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Fail of Your Day

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  • True teamwork is really fucking hard. It's tempting to take control and just do it yourself, and sometimes that is warranted. However, you also have to learn how to adapt yourself to what other people can do. Otherwise, you can become one of those "my way or the highway" types.
    Yeah. And also, part of the reason that multiple people work on projects is that sometimes there is more work than one person can reasonably do. That's the main reason for teamwork in the workplace. You can't just do everything yourself because there are literally not enough hours in the day.
  • You can't just do everything yourself because there are literally not enough hours in the day.
    And very often, when you try to do it all yourself, you invariably fuck things up in a way that can make the whole thing useless.

    So yes, teammates can be a problem. The whole point of these group projects is to teach you problem-solving skills that don't revolve around being a tyrannical control freak.
  • Coerced teamwork is almost always a disaster. In the real world, you can fire the dead weight. ;^)
  • Sad part is, we did choose our groups. We just made a bad choice.
  • Every group I ever interacted with for work in school was either a disaster or effectively several individual unrelated projects due to clever planning on our part to mitigate the impact of an idiot. I never encountered this sort of problem again once I entered the workforce. The only thing I learned from group projects was to mitigate the impact of idiots and, if possible, cut them out of your group while covering your ass against their failures.
  • edited April 2011
    Coerced teamwork is almost always a disaster. In the real world, you can fire the dead weight. ;^)
    Unless you work for the state.
    Post edited by Nuri on
  • Yeah. I really feel bad for the guy, he's gonna make a terrible Game Design employee someday, whereas I have effectively shown the ability to make critical design, code, and organizational choices in the heat of the moment. I am driving this project forward, with other people supplementing areas by basically doing work that I could've done but am not doing since it is in fact a group project.
    I'm really just mad that he lied. He can be as terrible as he wants, but lying about it? That's the messed up part.
  • Unless you work for the state.
    Ahhh... The moral? Don't work for the state. ;^)
  • edited April 2011
    Am I the only one who has had good group assignment experiences? I mean, sometimes it turns out sucky, but when I was in college studying Forestry, my groups always rocked. We had physical ground to cover, not just work, so we couldn't do it all ourselves. We also split up the writing of the final management plan (our curriculum's main project/thesis/thingy) to play to each person's strengths. Even though some people were smarter than others, and some people were more physically fit than others, it all worked out well because we figured out how to maximize each person's contribution according to their abilities. Group assignments are not just about getting the work done. They are about learning the skill of dividing and conquering.
    I'm really just mad that he lied. He can be as terrible as he wants, but lying about it? That's the messed up part.
    That's really the kicker. If people admit their weaknesses, you can work with them. If not, you can't.
    Post edited by Nuri on
  • edited April 2011
    Am I the only one who has had good group assignment experiences?
    Nope. Mine turned out generally fine, because we worked together and adapted to suit different people's strengths.

    Rym's not exactly a team player. :P
    That's really the kicker. If people admit their weaknesses, you can work with them. If not, you can't.
    Yeah, that's a case where you need to do something about the dead weight.
    Post edited by TheWhaleShark on
  • Rym's not exactly a team player. :P
    I'd take charge of every group and split the project up such that any number of people could disappear/fail/die and we'd still be able to turn in a deliverable and get a decent grade. That initial meeting was usually the extent of the collaboration. ;^)
  • I have a Corporations exam in 2.5 hours and I don't give a shit at all. It's open book/notes/whatever print sources you feel like bringing. Just no internet. After the two exams I took on Tuesday and Wednedsay, I have no motivation to study anything.
  • It's open book/notes/whatever print sources you feel like bringing.
    Print print? Or Kindle print? ;^)
  • I'd take charge of every group
    And thus my point. :P
  • I think something is being missed. I am not saying to take control of the group. Not saying you should boss everyone around. I'm saying that after your work there you should not rely upon others. You should have contingency plans in place to make up/replace whatever those other people are doing.

    I keep running into this sort of stuff when interfacing with other companies. For a semi recent example, I developed an API for our customers to submit orders to our system to increase the amount of orders we could process. Their system is a mess with tons of manual transcription from their web dashboard, no export or anything just a webpage. I gave them the instructions for the API to interface with our systems and sent them examples and did everything but write the script for them.

    In the interim I developed a scrapper to log into their web dashboard and parse their webpages to get the data and then feed it into our system.

    2 weeks go by and I hear nothing.

    Now my boss is getting anxious because he wants to increase business with them, but we'd need to either have an automatic system in place or hire 3 more people just to screw with this manual entry system.

    I just turn on the scrapper and tell him its done.

    Simple, little hassle. No "I'm sorry but I'm waiting on their guy." or "Well, my part is done."

    I can just turn on my alternate plan and be done with it. Maybe in the future when/if they ever get around to writing their script to work with our systems I'll stop eating their bandwidth and consuming their server cycles.

