed our assignments in on time and produced quality work. We also came up with a really cool idea and put a lot of thought into it. Our idea was also something that we all have a passion for. Plus, we came up with our idea, researched it and stuck with it from the beginning which was great so that we didn’t have to lose time changing ideas. I would give myself a B because I did not do as much work at the very end as other members but I worked hard the whole beginning and devoted as much time as I could to the project for as long as I could, but I don’t feel like I did way less than any member because to me it seemed like each member put in about equal effort and time but we all did so at different points throughout the project. If any member were to stand out to me as putting in the most time I would say Gary did because he took on a lot of the editing and was usually in charge of handing in the final documents.