I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round.
I really love to watch them roll.
No longer riding on the merry-go-round.
I just had to let it go.
– John Lennon
I think Marty was right about getting into a rhythm of sorts in the semester. And definitely right about needing a LOT of zen in this class. At first it was like I was on a merry go round, and I was getting dizzy. I think I would have gotten ill from motion sickness if I couldn’t just let go, hence my homage to Mr. Lennon.
While the previous we have had some ups and downs in our home, this weekend and last week seemed smooth and god forbid, actually fun. Well besides the worry that my kidlet is going to stick a pea in her ear. 
One reflection from Project 3 that I wanted to share. I felt that our team worked great when we were all face to face. We did well at reasoning out situations and treating each other with respect and really working together. But one thing I have noticed on these projects on the whole is the lack of consistent communication and teamwork outside of the group meeting scenario. I don’t mean that we are working against each other at all, but it seems like a lot of people need someone in their face to be able to critique and provide feedback on work.
In my experience, the virtual environment is becoming the status quo. Most of the work you do for clients ends up being explained and modified via web meetings and conference calls. Money for travel and face to face meetings is kept to a minimal. For these reasons, it is important to be able communicate via emails or documents. Critiquing and providing feedback via email or tracking changes as necessary.
Even in this class it is important to me, because when I take a particular part of the project to do grunt work I would never want to assume that I am then completely responsible for that work – I am merely pulling it together and asking people to take it, change it and make it better. When I have done those exercises so far, there doesn’t seem to be much in the way of feedback until we meet face to face. With such little time for these projects that is really a waste of group time, since we should be ready to make decisions about the pieces and move on to the next phase.
Maybe other groups haven’t had this problem, but I thought I would just throw it out there.
I am excited to move on to the next project. This class has been refreshing in the mere fact that I get to work on things out side of my normal scope of travel technology. It is a welcome change.