    My point is that unless you know these people, have worked with them before, and trust them you shouldn't let your grades, or professional work, hang upon their performance.

    You need not be a control freak, just make sure the project gets done. If it means routing around someone you are unsure of or it means relying upon someone you know and trust, thats fine. Just do your part. And when you're done, do more.
  • So, I declared my major recently. It went fine, no snags. However, now I'm registering for Study Abroad classes, and there was seemingly a clause in said transfer saying that I must complete an on-campus graduation requirement my junior year, even though most people I know take this specific requirement senior year. This has the minute but not-unworrying chance of completely, utterly fucking up my study abroad plans, which have quickly become "escape to a European city to avoid killing myself" plans. That's only half of the fail.

    The other half is the reason this particular clause exists. When I visited a counselor to figure it out, I was told that it was there to "get people to complete the graduation requirements sooner, to improve the rate of graduation [in four years]."

    That's right: My chances at doing something fucking incredible are being jeopardized by the complete idiocy of other people who entered this school undecided and, unlike me, never figured out what they want to do with their lives.
  • Print print? Or Kindle print? ;^)
    Print print, but I don't have a kindle, so it doesn't matter that much.
  • So, I declared my major recently. It went fine, no snags. However, now I'm registering for Study Abroad classes, and there was seemingly a clause in said transfer saying that I must complete an on-campus graduation requirement my junior year, even though most people I know take this specific requirement senior year. This has the minute but not-unworrying chance of completely, utterly fucking up my study abroad plans, which have quickly become "escape to a European city to avoid killing myself" plans. That's only half of the fail.

    The other half is the reason this particular clause exists. When I visited a counselor to figure it out, I was told that it was there to "get people to complete the graduation requirements sooner, to improve the rate of graduation [in four years]."

    That's right: My chances at doing something fucking incredible are being jeopardized by the complete idiocy of other people who entered this school undecided and, unlike me, never figured out what they want to do with their lives.
    Booh-yah: Loophole found, there is hope yet.
  • edited April 2011
    I have had good group experiences at university because the groups I was in were mostly allocated by GPA, or selected by the students.

    My friends have told me about shitty courses where the groups are randomly allocated or some such, but I have not done courses like that.
    Post edited by lackofcheese on
  • This is Mambo.
    image
    She has an abscess in her foot that may require surgery, which will cost almost $800. Either way, I'm really worried about her.
  • Holy shit, it's Funfetus! Good to see you! But so sorry about your cat D:
  • Holy shit, it's Funfetus! Good to see you! But so sorry about your cat D:
    I know. I saw you online on the sidebar and was like OMG! Funfetus!

    But I'm so sorry to hear about your kitty. I will hope and wish good thoughts your way for her.
  • Hey, guys. Good to see you too. :) I had to take a nice long break from much of the internet. But hopefully, now I can just have a few internets on the weekend, socially.
  • Understandable. It will be good to have you back. Hope all is well with you and the comic creating world. Did you ever move up to Oregon?
  • Hey, guys. Good to see you too. :) I had to take a nice long break from much of the internet. But hopefully, now I can just have a few internets on the weekend, socially.
    Awwwww yeah. Hey man, how's tricks? Saw the drawing you put up on your blog, amazing as usual. It'll be good to see you around again.
  • Fark.... Just got a call.. Now not only is Laura's Dad about to die (probably today or tomorrow) and I'm preparing to leave today or tomorrow to go out to her.

    Double Fail: My dad just called and said my grandfather has a slim chance of making it through the week due to pneumonia... (my last grandparent)
  • My great Aunt, who I just recently got to know due to family drama (she and my mom had issues while I was growing up, and my mom wouldn't really let me get to know her side of the family) is dying of cancer. I had meant to spend more time with her, and just recently we'd gotten information that she was 98% cancer free, but they found the cancer in her spinal fluid yesterday.
    The message I got from my cousin is as follows:
    I wanted to let you know that Mom's cancer has spread to her spinal fluid and they have called in hospice, there is no more treatment and it is an aggressive cancer.
    I will tell you - we are more than likely looking at just a few weeks at most. They say the cancer is very aggressive since it grew while she was under chemo - so we may not have a lot more time. I know it is hard for you to get away so please don't feel you have to.
    She sleeps mostly and does not communicate - I know she can hear us, but she doesn't talk and very rarely opens her eyes.
    I have started playing soothing music in her room to help her be more peaceful.
  • When my mom called to talk to me about my aunt, she also told me she has developed polyps. She had some in her uterus (so she's having a hysterectomy) but she has also now developed some in her colon.
    She was also very against the idea of visiting my aunt.

    It's been a really rough day.
  • It's been a really rough day.
    For many people apparently.
  • Ugh just spent all day cleaning out and packing up my dorm. Tired as a motherfucker. Also, we have dialup at home and my room doesn't have a phone jack so I probably won't be on the internets all that much for a while.
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