1. 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. When I started, I thought there would be a clear leader role. Now that I’ve been working on the project for a while, I know that each person is a leader of a certain category; there isn’t an overall student leader.
2. I’ve learned to get out of my comfort zone. Coming into the project, I thought I would only be working on business aspects, but I’ve done research on things I never thought I would be doing because it’s so different from my major. It has taught me that it’s okay to do something different.
3. I’ve learned a lot about communication and making sure to always be transparent with my team members. If anyone needs help, we know to ask for it and not be scared.
4. I’ve also learned a lot about patience. Being someone who likes to get everything done way ahead of time, I’ve had to adapt to working with people who are more last minute workers. They get it done and do it well, but it makes me a little nervous, so I’ve had to learn to be more patient.
5. I’ve learned that not everything is always going to work out the way I want it to, and that’s okay. For example, I was really excited for fieldwork this summer so we could implement the business model I had made, but because of COVID-19, our trip got canceled and I wasn’t able to see my part of the project come to life. While discouraging, I had to learn how to get past that and stay motivated to continue.
6. I’ve learned that some weeks are going to be busier than others. This would normally make me freak out because I like consistency, so I’ve had to train myself to get used to this. Whether it’s waiting for information from someone in SL that’s needed to continue a project, or just a slow week, it’s okay for not every week to be jam packed. It’s a marathon and not a sprint.
7. I’ve learned that uncertainty is bound to happen. We won’t have an exact timeline of what needs to be done, because sometimes things change. There doesn’t need to be an intricate plan, as long as steps are being taken to reach the overall goal. Being someone who likes to plan things by the minute, this is something I’ve had trouble with.
8. A teamwork skill I’ve developed is friendship. Being friends with your teammates makes it all more enjoyable, and I’ve grown really close to the other members in my team. It’s nice knowing I can always count on them.
9. My teaming approach has evolved in the sense that I want to learn more now than I did before about what each person is up to. Knowing what my team members are doing allows me to have a greater understanding of it, which in turn helps in creating the business models since I understand the logistics better.
10. I’ve learned how to be more open-minded. This project has caused me, and the rest of the team, to consider branching out into things that weren’t necessarily part of our original mission. Now, we are expanding the overall scope of our project. We are not only creating nutritious foods for children, we are also working on methods of food preservation for the community of SL, something that wasn’t a part of the project when I initially joined.

2. During Spring 2020/Week 7, your team developed a Collaboration Plan for your team clearly articulating your Goals (small g and Big G), Roles, Procedures, and Relationships. Provide an updated collaboration plan.

