1. [Individual] List ten specific ways in which your teaming approach has changed/evolved since you started, teamwork skills you have developed, and lessons you have learned:

 

1. I have learned to take a proactive approach to our tasks, but then also take a step back afterwards and check with other team members that it is correct and how we want it. 
2. I have learned that each of us have our specialities, so we can split tasks up more effectively by playing to our strengths.
3. I have learned that due dates are important to keep us on track, but ensuring that our final product is more than just “acceptable” is more important. It is more important to do a thorough job. 
4. I tend to want to get a task done right away when it is “assigned”, to just check the box off. I have learned that that often leads to work that isn’t as good as it can be. It is important to get feedback from all team members.
5. I have learned to be patient. It has been hard to communicate with our partners in Kazakhstan and get their feedback. I have learned to continue to work on the venture, and verify later. But ultimately to be patient. 
6. I have learned how to work on aspects of our venture that I have had no past knowledge on. For example, I don’t know how to code/program an app (like what we are working on), but I have learned how to be a supporting member to my teammates that are working on that part of the project. 
7. Since starting back on the project this semester, after not having worked on it over the summer, I have learned that it’s ok to ask lots of questions. I missed a lot of important updates over the summer, so it is important that I catch up, and ask lots of questions to make sure I am on the same page as my teammates. 
8. I feel like I have learned how to prepare in case our first plan doesn’t work out. We are putting all our hope in the fact that this one app will be effective. Khanjan keeps reminding us that we may have to make LOTS of adjustments to find success. I have learned that I have to be prepared for that.
9. Our approach changed because I feel like in the beginning we jumped right into our app idea without much research. Then we took a step back, researched a lot, got some things published, and now are back to our project idea. This way we are able to be a lot more knowledgeable. 
10. I think our team is a lot more comfortable with each other now. We are able to “call people out” to ask them to finish a task, or ask for more clarifications. This helps us work more efficiently as teammates on our venture.

2. Collaborative Plan (Updated): Bishoy, Tommy, Ugochi, Allison

Goals

• Project Goal: To create our app, Save Tuba, that will help the citizens in Kazakhstan become more sustainable and environmentally aware.
  • To measure the success of our project, we need to collect data on how many people use the app, on the rate of recycling in Kazakhstan, and possibly do interviews to see how people think it has changed their lives. There will also be quizzes in the app to track environmental education of the users. 
• Personal Goal (Alli): To broaden my knowledge on the school systems in Kazakhstan, and learn how to integrate a gamified, educational app into their curriculum. Also to gain a better understanding of the culture in Almaty.
• Personal Goal (Ugochi): To understand the in-depth process behind successful and impactful smart innovations, and leave the project with an ability to implement similar innovations in other cities.
• Person Goal: (Tommy): Learn the process of implementing a gamified learning tool into schools. Better understand how partnerships work to complete a task. 
• Personal Goal: (Bishoy): Improve writing and research skills to better understand how impactful papers are written and how to get published in the research role. To set realistic expectations for our app to synthesize a distribution process where it reaches the most people.

Roles

• All of us have been working on publications. Each of us have an E4C article published, we have a paper accepted for GHTC, and an IEEE paper in the works. 
• Now, as our project is beginning to have more concrete tasks and has a more detailed plan, we have focused on various subgroups. Tommy and Bishoy are working on the app development and testing, Ugochi is working on the wireframe and the visuals, and Alli is working on the sustainability tasks. However, there is overlap; we are each helping each other with all the tasks if we need help.
• We don’t have one project manager, but we each sort of head various tasks. So some of us are the “project managers” of a certain publication, or of creating the MVP, etc. Ugochi and Tommy worked on the venture over the summer, so they are most knowledgeable on the project right now.

Procedures

• For decision making, I think we should strive for consensus, but if we hit a specifically difficult topic, then it might have to be majority rules.
• Right now we have been doing a lot of communication online, and it seems like it is going to have to continue to be that way. However, as many zoom meetings, or “face-to-face” simulations we can have, the better. Texts (GroupMe) and emails are good substitutes when we cannot zoom right away.
• For meeting roles, it depends on the meeting, as our roles will shift. However, usually we all do a good job of each taking notes, and all keeping time in mind, and facilitating together.
• We are meeting at an additional time (aside from the one with Khanjan). We have been having a zoom call every Thursday evening to debrief on the work we have done, and plan out what we still have to do.

Relationships

• Everyone on our team has different strengths that play well into making us work effectively. We have various majors and disciplines across our team, including computer science, engineering, and international relations. This allows us to use each other’s strengths to solve any issues we may come across. We also all have different cultural backgrounds which helps us look at everything with different perspectives.
• Our team name is Save Tuba.