5. Group dynamics and final project#

These last weeks have been rich in experience! We teamed up in groups for our final project and started brainstorming and working around our problematics, and then around the solutions we could thinks of. The module will be organised in 3 main parts: * an introduction on problem and solution trees * how did we form the groups for the final project * what we did to start working on the problematics * some tools and theory about group dynamics

Problem and solution trees#

These “trees” are special mind maps that help having a global view of a problem, or of a solution, depending on the tree. Often, a project can be seen as the solving of a problem (but not always). However, in this course we are in this situation. The problem tree is the one you have to draw first, because you have to get some insights on the problem in order to bring a relevant solution. But how do you do that ?

Problem tree#

The first step is to identify the central point of your problem. It must not be too surge, or it will make the tree harder to design. Keep that thing in mind, and let it simmer while you draw a tree. You have to draw the stem and the foilage but the roots as well. Finished ? Write your problem on the stem, and on the roots, write the causes of the problem. You can also write the causes of the causes, etc. Link these ideas logically by drawing roots between them. Once you’ve done that, you can write the consequences of the main problem is the foilage, again, logically linked. Now you have a scenic view on the problem, its causes and consequences. As an exercice, we had to draw a problem tree at the beginning of the course, about a project that we find inspiring. I chose the As Bean association. I drew the tree on Inkscape but I can’t find the file anymore, so here is the paper version:

Solution tree#

The solution tree is not a tool to help you finding a solution to your problem. It is useful once you have the solution, and you want to elaborate it. It is the same process as the problem tree: you draw the solution on the stem. Then, in the foilage you explain what benefits does your solution bring, and in the roots you explain how you bring these benefits. Here is my solution tree for As Bean:

Formation of the team#

The first lesson was centered around on the formation of the teams. It took place in the L building of the U-square (the site where the FabLab is), and the dynamic of this lesson was really not classroom-like. As an assignment, every student had to think about a problematic he/she was concerned about, or was interested in.

My problematic#

On the lesson before that one, we briefly thought with Etienne about these problematics, after he introduced the Boutique des Sciences to us in class. During that time I though about multiple different problematics, and I felt more attached to one of them. Let me explain it to you by telling the context. In my street during this summer, many plant grew from between the slabs on the sidewalk in front of my home. I let them grow and some of them got pretty tall. On their sides, my neighbours were constantly removing the plants if front of their houses, and I wondered why they were putting all that work removing something that decorates the street in a way. I wanted to dig a problematic around this event, and thus I tought about the water runoff in the cities. What is that exactly ? When it rains on a city, the ground is very waterproof and the rainwater can go though easily to fill up the groundwater reserves. Additionally, the water running of collects a lot of pollutants on its way to the ground. To represent that with an object, I chose a trowel because its the tool that helps you to place concrete, and that helps making the ground waterproof. Here is the trowel I brought to class:

The blending of the objects#

How did this class really worked ? At first we had to form a circle dispose our objects randomly on the floor. After that we got to walk around in the room, and check every object. What happened next was a bit weird: everyone had to take its object back and walk toward a student who brought an object that raised our curiosity. That process divided us into groups of 3-4 students and the groups were kind of formed. We sat in circles and started explaining each other what is the object and why we brought it. After that we kind of looked for a common aspect among every object in the group, to have a direction where to look for problematics. I teamed up with Charles, Mohamed and Chris. The members are in different cursus: Charles and I study bio-engineering, Chris studies informatics and Mohamed is in an informatics master in the polytechnic school. Charles was about promoting education, symbolised by a pencil that he brought. Mohamed brought rat poison to represent the problematic of the invasive animals such as rats or some insects, and Chris was about the buildings because he brought a piece of insulating materials. From that moment we stared thinking together about problematics that could interest every member of our team. We had several ideas, and we wrote everything of a large sheet of paper to have a global view of our reflection. The theme that united us was related to buildings, so that was the starting point of our reflection about problematics.

When we were finished establishing every problematic, we voted together our favourite one with a weighted vote: we had four stickers that we could place on any problematic. If you really like one of them, you’re allowed to place your 4 stickers on the same problem. Alternatively you could do a 3-1, 2-2, or 1-1-1-1, or any combination you want. One of the problematics really arose among the others, so we decided to keep the first and the second most popular with the group. These problems had an advantage because they where particularly related to the theme of the year: “Making visible the invisible”.

Working on the problematics#

The following week was dedicated to establish a problem tree around our problematic(s) to get a complete understanding of the problem.

Note: We are still not talking about solutions here! Even if the problem and the solution are 2 things that are really bound together, it’s important to make a difference between the two. The problematic is documented here, and the solution will be documented on the team’s site.

At the end of the previous week, we decided to keep two problems. At this stage, we couldn’t decide what problem to choose so we decided to draw a problem tree for each of them, thinking this could help us choosing between the two. What were these problems ? * The first one is the human damages that the sun can make: sunburns, skin cancers, sunstrokes… * The second one is the abundant humidity in some Brussels houses, especially the old ones.

Here are the two problem trees we drew together during the session:

After finishing these trees, we finally chose the Humidity problematic, for a logistic reason. Here in Brussels in the following months, it’s going to be rainy rather than sunny, so we would have more opportunities to confront ourselves to the humidity problems.

Team dynamics tools#

During this week, in parallel of working on the problematics, we also had lessons about group dynamics. It was very interesting to have this class because it was in the continuity of the project management principles, and also because we don’t learn a lot of this kind of tools when following a science cursus, you usually learn more by experience. In this section I will present you some of the tools that our group fond interesting and decided to test.

Meeting roles#

To guarantee the efficiency of the meetings, 4 roles are distributed among the members to ensure that the reunion is fruitful. It fits pretty well because we are 4 in the groups.

The Animator#

He introduces the meetings, gives a plan for it and he gives the floor to anyone wanting to express something so all the floor is just to one person. He also concludes the meetings. He makes sure that the meeting is well structured to not get lost.

The Timekeeper#

Very simple role: he keeps an eye on its watch and warns the animator about the time we take for each section of the meeting, and also remind when the end of the meeting is near.

The Secretary#

He keeps a written mark of everything that was said during the meeting, and shares it with the others afterwards.

The Ambiance#

He ensures that everyone is feeling okay during the meeting, maybe manages clashes between members, and uses different techniques so that everyone expresses their feelings.

Making decisions#

To choose between the two problems previously cited, we used a fun technique. As it was an important decision, we did that all together of course. We put the two problem trees on both sides of the table and we had to go to the side of the table of our favorite problem. At unanimity, the humidity problem won!

Giving feedback to each other#

This is an exercice we had to do: we had to give feedback on the behaviour of 1-2 of our team members. Naturally, we still were at an early stage of the project so it wasn’t very instructive and it was very polite, but it was a good exercice anyway.

Writing a chart#

Another exercice that we were asked to do was writing a chart, consisting of a few rules that we have to respect to maintain the order among the group. We decided the rules together in class and it ended up like this: