Group Engineering Proposal Self-Reflection Essay 

Mahir Shahriar

Writing For Engineering 21007

Prof. Sara Jacobson

This project was by far one of the hardest assignments in this class, and one of the worst experiences I have had working in a group. Initially, my group started with 4 members: Alex, Mohammed, Majid, and myself. Initially, during the first two days of the brainstorming process in class, we all showed up and gave our input. We were just throwing our heads together like cavemen in the stone age trying to come up with an idea, but we couldn’t seem to come to a consensus about anything. We then came up with an industry that we wanted to fix, and we agreed on education. Alex, Majid, and Mohammed were thinking of a hologram-type invention to be used in classrooms to help students better visualize the material, and this product could also be used in engineering firms to preview a live model. While this was a good idea, I protested it because of the approach that my group wanted to take with it. They planned out the research time and I was appalled that they had decided that we do almost 40 hours of research each during the break. That’s almost like having a full-time job just researching how the hologram would work, giving us zero time over the break to actually work on the essay, the models, the pictures, the logistics of how this item would bring profit, or the presentation that we were meant to give to the class. This coupled with the things that Majid wanted us to research for this project did not actually need to be looked into, such as spending a combined 38 hours between us researching photons and light particles. That was a ludicrous amount of time spent on researching a very big concept that the hologram barely utilizes. I also had prior plans where I would not be in New York during the break, which meant that I did not have the time to put that amount of time into research. I protested that decision and my group came to agree with me. However, while we were still in our brainstorming phase, Majid disappeared. He stopped coming to class, and all attempts to contact him failed. This was a large amount of work that we now had to cover, but Alex, Mohammed, and I had properly split the work for our new idea, an automatic sewing machine. We developed a timeline in which we wanted parts of the project done and were all active in the group chat. I must admit here, that I was not being the best group member. During the break, I had gotten sick and was unable to get my research in with the group at the proper time, and I was not properly communicating with my group about this issue. Looking back at it now, I don’t know why I didn’t tell them that I was unable to complete that research and asked for help from one of them to get that research done at the right time. As the end of the break drew closer, Mohammed and I sent our research to the group chat. This is when we noticed that Alex stopped talking in the group chat and did not submit his portion of the research. Any further attempts to reach him were unsuccessful and we realized a couple of days before the project was due that we had lost another member. Losing Alex was very impactful as he had a key part in researching the scanner and working on the modeling and CADing along with the cost + materials, and intended market. Mohammed and I had to rush to fill up that void but ultimately we were not able to finish the essay on time. Despite all the setbacks and problems, I learned a lot about group work as I now know I need to be more vocal about my opinions and be able to ask for help when I need it.