Assessment Task 3 Template

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School

University of Technology Sydney *

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Course

41037

Subject

Mechanical Engineering

Date

Dec 6, 2023

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docx

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Uploaded by ColonelStarKomodoDragon35

Assessment Task 3 Week 19 Reflection Stage 1 It was reaching the final weeks of the program and we had realised that the project was not possible to finish. We had also been informed by our team leaders and the lead engineer that we would need to write a handover report and to begin thinking about how we were going to present our work to the clients. As a member of the software team, this meant that we would have to put most of our current tasks in working on the website on the backburner and re-prioritise our tasks to instead focus on handing over our work. So, the easiest way about this would’ve been that us and the Research Team stopped working on Cornerstone Tools for the medical imaging viewer and focused on merging the Design Team’s work into the website to get their chosen designs functional, whilst a couple of people from each group would collaborate in working on the report, user manual and presentation. What ended up happening was that the people that were delegated the responsibility of writing the report on the Research Team were not properly collaborating and writing on the report with the other teams but were instead continuing to work on Cornerstone Tools. Stage 2 In the beginning, I had gone around to each group to inform everybody on how we were going to work on the report together. It was agreed upon that we would use a single word document over Microsoft Teams and we would collaborate, edit, and review our sections in conjunction with each other. The group as a collective were happy with this idea that I brought up but while the Design Team had worked directly on the document, the Research Team worked on a separate document on their own and did not inform us. This resulted in their work not only being done without feedback from the other teams but also that the quality of their sections was not up to scratch. I had to remind their team to add their work into the main report for us to get a cohesive report written, and for them to ask for help if necessary. This had gone on for 5 days which was frustrating as their section of the report remained empty, and so me and another group member from my team instead began working on their section. As we were doing their section, they had then told us that the whole time they were working on the user manual instead and asked if they could get help on making videos. This led to even further frustration and in turn we simply relinquished everything and helped them do whatever they needed, as it seemed like they lacked both the manpower and ability to wrap things up before the program end. Looking back at this experience my frustrations seem justified. Them not communicating about their work priority when we were present and actively asking about what they were doing is greatly detrimental to the cohort, especially near the end of the placement. I did however not push through or suggest some kind of consequence to their behaviour, so they might not realise how bad this is to the bigger group so in future if I were ever to encounter a situation like this again, I should enforce some kind of follow-up. Given how frustrated I was though, I am happy that I didn’t blow up at anyone so I feel that I dealt with this situation rather well. Stage 3 One thing that I learnt from this experience would probably be not being scared to confront others about the task at hand. Needing to repeatedly remind someone of missing work is usually something that I do not do in any group setting. This in a sense encompasses taking the initiative to call out someone or something without fear which is an asset in a field such as engineering where minor mistakes can cause major complications. A situation that can be applied to this lesson could be bringing attention to a traditional value in an engineering workspace that is actually harmful to the productivity of the workers and the project. Another situation where this lesson could be brought up is at social settings, such as seminars, where I could confronting the speaker about something that differs from my perspective which could segue into a discussion. Stage 4 State why this plan suits you personally (why is this a tool you are likely to want to use going forwards). Confrontation can be easily considered hostile if a person does it incorrectly. I have taken to reading books about how to properly communicate with others in the way of confrontation, such as ‘Conflict Resolution Playbook – Practical Communication Skills’ by Jeremy Pollack, so that I could effectively use this skill in the workplace. I believe that if I am able to accomplish this, I would not only feel more comfortable in speaking up against others but also do it in a manner that ensures that the person that I am talking to will not feel antagonised, hopefully improving productivity in the workplace.

