As the Semester Comes to an End... Yehey!

This semester is very different from the previous one.  Four of my modules are team-oriented: CG1102, CG1108, CG1413, and BSP1005.

I like this set-up and I enjoy it.  It is exciting.  There is more interaction among students and lecturers.  Thus, students and lecturers get to know more of one another and get along well with each other.

In this light, there is better communication within tutorial groups and laboratory groups, which extends even beyond the classroom setting within the cohort.  As I interacted with different persons from different backgrounds and nationalities (CEG is a rather diverse group), I have learned from their different personalities, work ethics, wisdom, knowledge, and even language and culture.

Within the academic setting, I modestly believe that I have done satisfactorily as a team member and as a communicator.  In leading a team which happened most of the time, I exerted my full effort in being a responsible leader to achieve the team’s goal.  I gave my best in initiating, coordinating and planning its activities such as meetings and targeting deadlines.  Since I believe that communication is vital for a team to work successfully, I kept everyone updated and asked for updates on the tasks finished, being done and still needed to be done.

As a team member, I have done well in submitting my own quality deliverables on time.  I always contributed to the team’s objectives to the best of my ability.

There is a good amount of learning experience I have gained from these team settings.  One of which is I was able to discover, explore and exploit different avenues of communicating and collaborating online (wikis, e-groups, messengers and the like).

I remember my thoughts on communication and teamwork at the start of the semester.  As I have stated in my first blog post, “To be a successful team, there must be teamwork. To have teamwork, there must be effective communication.”

Looking back, this is a thought that has motivated my actions.  This is a belief that has inspired my labors.

In terms of teamwork and communication, it is a job well done for me and for my teammates, a success, I can say.  These modules required me to invest a lot of time on them, but there is a lot of learning gained from it.  I do hope that I have indeed done very well on these modules.  Good grades are rewards like a pat on the back saying, “Well done!  Excellent job!  Keep it up!”

Above all, I am very delighted to have worked with such wonderful classmates and awesome lecturers. Thank you Mr. James! This semester gave me the opportunity to tap my potential, exercise and improve my different skills and abilities together with different talented people.  I am thankful for being a part of this rewarding and fulfilling experience!

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Persuading the NUS Office of Estate & Development

The presentation was aimed at convincing representatives of the National University of Singapore (NUS) Office of Estate & Development that a current problem concerning their Office and the NUS community exists. It was also aimed at persuading them to accept the team’s proposed solution. In such situation, the presentation must be formal as it discusses serious professional matter.

As in Oral Presentation (OP) 1, I believe that I was also able to effectively control good pacing in OP 2. The pronunciation of words and diction were excellently delivered. There was no stammering; and use of the word “ah…” was very minimal. The points where I wanted to put stress and emphasis were clearly conveyed using pauses. This is essential and crucial in persuasive presentations. The information should be relayed neither too fast nor too slow. Together with clarity, the pace should allow the information to be internalized by the audience. This way, sound judgments can be made by the Authority based on good understanding of the details presented to them.

The professional setting of the presentation limited our team to being conservative with the use of non-verbal actions. The visual aids, though exhibited in plain and simple slides, were effectively used while maintaining eye contact with the audience simultaneously. Thanks to Mr. James’ suggestion on animating the points and illustrations. I believe that the team was able to guide the audience through the content better than without animations.

In my opinion, I made an excellent job in effectively conveying to the audience the problem in a simple, non-technical, yet comprehensive manner; and convincing them to agree to the solution that the team was proposing. I was confident; I knew the content of the article well. I made optimal use of the 9-minute time interval allotted me. Altogether, it is a job very well done by me and my whole team – a good progress from OP1.

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Taking a Look at Myself, Literally

While recording the video last Wednesday, I was a bit conscious.  Being aware of the situation that whatever happens during the video will be watched afterwards, I did my best to look appropriate.  I felt that this circumstance led me to deviate some of my focus from the topic at hand.  During the first few minutes, this was the case.  After a short while, I felt that the discussion became more natural and it seemed that things were falling into the right places.

While watching the video, I was amused.  That is me!?!  Hahas!  One major action that I noticed myself doing was smiling which I did a lot during the meeting.  It was even accompanied by a few laughs here and there.  This might have caused distractions for my team mates.  Everything else looks fine.  My thoughts during the recording of the video did not really show in my actual actions.

Regarding the role that I played in the meeting, I feel that I satisfactorily carried out my job as the team leader.  I found it challenging to start the meeting, though.  It was like starting a fire with the use of wooden sticks and dry leaves.  I had to heat it up first to obtain a burning exchange of ideas.  Throughout the meeting, I knew that I was able to hold everyone to focus towards the things that the team had to discuss and finish debating about.  A few sidetracking moments were successfully put back into place.

After reviewing the video, I strongly believe that our team did an excellent job for this particular meeting.  It was efficient and effective.  Everyone was prompt for the meeting and brought everything that was required of them.  Everyone had their share of ideas.  While the meeting did not take too much time to finish, from analyzing the problem to the laying down of groundwork for the solution and the writing of the final proposal, everything was successfully discussed during the meeting.  Every item on the agenda was successfully resolved.

A job well-done, team mates!  Thank you!

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It Takes Two to Tango, Three to Have a Spectator

It was Wednesday. Five days before the submission deadline.

Jack was delaying the team. He was able to send in his part of the code for the team project only now. According to the team’s Gantt chart, it should have been sent a week ago. He had his reasons: he got sick. Valid, but he didn’t try to keep in touch during those times - no email replies, no return calls, and, this was not the first time he suddenly went missing in action.

