Extra Credit... I think so!

I would be an idiot to pass up on the extra credit, especially since I was stupid enough to screw up and forget to post my midterm info, throwing away 25 free points.
As part of the KIB YouTube Video Group, I have done a number of different things to contribute to the success of the video. I have showed up for every class, and every meeting this group has had.

I was critical in the planning of what idea we should film. Mark is a great team leader! Not only did he shoot the video, but his pre-planning for the shoot that took place on Sun the 15th was great.

When it came time for the shoot, I checked out a still camera for extra shots to supplement the footage. I ended up taking over 100 pictures of the Tree Planting process as well as the volunteers doing the planting. There was a slip up on the student housing staff. One of them was supposed to bring a camera and snap pictures of the process, but they forgot. I offered to give them a complete set of pics on a disc so they could use them if the needed them. I went through some of those pictures and posted them to the Facebook Page we created to keep track of our process, dates, and communications. This was a genius idea from Mark.

We are planning on editing our video on Earth Day Sunday April 22nd (just a coincidence, but hey, it works!) We will all be present to get the best cuts of footage we took. I will also be supplementing the video with any voice over work needed.

We interviewed Andrew from KIB during the process. During the interview, I asked him about 10 questions on why we were there, what was the process, why were we doing it, how did KIB and IUPUI come together, etc...

This was a fun experience to be apart of. I know that we took way more footage than we would need to cut a 5 minute video, but it is better be over prepared, than under prepared.

Read Each Others Blogs

This assignment:
Read through the blogs (you can get to them from the "Blogs" link to the left) and identify 3 people, based on what you read, that you feel you could work with easily, and identify 3 people you would find it challenging to work with. List this on yourn blog and discuss why you chose who you put into each category.

I remember sitting in class thinking that it would be a little challenging working with Shawn, Cabana and Heather. This was based on the fact that we have have strong personalities. I know that I usually have to be involved in every discussion and in every project.

I can pretty much get along with anyone. There are of course some exception to that. I get irritated with people who are always late, absent, or ill prepared, bossy... I could go on and on, but we all have our moments.

As the first couple of discussions took place, I immediately got along with Lecia. I don't know if it is because we are similar with being continuing education students and can relate to each others circumstances.
I think that Matt and I are similar, because we are laid back. During the final project, we have had the same ideas and concepts.

This class however is "Team Building..." so that is what I had set out to do. There were many discussions on teams vs groups blah blah blah... We came through as a team and are in the midst of creating a social revolution for KIB!

Group vs. Team Reflection

If my mind serves me, I think that we had a discussion how the differences between being a group vs. being a team.

We were separated in two groups. one group was told to stack/arrange the tables in a any manner they wanted, and the other group was told to stack the chairs in any manner they wanted.

I was part of the table stacking group. I know that Beth was just trying to get a feel of how people handle themselves in  group situations. One or more person will always prevail as some form of a leader. There are leaders and followers... which one are you?

I have a stronger personality some of the others in the class. But I feel like I can go with the flow though. Many years of being a manager have lead me to be able to run a team, but I know that there is always a time that my ideas might not be the best course of action, so I can go with the flow as well.

To me, teams are built, and people are assigned to groups. When dealing with either, you have to be able to go with the flow sometimes.

The teams for the final project seem to be working very well together. I know there have been some hiccups along the way, but not to bad. There is great management and support between groups, with constant feedback about problems and resolutions.

We will see how the progress reports go tomorrow. Hopefully, there are no real big problems and everything will go smoothly.

Only time will tell!

Class Disruption 2/23/12

Why did class devolve into chaos??

I think that class always gets hectic when you involve that many people in a discussion. Our discussion was simply about what the client wants vs. what they are going to get. The teams had not been decided yet (well, ours was) and we were all worried about our skills, being given a chance. Beth kept poking the bear by changing things, but we were all overlooking the fact that ideas were just difficult to accomplish in the amount of time we were given. We were thinking to far in advance, instead of looking at what we could accomplish in the allotted time frame.

What could you have done to keep that from happening?

