Group projects – love ’em or hate ’em, we all have to do them. If you happen to be working with me, then first of all bless your soul, and secondly, here are some quick tips for you to ensure that our collaboration is not a complete failure that causes me to lose faith in all of humanity.
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What I value about group projects:
- Having people who can complement and synergise with my weaknesses and do things that I’m less good at
- Having people who can help give other perspectives on views
- Having people to help keep track of the project
What makes me lose patience during group projects:
- Ignorance by choice – not knowing how to do something because you chose not to listen to a task description, or trying to do something you’re not good at and not asking for help
- People who don’t bother or try and take initiative
- People who are bad at keeping in touch, replying to emails etc.
Soundtrack of my previous group project: You can’t always get what you want
- Working with people during the OPMUN conference was exactly this – since there were 2 groups of people working on the project and only one could be submitted, under the names of a total of 4 people (there were 6 of us), there was a lot of argument in trying to get our own work submitted. In the end, we did not in fact get what we want.
What to do to support me in a group project:
- Listening to me and critiquing my ideas – I have a lot of them but I don’t always realise how badly some of them might fail
Tech Skills:
- I’m good at generally knowing how to mess with settings, do useful and mostly productive tricks on applets etc.
- I need to work on my graphic design side of things – I’m not good at using things like Illustrator or CADs like Fusion 360
What people sometimes misunderstand about me when doing group projects:
- It’s not that I don’t like to listen, but more that I have a lot to say first. If you really have a good idea, you can definitely tell me, but I would prefer it if I was allowed to finish my own thoughts first.
- It’s not that pure incompetence makes me angry, but the fact that sometimes people don’t care that they don’t know something and are refusing to learn it, making things difficult for the rest of the project.
Well, that’s about it. Good luck on working with me, you’re going to need it!