The project was a simple exercise that was an example of what can happen when communication breaks down or appears to break down. My partner and I had some communication problems but they were resolved. The lines of communication must be in total sync in order for collaboration to be successful.
The steps for producing a paper airplane are easy, Sharon hit it dead on. My only suggestion was to use a straight edge to crease the folds for a better and crisper fold.This was a great deal smoother than other group projects that I have been involved with. Each person put forth with their suggestions and we went from there.
Sharon did a great job of making the directions for our target audience, young children. She made the steps easy to follow to the finish product. She conveyed the point of the exercise, the production of a toy plane made from paper that children themselves could make from a 8.5 by 11" piece of paper. The simple folding the paper in the specific way the steps indicate, results in a toy that they made on their own.
The main problem that I see with group projects are there are too many chiefs and no Indians. The agenda is not a matching one. Everyone has something of their own that they re trying to accomplish other than the purpose or goals of the group's reason for being formed in the first place.
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Working in sales most of my working life, any writing that I did was on my own and then the company would review it and change it the way that they wanted it to read. I did a research project for Culligan Water Treatment of Napa, CA. I spent several weeks collecting the research data from the test site. I assembled the data in the best form that I knew at the time, 1986.
ReplyDeleteKnowing now what I have learned since being in school, I would have asked for some help from the main office for the technical knowledge that I was lacking at the time. It cost the company a job in excess of one hundred thousand dollar project.
Presently, I volunteer at MARC, Inc. in Manchester, CT in the Marketing Department. This is set up more conducive to the collaboration process to run very smoothly. Each department gives time to up date the information on their department and I revise and edit copy into new documents. This is the best situation in the work place that I have encountered.
After reading Debs article, I can understand why companies are always looking for technical writers. They seem to be going about it the wrong way. According to the article, they may have the solution to their problems right in front of their noses. when they set up the groups, they need to allow them to function in the capacity that they were designed.
The goals and ground rules are not clearly defined so it is like a rudderless ship in a storm. Nothing gets done and everybody is fighting with each other. A poor quality of work is the result