Co-ordination and Data Logging are one of the most important parts of a Project and when it comes to BE project it is extremely important to have all the documents and media in one place so that you can search and later on review the stuff while finalizing the thesis.
I tried using a couple of software and tools such as Asana, Trello, Google Groups, etcetera to coordinate the activities with my group. The sad part is that most of the members are reluctant to install the new software or are really scared to learn a new tool. It becomes very difficult at times when you are running an extremely de-motivated group & people are simply not interested in learning new means of management.
Check out our article on the use of Trello for managing Group Projects and activities
Then I came across Facebook groups, almost all adults and teenagers on this globe are having an account on Facebook and are actively using it for their daily leisure. It is often found that many students check their Facebook more often than their email. The best part of a Facebook group is that there is relatively no bar on the amount of Data that you keep there and the attachment size is also quite good, about 100mb files can be easily uploaded. Initially, we maintained a diary of daily meetings and tasks accomplished but as the time passed all such activities became obsolete and also the dairy went missing. So as a solution the facebook groups in secret configuration can be used to create a log of activities and reports which at the end can be compiled to prepare a summary of meeting notes. The best part is that photos and videos could be easily posted in the group making it a little fun to work.
My experience is that people won't try new stuff if they're boring, you somehow have to make those boring stuff appear fun. Like nobody likes to post a daily meeting note unless they're getting comments and likes. Another important part is that you can control the privacy of items you share in the group and who is having access to the parts in the group. Like by setting the group to closed, secret or open you can manage the audience that is supposed to have insights into your works.
Data savings is another part that I am very much cautious about, typically most task management software and email client provides limitations on the data transmission (though it is never consumed, limitations do make us feel sick on using them). As of my S&D, I didn't find any limitations on the sharing of items and data on Facebook. So why not make use of this free tool that is making people millionaires and uses it for our own benefit.
I would have preferred Google Groups for this task as it is much professional and better to use, also has tagging features, but the problem is that people aren't much used to and habitual of responding and updating on the Google groups. Especially when it comes to visiting a specific website to make a comment.
I like the update project feature on research gate but applying that for our projects requires to have the team of people who are actually willing to use and implement those online tools. Anyways Group projects aren't much of good experiences and somehow I hope this could make it less of a bitter experience.
Thanks for Reading..
- Sayyed Shadaab
Thanks for Reading..
- Sayyed Shadaab