Immersion, Spring Semester -- Week 5

There is no "I" in team

So after our meeting with the client a few weeks ago, the iTeam decided to split up to work on the three main tasks that need to be completed by the end of the semester. While it seemed to be a good idea at the time, some weird team dynamics have cropped up that did not exist before. Splitting up the tasks among small groups or individuals to help us work more efficiently made sense. But as we are working to combine our research plans to evaluate product design and development, it has become evident to me that our processes for working through tasks worked well before -- it wasn't broke, so we shouldn't have fixed it. Now we have difficulties trying to figure out how to put a simple PowerPoint together. The idea to break up the tasks in this manner came out of our Myers Briggs results. It is almost as if consideration of this information has made things more difficult for us. I feel that we are not working as a team, but as a group of individuals. How much information is too much information in this instance???

Immersion, Spring Semester -- Week 3

Agendas, agendas … too many agendas!

So this week we met with our client as a follow-up to the Needs Analysis conducted in the Fall. We discussed our results and suggestions for next steps. We weren’t exactly on the same page. For what the team would like to get out of the Immersion program (our agenda), we were focusing on a bottom up approach by looking at specific collaborative and development tools that we now know will work for our target audience. By the end of the Spring semester we will determine how to allow access to those tools as a one-stop shop, and we will build supports around those tools. Our client is looking for a top down approach and wants us to focus on designing an interface taking into consideration all of the potentials that could be offered in the Virtual Collaboration Center, and not focusing solely on what we know will work for the audience now. Then the client revealed that he needs this information as ammunition to present to his funders so he can get more money for tech support. Ah, ha … agenda revealed! Maybe we should have started our first conversation with – what do you want and what is the agenda behind it? I guess it is no surprise that it is money and probably flat out asking for his agenda would be too brazen, but at least it would have eliminated all the wheel spinning the team has endured trying to reconcile what we want to achieve in our graduate experience and what the client’s motivation is with this project.

In the meantime, we did have a great session looking at our Myers Briggs scores. As usual, I am an INFJ. But it was interesting to see how the rest of our team falls within the MB and it was good to listen to the suggestions for team interaction and problem solving.