It isn’t until you are faced with a time-sensitive project that the importance of a deadline matters. And it isn’t until you have worked on a group project that the deadline matters even more. Normally, deadlines are simple, followed, and easy to keep in mind because it is on you if the assignment or project isn’t finished on time. However, when working with a group to accomplish a similar project, the deadline becomes a lot more crucial. The deadline tests everyone’s patience and trust for the other members, and it can result in a tense work atmosphere.
Recently, I was not blessed, but more challenged with the task of writing a group essay with four other teammates. At first glance, it doesn’t seem all that bad, and that’s what I thought too. But dig a little bit deeper and the ugly truth reveals itself. As a group we decided to challenge ourselves, and try to gather as much essay writing experience before our essays get submitted for points in January. The simplicity of that goal was very unrealistic. In no way were we prepared for the stressful four weeks that followed our decision to write an essay together.
The topic of language and communication was fascinating to everyone and we were all excited to get researching on our selected subtopics. Once we’d completed our research and observed training sessions from within the school, the writing process was supposed to start. That’s where we made the first mistake. There was no decided deadline for when research was supposed to be finished, or reding was supposed to be done. Without having a little research deadline, this meant everyone had finished their outside studying at all different times, and some teammates had written their rough drafts before others had started researching. Without knowing the benefits of setting smaller deadlines within the one big due date, we kept going, and kept working on our own without checking in. Then it all came crashing down. Myself and two others had finished their part of the essay completely, and the other two members hadn’t even opened the document. At that point it became clear that a meeting was needed to discuss deadlines and the timeline of the essay writing and editing. The tense teams call resulted in the team admitting we had all had poor communication issues that easily could have been avoided. So, we decided to then set the weekend as a deadline for writing, so the editing team could step in and fix up the essay before submission. As one of the editors, I found it incredibly frustrating to see someone still actively writing in the document two days after the decided deadline, because it pushed back the editing deadline further and now there was the risk of missing the deadline altogether.
Working in a group setting, where group decisions are made, and all opinions contributed should create a group that trusts one another, right? Wrong. Trust takes time to feel real and mean something, and in a short four weeks it is nearly impossible to gain that level of trust. However, surface level trust where all members in a group project can be affected if someone doesn’t do their part should be feasible no matter what. Before even getting started on a challenging group project, everyone should be able to admit if they are up for it, and if they have time to dedicate to it. Alos discussing the skill level and experience levels of everyone in the group ahead of time will help dramatically. It is very alarming to jump headfirst into the deep end of a pool and then realize that you can’t swim! Meaning, know if everyone is capable of writing an essay, or capable of handling the chosen project long before the final decision is made. Not clearing the air before a challenging group essay for example, will result in tense relations with the people after, jumping to conclusions, miscommunication, stress, and the uncovering of many ugly truths along the way. I’ve definitely learned the hard way that setting deadlines is crucial, as it provides the opportunity for little check in points along the way to prevent communication issues and ensure that everyone is on track.
-Ella Muja
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