English 420Y - Business Writing Online

On Tuesday, July 10 I received my group assignment by e-mail from my instructor. I e-mailed my three other group members and gave them my cell phone number, AIM screen name, and my work and summer class schedule so they would know when I would be best available. Through e-mails, we figured out that we are in different places and we all have busy schedules that are often very different. We also have to account for differences in time zones when we make plans.

This week was a little confusing. The schedules of our group members will be very interesting to watch as the semester progresses. One member is out of the country and the rest of us are traveling and working numerous hours each week. Nonetheless, we were finally able to email each other and communicate somewhat effectively. We coordinated who is going to be doing what and assembled our Gantt chart. I tried to give some different ideas to possibly make our communication process easier, but it turns out that the wiki page and email will probably be the best way.

My group (Team 5) started out this week with communication through e-mail. John started off the thread and we continued from there. We all gave background information about where we are at the moment, major, etc. The group members all gave good ideas of how we should get the project finished. We might run into a bit of a conflict since Samana is in India and his time schedule is completely different from ours. I guess this is something that will keep us on our toes to complete projects ahead of time.

Work this week was very low if you looked only at our team output. However, we spent the bulk of the week communicating amongst the team, introducing ourselves and deciding what would be the most efficient use of our time dealing with not being able to physically meet. Thus, despite a low physical output, our comfort level within the team and our confidence has been raised by the fact that messages from team members have offered great insight into our project as well as being timely in their nature.

Our first introduction on the internet through email was interesting and pleasant. The participants gave background information, as well as, a daily schedule of their daily activities. Realizing that everyone is either working or is participating in an internship, we knew that this group project was going to be a difficult assignment. As of right now, two other members of my group participated very well to accomplish our first task of the Gantt Chart.

As for our first assigmente, I think it went well given the fact that we are working virtually and that its was kind of hard to divide up the work. As soon as I heard about my group I sent an e-mail to all my group members letting them know about the fact that I am 2 hours earlier than the rest (Colombia) and the fact that I was going to try my best to get things accomplished. All the other group members kind of did the same explaining what the situation was.

The biggest challenge for this project is communicating ideas with my group. One of my group members is actually in London and that really confuses the time zone situation. However, I think overtime we are getting the idea of it. This week I contributed greatly to the overall productivity of our group. I sent our numerous e-mails communicating with my group about ideas on communication and how exactly to go about this project. My group is communicating via the WIKI page set up by Mr. Tirrell. It appears to be going very well.

All during week 5, I believe that my group did a good job communicating. We all got to know ourselves and I sent out emails regarding my contact information. Communicating through the emails was simple and easy and it worked efficiently for all of us. One of the main things that I focused on was to reply to the emails on time. Even though I am in another country as of now, I still tried my best to reply quickly to the emails and keep an update of what is happening. After knowing ourselves we decided to discuss, the parts that each one is going to be responsible of.

I usually find group work very tedious, and sometimes very hard to get everyone on the same page. This time around I found getting in contact with other group members very easy. I worked very late this week and did not receive my emails until late last night. After receiving them I immediately contacted the rest of the group and apologized for my absence. One of my group members had already created the ganatt chart, with the help of the other members.

Initiating contact and establishing roles is sometimes the hardest part of group word. However, our group did a good job of getting started working on this project. We all quickly responded to initial emails. We first introduced ourselves and commented about how we were excited to work together on the project. My first response to my group was one of excitement. I was glad to see that everyone was checking their email regularly and responded to my email. Even when Patrick went to Chicago, we still heard back from him. The first order of business for our group was to create our Gantt Chart.