posted March 11, 2014 10:48 AM            

This is the place to share those stories! Weather it's for school, work, or other.

I had a group project this semester. And I was thinking, it can't be as bad as the group project I had in the fall semester. Boy was I wrong!

The guy in our group that picked the topic and seemed very passionate. He said we would do the outline. I said I would do the power point. I can't really do the power point, until he finishes the outline.
Our class is Monday night. He does not give me and the other person the outline until 2 hours before our presentation is due!

But again, I felt completely ****** over. I was expecting to at least be done with this by Sunday night. And since March 7th, he was texting the group, leading us on that is almost done with it and will send it to us soon! I had to stay up til 2am and do the power point w/ out the outline. I had work the next day at 8am. I made my self clear to him that I have other things to do than worry about the project the day of class. work, online quizzes, shower, nap change my clothes, put make up on

Nap, shower, changing my clothes, make up never happened.

I am so drained, I still haven't done my hw for today's class. Going to start it in a bit. So tempted to skip. Want to mentally physically rest. Craving a personal day, haven't felt like I needed one of those in a while.

posted March 11, 2014 07:04 PM            

I always end up doing all the work because other people slack off. Or worse yet... They'll do it but do it horribly! Either because they are lazy, or they are just not that smart.

Basically, if I can choose which people to work with then great... If not, I often end up just doing it myself. That way at least I know I can trust what comes out of it. So if I don't trust the other person's abilities I won't push them to do the work. If they do have good minds but just horrible work ethic... I'll make a big deal out of it.

posted March 11, 2014 08:30 PM            

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Sometimes I hate group projects.

There is always "that" person who doesn't like any idea from anyone. But when we ask him/her for his/her own idea, they have none.

Or someone who fails to pull their weight. And expects others to cover for him/her.

Had a few bad experiences where group meetings were just ... =.= Instead of discussing, exchanging ideas n doing work, they talked about how they went out on saturday night n whatnot.

Oh. And the ones who don't "get" teamwork. They don't discuss, they can't work with others, they change stuff without informing other members...etc... One time there was this person who changed like 30% of the presentation, and didn't tell anyone until the presentation day, then she insisted that her ideas were better and we should follow her.

posted March 11, 2014 09:21 PM            

They missed "Captain Critical" which I saw has already been described in this thread (putting down everyone's ideas without any of their own).

posted March 12, 2014 01:07 AM            

The same guy, checks the outline 2 hours before class. And threw a fit over something I put in the power point.

Cause the other guy that did research talked about the city and how prostitution is big there. Hey if he wants to talk about that, I don't mind, we are all adults and I don't mind hearing about the taboo.

So I tactfully as possible let the guy throwing a fit know he is being an ******* , and at least the guy that did research did something unlike him, and that he should of paid attention to this a long time ago.

I was still cooperative and took out that part of the power point.

posted March 12, 2014 05:40 AM            

I would also suggest that if you don't want to rely on others, that you take over project leadership and set deadlines, if it is not done, you assign it to someone else or do it yourself.

I was in a group project at University, and I had one other team member out of 5 who was useful, we did the whole thing between us. In our half way stage meeting, I basically said;

"Things aren't getting done and I want this work finished and to a good standard because I have exams coming up, and I know you all do to. Our project is not complicated, it just needs the research to be completed, the various theory and other information written up and a working model produced.

So this is what we're each doing, and I want it done by this time. If it isn't I will ask someone else to do it. Keep in mind that this is worth almost a sixth of our respective courses this year, and our mark is reflected in the overall quality of our work and our peer assessed contribution."

One team member still contributed barely anything, but the others picked their game up and got it done. I pretty much had a couple of sessions with each of them, i.e. "I will be doing this part of my research/work this day in this place, if you're free come and join me. That way we can make sure our pieces fit together and we can help each other out if we need to."

Our team basically lacked someone who could co-ordinate and organise. I should have stood from the beginning but I gave someone else the opportunity to do that, I'm happy not to lead if someone else is capable.

Anyway, our project was completed and we were I think 3rd in the course for top marks.

Moral of the anecdote.

Don't leave your fate up to someone else if that someone else is not capable of looking after their own.

Take a look at this link, it may help you identify team members and how they're best used and dealt with. One of the topics of study on my course contained an in depth look at this sort of thing.
http://www.belbin.com/rte.asp?id=8

posted March 12, 2014 01:07 PM            

Collaborative efforts work only if there's true teamwork, managed competently. In our case, one person will take point in each project. That one person pretty much did it all, but farmed out minor responsibilities to the others. At the end of the day, that one person was responsible for coordinating and delivering.

On an ongoing basis, one person attends class and takes down notes and is responsible for summarizing. The attendance of the rest in class was optional, or someone else would attend other classes, so a person needed to attend only one out of four classes during the day.

In the end, it all worked. My circle consisted of a bunch of paranoid ***** who pretty much took the same classes and got all As in all classes.

posted March 12, 2014 04:43 PM            

quote:

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Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
Sounds elitist, but in business school, we chose our own team partners before hand. The motivated ones stuck together. The laggards were voted out. It required unanimous consent to join a group.

Collaborative efforts work only if there's true teamwork, managed competently. In our case, one person will take point in each project. That one person pretty much did it all, but farmed out minor responsibilities to the others. At the end of the day, that one person was responsible for coordinating and delivering.

On an ongoing basis, one person attends class and takes down notes and is responsible for summarizing. The attendance of the rest in class was optional, or someone else would attend other classes, so a person needed to attend only one out of four classes during the day.

In the end, it all worked. My circle consisted of a bunch of paranoid ***** who pretty much took the same classes and got all As in all classes.

But I understand that you're in college and probably can't do it that way.

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That is how we do it at the doctorate level- I would much rather choose/be chosen to work with people who are all motivated and willing to put in effort to make the project.

posted March 17, 2014 12:59 AM            

quote:

---

Originally posted by YoursTrulyAlways:
Sounds elitist, but in business school, we chose our own team partners before hand. The motivated ones stuck together. The laggards were voted out. It required unanimous consent to join a group.

Collaborative efforts work only if there's true teamwork, managed competently. In our case, one person will take point in each project. That one person pretty much did it all, but farmed out minor responsibilities to the others. At the end of the day, that one person was responsible for coordinating and delivering.

On an ongoing basis, one person attends class and takes down notes and is responsible for summarizing. The attendance of the rest in class was optional, or someone else would attend other classes, so a person needed to attend only one out of four classes during the day.

In the end, it all worked. My circle consisted of a bunch of paranoid ***** who pretty much took the same classes and got all As in all classes.

But I understand that you're in college and probably can't do it that way.

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