We ran into our first team crisis since the last time I posted. I say crisis, it was more like a blip in our timings. When we started this unit, we wrote a list of what needed to be done and because we all have a similar work ethic, it was agreed that we didn't need to divide up the work. We would simply finish an item and then pick something else until everything on the list was done. This worked out great at first but as time went on, there were some visible flaws in our system.
We all thought that the only factor we had to consider in terms of failure was work ethic. If we all had a good one, we would be fine. What we hadn't considered though, was the times it takes people to complete tasks. I for one wasn't able to keep up with other team members and was finding myself working 15 hour days for fear of there not being anything left on the list for me to do. Although my work was of a high standard, it still felt like I wasn't needed and those other members could have completed the entire unit themselves which is obviously not a healthy opinion to have in a team environment.
With it being a team effort there was also the worry that when we submit this unit, it will appear that some of us haven't tried as hard because they lack the volume of work and it would negatively impact our grades. We're told time and time again that we shouldn't worry about our grades, as long as we're putting in the work and learning. This is still such an alien concept as it's been drummed into us since primary school that grades matter. Realistically though, when have you ever seen a job advert that requested you have a particular Degree class?
Thankfully, we're all professional enough to talk about our concerns without fear of offending anyone. There is still part of me that is worried about squashing other people's personality and not allowing them to flourish in a work environment all because I'm slower at completing tasks. We could have prevented this by assigning tasks at the beginning, rather than creating a free for all approach.
We have now assigned tasks to members, taking into account what everyone had already done in order to make it fair and to make our submissions appear more balanced. It did mean one of us was able to submit a few days earlier than the rest of us but we assured her that this was her pat on the back for being more efficient with her time rather than her missing vital pieces of work.
As far as conflicts or disagreements go, to have this as our only major one, makes me feel even more confident in our team.
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