Team name: Malnutrition

• Goals
  • What are the personal goals (small g) of each member on this team? (Team Member #1, #2, #3, etc) Make sure they connect to the DREAM on the Individual Profile. 
    • Gabby Alves
      • My personal goals for our project are to create business models for each of our products and to help out wherever else I am needed.
      • I’ve created tentative business models for the sweet potato muffins, mango muffins, and bouillon cubes. The other recipes are currently still works in progress, so the business model for those will be worked on once those recipes are complete.
      • I have also done research on food preservation, specifically canning, and by creating a business plan for that possible venture, we were able to conclude that it is too costly with us to move forward with. Our hope was to can nutritious fruits that are not in season all year.
      • Currently, I am doing research on methods of cool preservation, to extend the shelf life of nutritious products in SL.
      • These goals all lead to the overall purpose of our project, which is to treat the issue of malnutrition prevalent in SL.
    • Samantha Cardenas
      • My personal goals for our project are to create new recipes and research food preservation techniques
      • The new recipes I create for our venture incorporate the micronutrients that are missing in the children in SL’s diet. These micronutrients include:
        • Iron
        • Vitamin A
        • Iodine
        • Zinc
      • To achieve my first personal goal, I use creative and innovative methods to develop snacks and foods similar to what people in SL would consume and are familiar with, and incorporate these foods to make one nutritious recipe.
        • In addition to this process, I choose ingredients that are locally sourced, available, and inexpensive in SL.
      • The first personal goal I have is relevant to our DREAM because it directly provides a solution for childhood malnutrition in SL by providing foods to incorporate these missing nutrients into children’s diets
      • To achieve my second personal goal, I am reading through different research articles about inexpensive food preservation techniques that can be incorporated into SL as a sustainable system
      • My second personal goal is important to our DREAM because there are many nutrient dense foods in SL that are only available seasonally, and when they are available in their off-season, they are more expensive due to their limited availability. The second goal I have provides a solution to make these nutrient-dense foods available year-round through inexpensive food preservation
    • Rob Corvalan
      • My personal goals for our project are to finalize the development of moringa fortified bouillon cubes. These are one of the new food products we aim to introduce in Sierra Leone.
        • My personal goal relates to our DREAM because it is a food product that provides 50% recommended daily amounts of vitamin a, iron, iodine, and zinc which can be consumed by adults and children alike.
        • I have conducted taste testing with different ingredients and compared them with commercially available bouillon cubes to create a similar profile. This achieves the goal of introducing a food product that is familiar to our consumers.
        • This semester I have been researching how to automate the production of the cubes and networking with suppliers. To finalize the development of the cubes, I am aiming to identify sources for my products, speed up the production process, and improve the business model.
  • What is the Project GOAL (big G) we’re all committed to achieve together?
    • To finalize the development of the food products, business models, and identification of viable food preservation techniques that our venture intends to introduce and implement through fieldwork.
  • Is our Project Goal scaled to our resources (dreams, materials, skills, differences, etc.) and constraints (assignment, time, skills, etc.) 
    • Our project goal is scaled relative to the overarching vision we have. We have been limited in taste testing our new food products and have yet to begin business operations. We are still researching about food preservation techniques since cost and the environment are constraints on the shelf life of our products, as well as contribute towards the post harvest losses of subsistence farmers. 
  • What are the metrics for success for what we’re producing?
    • Our metrics for short-term success depend on if we are able to achieve the sales projections we have created for each of our food products. Prior to being able to taste test and sell in Sierra Leone, our metrics of success will depend on the development of recipes and identifying viable food preservation techniques to introduce during field work.
    • In the long term, the success of the business will depend on scaling production according to our demand. However, the impact our business intends to have will be measured by assessing the reduction of micronutrient deficiencies in children correlated with the consumption of our food products. Using metrics like height and weight over a long period of time will help identify the effectiveness of our products.
• Roles
  • Who is responsible for which deliverables?
    • Creating new recipes and their corresponding nutritional facts: Samantha Cardenas
    • Creating business models for each recipe: Gabby Alves
    • Research on food preservation techniques: Samantha Cardenas
    • Research on cold systems for food preservation: Gabby Alves
    • Research on Moringa and Bouillon cubes to develop a recipe to incorporate into our venture: Rob Corvalan
  • Which deliverables that require collaboration, subgroups & individual work? Who does each person depend upon to succeed?
    • Most of our project is each person doing individual work and bringing it together to create a venture. We all depend on each other to achieve this.
  • Do we need a project manager to coordinate?
    • Not necessarily, as we are in a way project managers of our section of the project.
  • What are the deliverables each person is accountable to produce?
    • We all work together on the presentations we have to present for midterms and finals.
• Procedures
  • Decision Making – What process shall we use: consensus, majority rules, deference to expert, default to the loudest, or?
    • For decision making, our team aims to reach a consensus on decisions we make to be sure to include everyone’s voice in the direction our venture goes
      • However, if there are many differing opinions on a subject, we attempt to use a majority consensus when making an important decision for our venture.
    • We also consult with our advisor, Lori Herz, who is also included in the team when making decisions or having a majority opinion
  • Effective Meetings – Focus on key, timely decisions together vs. status/update (offline)
    • We have formal meetings every week on Mondays at 5:00pm to discuss weekly accomplishments and progress towards goals in our venture with our team advisor
      • During these meetings, we maximize productivity by writing a weekly brief that highlights these accomplishments and progress to know what we discuss at each meeting.
  • Meeting roles: scribe, facilitator, time keeper
    • Since we have met, we have never established roles for our meetings. Our focus is on reviewing and informing one another about the individual progress we have made to be able to reassess and determine the direction we need to head for the future. Each member presents to the team what we have learned and accomplished, to which we conclude with summarizing and finding areas that need improvement or collaboration if the tasks are not manageable by the individual.
  • Communication – FTF: frequency, time, location; type of technology: (Google docs, Hangout, etc.);expectations for responsiveness; ‘best time to work’ (AM, PM, weekends?)
    • We meet every week on Monday at 5pm, which was decided by making a WhenToMeet to find out what time worked best for our whole team
      • We meet through Zoom and always expect for each member to sign onto the meeting at the scheduled time unless otherwise specified previously 
    • We use Google docs to work on our briefs, and put all of our research together in a team drive, categorized by different aspects of our project. 
• Relationships
  • Team Diversity – What is the diversity on our team? Disciplines to tap for solutions;  individual learning styles for the stages of invention;  overall team learning style strengths and places to supplement;  cultural backgrounds , work experience,  dreams to leverage for scope & impact of goals, new roles, better procedures;  languages for more diverse customer set, bigger market
    • Our diversity is evident in our team when one observes our academic interests. Gabby’s business expertise has helped with the development of rudimentary business models and determining the viability of different food preservation methods meanwhile Sam and Robert’s background in health has allowed them to focus more on product development.  We all have polar, interdisciplinary interests that feed into our venture’s goal
  • Listening – Notice my binary thinking, auto-rankism, and go beyond it. 
    • We acknowledge each other’s roles and trust one another to communicate what we have learned, keeping us updated as a venture on where we are going and how we can help each other.
  • Team Name–What’s a team name that captures who we are and what we’re going to do?
    • We are Newtrition and reducing Malnutrition is our mission.