Project Planning, continued

Team Meeting: 1.5 hours
Reviewing project plan: 1 hour
Having written my assigned sections of the project plan last week, I did not find myself spending a lot of time on the team project this week, as I had done in previous weeks. I waited for input from my teammates on their parts of the plan and gave my feedback as needed.
As for the team meeting, this week “fences were mended”. We had an honest chat about the friction and the communication problems that we experienced the weeks before. We came to the agreement of dividing the tasks more clearly among us. Instead of writing collectively each assignment and creating a tangled web, we decided to have each member take ownership of one section of the project and create a draft to be reviewed by others for suggestions and not for re-creation. As a result, the sections of the project that I will be working on will be the Content Analysis and the Research-Based Instructional Strategy. I expressed my concerns for the scope of the content requested by our client. I fear that including all of the workshop content in the refresher that we will be developing might not be well catered to the learner’s needs. I feel that some of the content is well-embedded in the company’s culture and does not need to be included in the refresher. Thus are my regrets for not having done a learner’s analysis. Hopefully, working closely with the client/SME on the content analysis will resolve my concerns. In addition, it was agreed to bring this issue up during the upcoming lunch with him. Unfortunately, I had to miss the lunch since it was not possible to find a time that is convenient for all of us to meet with our client over the lunchtime hour. During the team meeting we also discussed our client’s request to use Articulate. That was another concern for me, having to learn a new tool while maintaining the timely delivery of the product and its quality. However, our client assured us that Articulate is an easy tool to use. Hopefully, we will not encounter problems in that area.
Besides working on the project, I worked on my professional blog. I still do not find this task easy to do. Reconciling meaningful content, few words and semi-research-based approach is a new skill I need to work on.
Reflections
Not much to reflect on this week with the small role I had to play in the project. However, about group dynamics, it takes courage to face problems, compromise can be achieved even when it is emotionally difficult, and tension and differences can be tamed, hopefully diffused and not internalized.