How to Work Together
Working in groups can be one of the most rewarding and challenging experiences you can have in school. If you are struggling with a team project, don’t despair. I have done a ton of group projects during middle and high school and I’ll share some ideas on what I’ve learned and how to make your team succeed.
Here’s my top three:
1. Leadership
Leadership is critical for any project. There needs to be organization and direction, knowledge and clarity on everyone’s roles. However, there is a fine line between leading and controlling, and in a group if you want to lead you have to always know which side of this line you are on. Being a good leader is to get the best and most out of everyone and if you make all the decisions, your project will not benefit from everyone’s views and ideas. Before diving into a project with a team,I encourage you to step up and make a plan with your group early on and solicit ideas from everyone as the best projects are ones that everyone is passionate about, even if the passion and desire does exist at the beginning.
2. Time Management
Strong time management is a make or break requirement for any project because if you are organized and on time, the work product will be stronger than if you rush–whether at the start or end, which will be reflected in your result. So how do you create a good time management plan? Segment the work at the outset and give everyone smaller achievable tasks each day which allows for better quality work and less stress from your teammates. Staying on top of everything and periodically checking in with your classmates by asking them how their progress is going and if they need any assistance with anything can greatly increase your time management and can reduce the time and rush projects can cause.
3. Realistic Expectations
My time in computer science may have shown me that I don't want to be a programmer when I grow up. However I definitely took some lessons from my high school experience and use them in my life today. For example, the main one is the importance of creating Minimum Viable Product (MVP). While coding apps during class, my teacher really focused on us hitting the MPV first before adding other features into our apps. The MPV for most things is shown in the rubric and if there isn't a rubric, ask your teacher to explain how knowing the MVP can guide your planning and working phases of the project. I’ve had many experiences where my team was forced to scale back our project after starting out with a behemoth of an idea and wearing ourselves thin from it.
This concept also was important in an engineering class where we wanted to build a small robotic tank that could autonomously move and shoot a nerf dart at a target after detecting it. Although we ultimately built exactly that, we had to scale back early on and design a small robotic tank that had a defined path versus an elaborate robot and path that would have been impossible to build on time. I quickly learned that success in future projects required targeting the MVP early on. When we did that, the exercise was better for our mental health too. We felt less stressed since we had something more than good enough to present, which also gave us extra time to experiment with additional features if we wanted them.
Every team is composed of different people, but I’ve learned that every team has similar norms, regardless of its make up. Teamwork can be hard, but if you start out with a common understanding of the importance of leadership, time management, and setting realistic expectations, I can assure you, the process will be easier, and more fun too.