I wonder if we would have created a specific time line and idea scope, if things would have tail spun out of control like it did. All of the ideas that we came up during that discussion, were great ideas, but the time constraint wasn't observed. As creative people, we want the project to be amazing and detailed... but all ideas won't work out, even if we had a couple months to work on. There was also a  point when raising your hand, though proper and polite, didn't mean anything. Unfortunately that is what I think of when you hear the word "brainstorming." A constant flow of ideas/suggestions, being  bounced off each other, to create an organized outcome. People who can't speak up when they need to, usually will be oppressed in the conversation.

Regurgitating ideas you have read is all well and good, but if you cannot apply them, then what is the point?

There really isn't any point. That discussion brought about great ideas, but it was going to be hard to implement them in the time frame. That is why you need to have a constant interaction with the client, so you keep things on track. They already have ideas of what they want, but can't do it themselves for what ever reason, which is why we are "hired." We just take those suggestions and build/re-tool them, to be the creative innovations that they are. The client needs to know that if they keep changing ideas, not only will it take longer to produce, but it will make the price of the project go up as well. A good project manager will build in a "buffer" period into each project.  

 

What can you do to be more mindful of your team building decisions and how to actually implement the techniques we have been learning all semester?

When we broke down to smaller groups, it was easier brainstorming ideas for the cards. There were only 4-5 other minds competing for attention. If you like something someone says, you can speak up and not only be heard, but build up someones ideas/suggestions. In larger groups, you have to be able to jump into the conversation, but be mindful of interrupting an thought/idea/suggestion in the making. The conversation during today's class (3-27-12) was a little bit better than total chaos. Ideas bounced back and forth across the room, but people were better with letting someone into the conversation. We just really needed someone to create a diagram on the board just to keep a visual control of our planned project.

Is always sticking with people you already know the best solution to forming a good team? Working with people you already know may be human nature and the easiest way to make sure you get a good grade on a project, but remember that you are being assessed in this course not only on the product you create but how you work with your team and apply the techniques we have been covering in class... Unlike other classes, the product in this class is secondary to the process of creating the product.

I think that no matter how you look at it, ideas always have positives and negatives. You might be able to work off the strengths of one person, but hinder the ideas or skills of another. In groups, you will always be taking a chance that everyone will excel at the project at hand. If not, then the project suffers. People are foul able, and can get infected with personal drama which hinders their abilities and creativeness. The key is to suppress your personal drama, and work as a group to get to the outcome. One persons weakness, might be another persons strength? But you'll never know if you don't try.

What did you learn about yourself and team building as a result of what happened in class today?

I have problems sometimes being a chatterbox in class discussions. Where my life experiences of being an older student usually helps me out, it can restrict me because my knowledge in this profession so far, is limited. This is one of my first real classes for my major in Informatics, so I am limited on that experience. Most of the class is leaps and bounds ahead of me in that manner. I don't quite have the technical knowledge to do what is required sometimes, but think I am an affective manager and creative thinker.

How should the potential conflict that could erupt based on discussion today be handled in a way that allows for the best teams and personal satisfaction for all people?

There will always be challenges in group discussions. In the amount of time we have for class, there is no real way for us to be able to competently gage others talents. You can get a good sense of another persons abilities by what they say, and what they can show you, but your always going to be taking risks. Abilities, in teams, will always shine through in time. You know, over time, what you can expect out of another individual, because you will have time to reflect over what kind of project they produce and how they behave in group situations.

Instead of just backing down and saying, "Whatever..." what might be a better way to incorporate and include all ideas and styles?

Exclusion is a necessity! If not, nothing would ever be finished. We all change with time, our styles, music, preferences, ideas, etc... I'm sure if you asked the architect of any building, 10 years after the building is finished, what they would change if they had a chance, and I bet they would probably have a laundry list of ideas that they would change.

Managing a group...

Managing a group can be very interesting sometimes. It can be a positive experience, or a disaster. It really depends on how well your team gels with each others. Attitudes and personalities can be difficult to adjust to, especially if there is a breakdown in communication!

Focus: We did in fact have a group of individuals, with different personalities, working together to accomplish one task, make eggs. When Beth split us up into our sub groups, making us in charge of different "projects" inside that task, it was easy. Then she started switching those groups up, making it a little more difficult to manage the task at hand. 