Jack, John and you combined the team’s 2,000 lines of code and tested it.

It was not working properly.

For the next two days, debugging was the issue. No one could find the root cause of the problem.

Friday. Three days before the deadline.

By Monday, the program should have been working and running in perfect condition for demonstration. During class, a hardcopy of the thirty page final report shall be submitted and a group oral defence shall be done.

Due to the record of Jack’s lack of team involvement, John, an experienced programmer, suggested to redo Jack’s code with you since he suspected that Jack’s code was causing the problem.

Saturday. Two days away from the submission deadline.

Confirmed. Since the new code is now working perfectly fine with John’s and your original codes, Jack’s code has had the problem. He admitted that he rushed his code. This made you and John upset. Obviously, both of you observed that Jack is not putting as much effort into this project as everyone else does. John and you are both feeling resentment against Jack while the latter remains in his usual self. He seems to be free-riding all the while since everyone will be receiving the same grade, anyway.

Less than 48 crucial hours left before the submission deadline.

The final report is yet to be made and everyone has to be prepped for the oral defence.
 
As the leader of the team, how will you divide the composition of the final report? Will you still entrust a portion of the final project content to Jack? How will you deal with him?

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REFERENCE

1. Tokka Week: 4. Two to Tango (Edited Image Source): http://empty-smile.deviantart.com/art/Tokka-Week-4-Two-to-Tango-93737149
2. Blue Pills (Edited Image Source): http://empty-smile.deviantart.com/art/Blue-Pills-98896709

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Mixing a Heterogeneous Mixture

Third week of January, year 2010.

Second CG1108 “Electrical Engineering” laboratory meeting.

First graded requirement.

The NUS Computer Engineering students were tasked to create a forklift robot using LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 Robotics Kit. It must traverse through a course, pick up a load and deliver the load to a platform.

We had three hours to work on the challenge: two hours to build and program; one 5-minute timeslot to demonstrate a successful run; the rest was grace period.

This challenge was presented to the class a week earlier. The teams were formed and assigned and I found myself working with a very multicultural team of FIVE: five members, five native tongues, five religious beliefs, four nationalities and four races - all these differences in one team. We all met each other in this module the first time.

Given this intercultural scenario, the following are highly probable: there could be language barriers to effective communication that we might likely encounter and cultural differences that might introduce conflicts.

With the pressure of finishing the task under a constrained environment, effective team communication was of the essence.

So how did the heterogeneous team proceed with work in spite of these two foreseen difficulties?

We communicated consciously and sensitively.

If one had difficulty speaking to convey his idea, he or she would try to explain visually while the other party focuses on having listening eyes to understand. Everyone consciously tried to communicate in a manner that each understood and was being understood.

We bridged gaps and built connections.

We quickly set-up an online communication platform and made a point to hold a meeting prior to the testing day. The meet-ups and constant communication developed a relationship among the team members. Shyness and inhibitions were overcome. Trust was developed. An open intellectual exchange of ideas became easily achievable.

Thankfully, after successfully working in a heterogeneous intercultural team, the motivation to overcome the challenges made all of us reach our homogeneous goal - finishing the forklift robot challenge. As an icing to the cake, we even achieved one of the fastest times to finish in our laboratory group.

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REFERENCE

1. LEGO.com Mindstorms Homepage (Content): http://mindstorms.lego.com/en-us/default.aspx
2. NXT Forklift Building Instructions (Content): http://www.nxtprograms.com/NXT2/forklift/steps.html
3. CG1108 Electrical Engineering Forklift Challenge - G02 Performance Test (Video): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhQ5tq4ViHs

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Communication, Teamwork, and Success

To be a successful team, there must be teamwork. To have teamwork, there must be effective communication.

We use communication every day and every time. We send messages to recipients by means of spoken words, written messages, body movements, and non-verbal cues.

We show our feelings, concretize our thoughts, and express our opinions – everything through communication.

Teamwork is about a group of people who works together to achieve a common goal that will benefit the whole team. To mobilize a team, clear objectives must be set. Before commencing actions, planning must be done. To progress towards the realization of a goal, the members must contribute and bring something to the team’s table.

In doing so, it is hard to remove the elements of the communication model in a collaborative environment. There is a need to pass an idea from a sender to a recipient. Moreover, there is a need to send a feedback (another idea) related to the idea. This is present in every stage of a functioning team and this cycle is a never-ending pattern within the team’s setting.

Can you imagine a brainstorming session where no one shares his ideas?

It must be a very unproductive session, if it is so.

As such, communication is an inevitable part of teamwork. For me, effective communication plays a vital role in the success of a team.

Imagine a piece of a wooden stick. A stick can be easily broken into smaller pieces.

Imagine a group of wooden sticks. Bundle them together in an orderly fashion. Even if bent, it will be hard to break a bundle of sticks.

Same goes with a team. When a group of people bonds with each other, decides to work together and aligns their vision towards a common goal, they will begin to realize that achieving their goal will not be too far away.

How do we achieve this?

We COMMUNICATE.

To gain what?

TEAMWORK.

Why do we need teamwork?

To achieve SUCCESS.

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REFERENCE

1. Teamwork Inspirational Banner (Image): http://www.sirhc.info/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/teamwork.jpg 
2. Aesop’s Fable – The Father and His Sons (Content): http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_aesop_father_sons.htm 

3. The Communication Process (Image): http://www.mindtools.com/CommSkll/CommunicationIntro.htm

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