The following is the team working agreement signed at the beginning of the project. Its purpose is to set guidelines for the project, outline expectations for each other, and establish common goals. It was later revised halfway into the project, allowing for additional guidelines, expectations, and goals to be established.

 

Team Working Agreement  

Term Spring 2023  

Creation 2/8/2023 

   

1) Group Identification  

Section #: 8092  

Team name: S2  

Instructor(lecturer): Dr.Krista Kecskemety 

Instructor (GTA): Lizzie Lewandowski                                                         

Team member info:   

NAME:	EMAIL:		OTHER:
Andrew Xia	Xia.724@osu.edu
Christo Boudreault	Boudreault.3@osu.edu		christoboudreault@gmail.com
Paul Paciorek	Paciorek.15@osu.edu
Yuxin Han	Han.1945@osu.edu		Yuxin#3977

   

2) Primary Means of Communication and Expectations  

        Communications: Message.  

Expectation: Read the messages and leave an indication that they were read within 12 hours.  

3)  Scheduling of Meetings (Schedule at least one meeting as part of constructing your team agreement.)  

Scheduling of meetings: random scheduled time TBD 

Location: Zoom, Christo’s apartment 

Note: if it can be done on the text message, then done it on the message. Prioritize texting over formal meetings. 

4) General Responsibilities for All Team Members  

• Make sure work is done before the deadline.  

• Pull your own weight.  
• Be active in group communications.  
• Be nice and respectful.  
• Be democratic in decision making.  
• Finish all the work before deadlines. 

  

5) Conflict Resolution  

When there are problems within our group pertaining to the general responsibilities or specific responsibilities, the following steps will be taken in this order until a resolution is found.  

1. Enter conflict resolution assuming good intentions from teammates.  
2. Discuss problems within the group to come to a working solution, trying to make sure all members can participate in the discussion.  
3. Give each person a chance to speak. So first one person, then the next, etc.  
4. Hold a team discussion of the problem with a GTA or Professor to find a solution.  
5. If 2 and 3 fail, ask a GTA or Professor to decide (arbitrate).  

   

6) Expectations of Faculty and GTA’s   

Statement:  

If a team member fails to live up to this agreement, the situation may be reported to the staff, but the team will still be responsible for submitting a completed assignment.  Staff will be available to meet with teams to resolve issues.    

   

7) Team Signatures  

Signature for each student is to be included.  

Yuxin Han 

Paul Paciorek 

Andrew Xia 

Christo Boudreault 

 

-The number of platforms we use for communication allow us to reach each other at all hours of the day.

-We have done well in terms of frequently communicating with each other, as we will contact each other with questions, notifications about deadlines, assigning work to each other, and giving general updates to the team. This mutual communication allows us to know what goes on with every assignment, even if we aren’t necessarily assigned to it.

-I believe that due to our schedule structure, everyone is making equal contributions within the group. Assigning two people to an assignment prevents members from trailing behind, as both members are essential to the completion of the project. 

-In the project schedule, we have listed the expectations for everyone, and so no further definition is necessary.

-When we have disagreed, we have worked so that everyone is able to come to the same consensus. If we were to come to a point where the group is divided, a vote/discussion would be held. I believe this implements democracy into our group, and allows everyone’s voice and mind to be heard.

Reflection:

We believe that the agreement we made in the beginning of the year still holds up, and nobody had anything to change on the agreement. All pertinent contact information and even some additional contact information is provided within the team working agreement. This streamlines communication and makes sure that each member can contact any other with ease. Our primary means of communication is digital message, this has been working quite effectively as all members have smartphones and laptops. We have even been able to zoom members into class via our laptops, which adds another safety net to prevent any group members from falling behind. Our contact method seeks to minimize time and effort, which will reduce internal friction and conflict within the team. For this reason, we frequently communicate with each other, using a variety of platforms in order to ask questions, making sure we are all keeping up with our assignments according to the deadlines and standards we have set as a group, and giving general updates pertinent to the project. To give an example of our communication method, a team member shoots out a detailed text explaining what they have completed and what needs to be completed by other members and when; in this situation, all members are able to read the text at their own convenience and the text is saved on their phone for future reference on what to do. Conversely, if an in-person meeting had been called there would be increased travel time, and the tasks talked about would not be inherently recorded – someone would have to write down the tasks in order to reference them later. Because of the challenges and lack of convenience associated with it, in-person meetings have not been necessary so far. However, if necessary, the option to work at Christo’s apartment for a noise-reduced environment still remains. In order to meet ideal standards, we adhere to a guideline of getting work done a day before the deadline so that we can fix any mistakes that may have been made. This has prevented several mistakes from being submitted so far, and will continue to prevent mistakes in the future. In regards to mutual contribution, everyone has been pulling their own weight in our team, completing assignments and meeting standards set by the group. If one were to hypothetically fall behind on an assignment, our established communication methods would allow for the rest of us to hold them to the group standards and provide any assistance if necessary. Additionally, having a second group member also assists accountability, as both members will feel motivated to contribute in order to meet each other’s standards. Our conflict resolution methods have been proven to work, as we have already had conflicts and resolved them internally using said methods. Most importantly, our team is operating as a unit. This is supported by the structure of our team working agreement, aided by our frequent communication, and protected by our conflict resolution methods. To put it simply, the team has progressed through the ‘forming and storming’ stages of development, and is now entering ‘norming’ with the horizon on ‘performing’.