Thoughts on Our Collaboration

Did my group collaborate effectively? I think the term “effective” is a little subjective. Okay, we got the job done. But there is room for some improvement in how we worked together. I’ll go through part of a list of tips presented in Everyone’s an Author, and apply them to what my own group did.

• Find ways of recognizing everyone.

We didn’t do this formally. When we divvied up the tasks we pretty much chose something that interested us. If we had been doing a larger project, there would definitely be benefits in talking about what we are good at, and then dividing up the tasks.

• Listen carefully to each other.

This is something I think we could work on a bit more. We kind of jumped into our first tasks without fully listening to the other people. It ended up working out fine, but there was some confusion later. If this were a more time-pressed project, being careful to listen to each other first would help keep things moving.

• Establish ground rules.

Because this was a short assignment, our group didn’t need to make rules. We did talk about the responsibilities of each person, which included answering particular questions. That way we “divided and conquered.”

• Make an effort to develop trust and group identity.

Our group got along great; in the beginning of the project we shared a person example of when we had helped change something. We learned more about each other and I think that helped build group identity.

• Get organized.

Again, because we had a small project, the need for organization wasn’t great. We could have done better by writing down who was doing what. In a bigger project with more detailed and complex tasks, it would waste time having to plan things out from square one every time someone forgot.

There are many other tips included in the book, but I think they apply to more complex situations and would be repetitive here. In conclusion, my team got work done. We just need to refine that process a little so that next time it runs smoother and the output is of a higher quality.