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The Management Eggs group project was a great way to open the door to the concept of planning. Although, this was not a true measure of how a group may perform in reality (since we did not win), this still can give us a broad idea of what planning for a group objective under a time constraint may be like.
In Step 1 of the planning process, my group did a great job at defining what had to be done. We carefully analyzed the assignment, and were sure to ask the professor to clear up any questions. Once we understood everything, we set the main objective of minimizing the amount of egg shell that would actually absorb the initial impact. From here, we determined the best way to get the greatest deference of force was to create triangle like straws that would create points that would be the first to receive the force (or so we thought).
We spent a lot of time in Step 2, determining how many straws would be used for points, how many points this would create, and if we could possibly spare any straws to create more space between straw and eggshell to act as a cushion. One strength was identified, being that one team member had actually followed the same approach for the same experiment in 8th grade. However, the main weakness of the group was that we spent a massive amount of time trying to explain exactly what we meant with our models. Miscommunication was the overall waste of time for the group, which lead to misinterpretations for how many resources would need to be used for each possible model.
My group did not spend any time developing alternative strategies, mainly due to the fact that this was a one time deal. We felt we had one shot at making this work, and there was nothing we can do to alter that, so it was pointless to have an alternative. However, in reality, alternative and contingency plans are almost necessary. Although, it was in this “phase” that we did come up with the strategy to have the shortest person drop the egg.
Once we developed strategies, we allocated who was going to do what. We stationed 3 people at the scissor post to ensure that we would be the first to have all tools necessary, and would not be pressed for time. This worked well, as we were able to start all cutting processes right away, allowing us to utilize the rest of the time to fixing unforeseen problems in building the model.
We went through with our point and cushion strategy, along with the short person course of action. The only problems in our planning were due to the wrong strategy chosen, since our egg cracked. However, I would much likely follow similar steps in the real-world to a much larger sense.
4 comments:
Hi Stefan,
I totally agree with you. The fact that we were all trying to say different things rather than implementing one policy led to the failure.
I also feel that if we had gone according to the plan and not forced to tape the egg so much, we would have gotten the points as our egg actually did not break the first time.
Hey, hey!
I wonder if there's anything you would've done differently with regards to your team's problem with communicating. Or if you would have tried to divide your roles or point a leader to make executive decisions on any problems that may occur.
In any case, I agree that I probably would apply the same steps in a real-world situation though I think that many of us did do most of them without thinking about it.
Better luck next time!
Hey,
Even though your egg broke, it seems like your group really knew what you guys were doing. You basically went through all the steps of the planning process (minus the alternative solutions, b/c with this assignment, you dont get second chances anyways). So if your group had a chance to create the structure all over again, following your original strategy, do you think you guys would work a little differently together? I mean, maybe less explaining and more doing? After all, your strategy sounds really good, so perhaps if you had more time, you could create more cushionable triangles.
i think the most improtant parts of launching a project are communication and deciding a approach. if people cannot express their point clearly and directly , it would lag the process specially in a time restraint. Also, i guess everyone is in your group might try to persuade others to believe that their way is feasible so it causes struggle to make decide about the model
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