When sitting down to give feedback regarding this semester’s
work towards our legacy project, Kylie and I came to a mutual understanding
that we were to be straight forward and honest with each other. Being friends
in addition to teammates and colleagues, we know that the discussion being held
does not reflect personal feelings, but a determination to work effectively and
productively as a team. Neither Kylie nor I “sugar coated” the severity of any
issues we were facing and for the purposes and structure of our group, we
created safety by being straightforward. We removed our emotions from the
feedback conversation and were honest about the issues we were feeling with our
project.
Moving into the feedback portion of our reflection, we began
by discussing strengths which we each saw in our partnership during our legacy
project, thus far. I began by confirming that we are communicating well with
each other before making any significant project decisions. We hold each other
accountable for staying on top of our resources and we have similar goals and
realistic expectations of our time. Kylie followed up by saying that we are
disciplined and committed to arrange team meetings, honest with each other
about our expectations and desires for the project, and we are both passionate
about the problem that we are trying to address in our project. The strengths
we listed are crucial for the success of any working team and Kylie and I are
proud to have exhibited them in our partnership. However, with every strength
comes a weakness and we knew that addressing those weaknesses would create a
more successful outcome for our project.
In discussing weaknesses in our partnership, Kylie and I
kept to our pact to remain candid with each other and again took turns
explaining our thoughts. Kylie began by voicing a concern for our inability to
make quick, yet thorough, decisions and our difficulty finding enough time to
commit to the project. I echoed these concerns by discussing our inability to
find time for major planning and our difficulty solidifying partnerships with
outside parties/vendors. All of the weaknesses and concerns discussed are major
components of any project and must be remedied if we hope to find success for
our legacy project. Next, we moved towards discussing action plans to address
these issues.
The action plans created were brainstormed between the two
of us and correspond with each of the issues voiced. In regards to time, Kylie
and I agreed to set up weekly meetings (same time and place every week) to
discuss project updates, enhancements, and obstacles. Next, in terms of
solidifying partnerships, we will arrange in-person meetings with the
representatives from theNet and Rescue Her instead of relying on emails.
Finally, in order to streamline our decision making process, Kylie and I plan
to create a decision making model that will guide all future decisions.
Looking forward to the spring semester, we have a better
understanding of how to allocate time to the project, so we will have a better
approach to our project planning. We will have started creating relationships
with outside parties who will be stronger resources throughout the development
of the project. Recognizing that Alyssa has stronger organizational and
planning skills than Kylie, whereas Kylie has stronger discipline and
resource/time management skills to make sure that we meet and get the job done,
each partner understands the need to commit to focusing on our strengths. Doing
so next semester will allow our time to be spent more efficiently and our
project to be completed more quickly and at a higher caliber.
We hope to see all of these plans come to fruition, but we
must also understand the obstacles that will be faced in the spring. Kylie has
a much heavier work load next semester, so finding the time to meet and keeping
her focused and level-headed may be a challenge we face. We have to continue to
communicate our team expectations of each other so that this issue does not
overwhelm/overpower our team or limit our productivity. Alyssa has a very light
load next semester, so she will have a more difficult time staying motivated
and sticking to the schedule for project completion. Again, we must set clear
expectations and be in constant communication with one another so that these
issues do not destroy our project and the incredible work we could accomplish
together.
Understanding our team’s strengths and weaknesses have
allowed us to gain a clear understanding of what must be done to stay on track
next semester. We look forward to the opportunity to enact some of the action
plans that we created and to keeping each other on track. As two
high-achieving, ambitious individuals, we know that when we put in the right
amount of effort, our legacy project can become something truly impactful.
No comments:
Post a Comment