Tyler Hilton

As Project Manager, I was required to delegate responsibilities and tasks amongst the members of the group and to oversee the project. Although I thought this may be a challenge but not too difficult, problems started to arise when the deadline of the project was approaching and there were still many tasks that needed completing. As a group, we had not discussed the necessary deadlines of certain tasks to ensure that we were prepared for the showcase on time and, due to this, some members of the group, including myself, became stressed due to the uncertainty of whether all tasks would be completed timely.

Before I realised how time consuming some tasks were, I felt positive about the experience, and I was excited to see the outcome of our project. When I realised how little time we had left, I became stressed and frustrated with some members of the group as I had to repeatedly ask for frequent progress updates. Although there were some moments that I felt aggravated, the showcase went smoothly, and everyone knew their roles and had prepared all that had been asked of them.
We worked well as a group and envisioned the same outcome and were all driven to do well which contributed to the positive outcome of this experience. Neglecting to set deadlines for tasks was a mistake on my part as I feel as though this would have guided the group better as everyone would have known what they needed to do instead of me having to ask and tell them what they needed to do next.

I feel as though we all selected roles that fit us well and Belbin’s team roles (2010) reflects that, as it suggests that each person has strengths and weaknesses. Although we did not use the data we collected from Belbin’s team roles when we each took the questionnaire, noting everyone’s strengths and weaknesses and using them to delegate roles worked effectively. Although this allowed for confidence in our own work and skills, the lack of deadlines contributed to a lack of group cohesion and unequal workloads.

I learned that when managing a group project, tasks must be organised, and deadlines are a necessity to have a clear understanding of how the group and the project is progressing. Without these, it was extremely difficult to manage the team effectively and added more pressure to myself and to other members of the group as no one was able to clearly see progress being made.

When working on a group project again, I will ensure that tasks are listed clearly and that deadlines are set so that progression can clearly be seen and evaluated with possible use of a Gantt chart. If I have concerns about any tasks, I will ensure that I bring this up as soon as possible instead of waiting for team members to update me and then having ask for constant progress updates. This will therefore promote necessary communication and show the clear needed outcomes.