Clarification: Clarification is one thing that we were trying to accomplish in our groups, to assist the chef in making our dish (hopefully edible!) Three people were trying to guide the chef, with just their voices. I think that we did a decent job of guiding the chef(s) towards the goal. Only there were some issues with clarification between the three main people assisting the chef(s). Sometimes they would talk over each other, confusing the chef(s), making it more difficult for the chef(s) to accomplish this task in a timely manner. I did notice that when the stove was actually on, only one person would guide the chef(s) towards the pan and away from the burners. 

Mouse: There is always one or more people that tend to be quieter than the rest of the group. Some were better at this than others. I know that when it was my turn to shut up, I still was trying to give directions to the guides or the chef(s). Obviously I was not the mouse! I really couldn't point out just one mouse, I know that Chewy was pretty quiet, until it was his turn to help guide the chef(s). 

Loudmouth: It turns out... that I was the loud mouth of the group. I had to have my hands and mouth into the whole project. It actually took Beth telling me to be quite when I wasn't a guide, for me to hush up a bit. When I saw something I though should be changed or added, I usually just whispered into a guides ear. Because I can't NOT have a say so in everything apparently... 

Written Record:  There was no real written record of this event (at least not until we all had to write our blogs,) but a couple of people did record and take pictures via cell phones. Probably just in case someone caught the faculty kitchen on fire, or burnt themselves. 

Feedback  (negative):  I think that we all could tell there were a couple of things that we could have done differently, but its to late to change it now. We did finish under the time limit, but who really knows if the eggs were really cooked all the way. I know I burped that little bit of egg, all day! 

Feedback (positive): Overall, I think we did a great job. Maybe we could have gagged and bound Beth so she wouldn't have moved people around so much, but hey, groups change all the time. 

Handling failure: The tasks inside of the group were done, then redone, the redone again. The group sent to handle place settings went and set it all up in the break room, but didn't account for us actually having to dish it out and transport it to the break room. 

Handling Deadlock: The only deadlock we had was towards the end when Beth "promoted" Cabana to efficiency expert, and Alec to quality control. At some time, the decision to turn off the stove, that set us back a little bit. We ended up adding two more eggs, to help soak up that crazy amount of butter, and I think that that might have set us back and make us a little scared to eat the product at the end. (It could have been way worse!)

Sign Posting:  This is were some of the communication breakdown occurred. But I know it would have taken longer to accomplish. Beth did tell us along the way that certain things could and could not be done to assist the chef(s) in accomplishing the cooking of the eggs. 

Active Communications: I am sure we all could say that there were many breakdowns in communication, as we progressed with guiding the chef(s) to the overall goal, as well as communicating with each other. I know that I had a good time with being blind folded and guided. I had the job of breaking the first two eggs into the hot pan. I have to say, that it was pretty intense. You really have to take your guides instructions to the tee, or you might literally get burned. I have to say that I broke both eggs WITHOUT leaving shells in the pan (something I can't do when I am looking at everything I am doing.)

Single Solutions: We did become a little foggy on the overall goal. I don't know if it was the fact that Beth kept switching people out, or the communication in the group trying to accomplish the task. Had she left people in certain roles, it might have been better to the outcome of the project. 

I really liked every part of the experiment except for when I wasn't in control! I think that our whole group, in general, have enough in common to make this experiment, successful. There are always things we could approve on, and given the chance, I'm sure the eggs would have at least been cooked all the way!

Group Dynamics

If you have to work with someone... you might as well get to know a little bit about them! The way group members interact with one another can vastly sway the outcome of the groups project. Will ice breakers increase the effectiveness of the group? No matter what you do, someone will most likely become, in some form or another, the leader of the group. What can the leader do to make the group successful.
I agree with Tuckman and his stages of group development, but even he knew there are always changes, which is why it took him 10 years to update his Dr Seuss-styled stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing and the last one, Adjourning. Of course this article was last updated on 8-15-04, so I wonder if Tuckman ever thinks about changing any of them?

I like how one of the group dynamic papers broke down the roles inside the group:

                        Factors which affect members participation.

