Meet my two new team mates, Ngo Quoc Phong (Phong as we all refer to him as) and Jiang Kuo (Jackie). Although I’m still unsure as to how to pronounce their names correctly =), yet I can assure you, we know each other well enough and have become quite well versed with each other.
We had our first project meeting on 12th Feb 2010 at Prince George’s Park Residence at 7:30pm. At first, each of us was quite reserved and slightly hesitant. We were polite and respectful and made an effort to get well acquainted with each other. But once the meeting took off, it was as if we’d known each other for donkey’s years!
We had a task at hand, and were determined to do our best. The meeting began with us discussing all aspects of the problem, resolving each other’s doubts and making sure that each of us was on the same page. In retrospect, I’d say, this was really useful, because each of us was then clear about what we were supposed to do. Then we took off on how we were going to tackle the question. We discussed the pros and cons of the possible methods and together came up with a good programming method for the CEG Hypermarket inventory system. All in all, the meeting was quite useful. All of us were able to present our ideas, pose interjections, resolve our queries, and keep ourselves abreast of the lab requirements:). Thus, it reduced our work tremendously and also, through group effort we were able to come up with a good solution, which would not have been possible individually.
I’ve always enjoy working in a group. Why? Well because of several reasons:-
• You always tend to learn more when you work in a group, and faster.
• The work gets reduced to such an extent, that each person can give enough time to the part he or she has to cover, and thus on the whole, a better job will be done
• Working in a group can also be very enjoyable, as opposed to working individually which may seem quite monotonous!
Thus to sum up, I quote:
"Individually, we are one drop. Together, we are an ocean.”
Hey Sasha,
ReplyDeleteI do agree that initially we were much more reserved towards each other than after the meeting has ended. As we were unfamiliar with each other, we kept most of our thoughts to ourselves. But as the meeting continues, we became more comfortable and hence were able to verbalise our own opinions to the rest easily. In a discussion or decision based meeting, there has to be a healthy input of comments to make the meeting meaningful.
I also agree that one can learn more working as a group instead of working individually. Everybody takes a different method in approaching a problem, and looking at everyone’s idea helps in sieving out the strengths and weakness of your own idea. In this way, you will be able to modify your own idea and substantiate it with justifications. Hence, learning becomes mutual and everyone will benefit from such interactions.
Cheers,
Yifan