Assessment 3 Project Reflection.

So here we are. Project 3 and our time in the spring flex has come to an end. These 4 weeks have truly felt like a semester but in some ways so much more. They really aren't joking around when they describe this as an intensive course.

And now before I can sign off on the academic year and finally buy some christmas presents for my family (cutting it fine, I know), I must unpack our final project and reflect on it or something like that.

For the sake of some semblance of structure and planning this reflection will follow the DIEP reflective learning model.

DESCRIBE.

Here is how we managed our project. From the begining we utilised a very flat management structure whereby we had no clearly appointed leader instead major decisions about the project and the delegation of tasks were determined by frequent group meetings. During these group meetings we would begin by recapping individual progress on the tasks set in the previous meeting, then working collaborative on major parts of the project and then determining and delegating the tasks to undertake by the next meeting and f course receiving regular input from Dr Ella. We made a habit of staying half an hour or more after class to work together on the project and always used a whiteboard to assist in visualising our plans.

INTERPRET.

Our management style worked extremely well but it definitely helped having a team of reliable and focused individuals. Every group member was very upfront about their abilities and as a result we were able to delegate tasks according to the skills and interests of the individual. The frequency of our group meetings meant communication and project progress was always clear and the face to face communication built trust and rapport between the group members.

EVALUATE.

The long term benefit of this project was the experience gained from managing a project within a short term and frenetic time frame. We have really learned to be proactive in managing our project and continually planning multiple steps ahead. Other benefits are the connections we made within our cohort which can help to form teams again in the future. It was also incredibly rewarding to work with this supportive and fun team. Being able to throw out any idea and receive complete honesty was really central to our team as was our trust in each others abilities to play their role.

PLAN.

This project has made me feel ready and capable to begin considering what real world projects would be like. I hope that future internships will have the same opportunity to be creative and free thinking in finding solutions as this course has.

I couldn't have asked for a better team for this project and it would be a shame if this is the last project we work on together.