The content or task of the group- is it of interest, importance and relevance?

The physical atmosphere - is it comfortable physically, socially and psychologically?

The psychological atmosphere - is it accepting, non-threatening?

Member’s personal preoccupations - are there any distracting thoughts in their mind?

The level of interaction and discussions - is adequate information provided for everyone to understand? - is it at a level everyone understands?

Familiarity - between group members- do members know each other from before?

Everyone will fit somewhere in one of those positions, inside the group. During our exercise, what position did you have? We all had more than one position that day. I started out selecting the ingredients, then an observer, then back seat driver, then blind folded chef (I must say my egg cracking skills on the hot pan were superb! Not a single shell out of two eggs!), I helped clean up in the kitchen, while the meal was being distributed around the table.
With our exercise, we already knew who the boss was. Beth is the one who set the rules. Who selected the ingredients; who set the tables; who was in the clean-up crew. No matter how we guided the "chef," Beth always changed the rules, and we had to adapt, no matter what. As the boss, she sets the rules and routines. We just have to abide by them. After she chose an efficiency expert, we had to deal with two bosses, with two separate agendas. Beth wants the product out, Cabana wanted it done efficiently.

Cabana started out great by having everyone wash their hands. That was one thing that we all did at the beginning of our turn as the chef. Beth wanted to know when the product would be done, Cabana gave her specific times that each process would be done, and for the most part, we were able to stick with them. After that point though, I'm not real sure what happened to efficiency. During the exercise, usually only two of the three "guides" would speak at any given time. One person would usually remain quite, especially when it came to actually using the stove. The addition of the heated pan, made the room grow a little more tense. People broke out their phones, whether it was to tape someone burn themselves or watch the team succeed, who knows.

In the end, the eggs were edible, but not by much. If two people could have steered the Chef, I believe that things could have been a little bit better, but Beth had those other plans for us, I think the experiment served its purpose, A project is only as strong as the group. I think that there are always room for improvement? Without diceting the exercise, you wouldn't be able to really understand the true group dynamics and how you could tweak the group and make it stronger.

This was no Kitty Hawk!

When Beth originally assigned this project, I was laughing to myself about how I was getting college credit for building/flying a kite... But of course the assignment wasn't really about the kite now was it? No, it was about whether or not you and your group member(s) got along, and were able to build and fly said kite.

The hardest part for us was the design process. We sat in class and brain stormed over how we could make a kite, fly it, then blow it the fuck up! Then Beth had to ruin it by not allowing our inner rocket scientists, get the better of us. Once we knew we couldn't have any kind of "physical or chemical" explosions... we decided on doing a large paper airplane, nay, a lightweight, aerodynamically, bad-ass, cardboard airplane rather. Once we settled on the design, it was a matter of materials and time.

We chose to meet last Tuesday, in our normal classroom, to make our plane. I brought the large sheets of thin cardboard, Chewy brought the drill, glue gun and glue sticks, and Alec brought decorating ideas. We folded, then hot glued everything together, and gave the "Beautiful Lass" her maiden voyage. Lets face it, it was awesome!!! It did fly in the technical sense, but we built one more with a wider wingspan, just in case. We threw both of them around the room to see which one had a better "flight" pattern, then started the detail process. We talked about what should go on the Lass, and came up with a common theme.

I took the Lass home with me and finished up all the coloring, and gathered some string, preparing for its flight in the courtyard. I must say, that like everyone else, as I walked in, the Lass just wanted to be set free!

I honestly didn't know how well it was flying, because I was to busy trying not to fall on my face as I sprinted around the courtyard, only to be stopped by a tree. I think that the Beautiful Lass, was a great success. Not only did it "fly," but it wasn't even scratched when it took a dive into the tree. I think our group did a great job with every aspect of this assignment. Ours might not have had a Black Power Ranger or a Sky Pirate on it, but she flew her heart (and my legs) out!!!

I know there were a couple of groups who had the typical "group" issues, but I think our group was drama free! I would consider all of the flights a success, and a job well done by all! Some of us are a little more winded now, but that's probably the same feeling the Wright Brothers felt when they took off in Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.