Development Claims Aspects of Practice Claimed To-Date Including This Assessment Task Click the appropriate boxes to select (or deselect) the Aspects of Practice covered in your Development Claims Note : You need to manually copy the Assessment Task 1 and 2 selections into this table and also update it for your Assessment Task 3 selections Assessment Task 1 Assessment Task 2 Assessment Task 3 Communication ☐ ☒ ☒ Collaboration ☐ ☐ ☒ Professional Networking ☐ ☒ ☐ Diversity & Inclusion ☐ ☐ ☐ Ethics ☐ ☐ ☐ Sustainability ☐ ☐ ☐ Creativity & Innovation ☐ ☐ ☐ Self-Management ☐ ☐ ☒

Development Claim 1 Description of Experience In week 10 of our program, our lead engineer had us participate in a workshop to develop how we present ourselves to professionals at a social event. Namely, how to do an elevator pitch. He said the best way to build a connection as a first impression, is to effectively present and communicate yourself to the person you want to connect with. He had us first constantly swap between members of our cohort in pairs to discuss about what we know and feel about each other, and then once all the requisites were done, we had to perform an elevator pitch. I was told that my elevator pitch had a great start and middle, but near the end I had prompted to bring up a way for the person I was interacting with to leave which is bad in these situations. This experience has left me with a template on how to pitch myself to professional engineers but also how to properly introduce myself to others. Statement of Significance Aspect of Practice: Experiencing this workshop was a great demonstration of how to communicate yourself to professionals and how to leave a lasting impression on your first encounter. Although this can also be classified as a method to better your networking skills, the workshop had deeper implications when it came to communicating and using the right words. Our lead engineer said it was easy to negatively talk about yourself so that’s why in the beginning he had us talk to other about how we saw each other in positive aspects so that we could do the best elevator pitch we could. So, with this experience, I now know not only how to properly communicate my capabilities to someone I look up to but also how to talk in a way that is suitable for an engineer and use this in the future to connect with engineers in the industry.

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Development Claim 2 Description of Experience In the final weeks of the program, we had reformed the structure of the cohort from three different teams into two teams and two groups. I had gone to each group to propose this idea and about who was going to do what and so we met up together to discuss how to move forward. The software team was to remain as we needed to integrate the final UI design into the website and the design team remained to ensure their work was being properly implemented. Then an additional three groups were made for the final report, user manuals and the presentation. This structure was widely agreed upon by all members of the internship with some people remaining on the fringes to go between groups whenever they felt necessary. All groups would perform their tasks as usual and before lunch we would bring up what was in progress and at the end of the workday, we would all discuss what has been completed, what needs to be finished and if there were changes to the workload. Being a part of restructuring the entire work structure and making everyone collaborate in a better fashion was a daunting experience as it was something I had never had a hand in before, but hopefully I can do this more in the future. Statement of Significance Aspect of Practice: Having a hand in getting the cohort to collaborate effectively after being separated into three different teams was a great thing to see unfold. As prior to this, teams would only work together when things were already complete and required implementation into the website, but in the final weeks everyone was working on a shared aspect of the project. This experience can also be attributed to the communication aspect of practice, but this heavily focuses on having us as people work together rather than simply express our tasks. Through this experience I have gained a better understanding of collaboration as we all collectively agreed that there would be no leader within the groups. All members that chose their role were working on their tasks as a group and were properly committed to finishing the documentation. With this new structure focused on getting the most out of us working together, we had completed all the documentation in a satisfactory manner and within the time limit. I imagine that if we had people working on aspects that they did not want to work in, and continued working independently, we wouldn’t have gotten much work done or various issues would’ve arisen concerning work quality. So, moving forward, I can reflect on this experience and see how I can ensure that me and my co-workers are effectively collaborating to meet our goals.

Development Claim 3 Description of Experience From around week 9 I had realised that in this internship, on the technical front I had purely focused on only one aspect of the project. I had grown comfortable in this area of work and in turn I felt my motivation to continue working waiving as progress in this section had come to an effective stop. This led to portions of my workday where I had procrastinated in going back to work on this part of the website as a large breakthrough was what was required for progress. After a while, I had realised how it was negatively affecting the work quality as little was being done and so I had sought out to work on other parts of code to ‘try and get some fresh air’. In the end, I got more work done in other areas of our website and got most of the important documentation finished instead of just waiting and hoping for a breakthrough. This has left me with a new way to tackle things if I feel myself procrastinating on a difficult topic, simply walk away and take a breather. Statement of Significance Aspect of Practice: This experience was a revelation to me about how to manage my own procrastination as it negatively impacted the project. Through me overcoming this experience, I had gained a better understanding of how to manage myself. And although what I’ve gone through could be a matter of lacking creativity or innovation, in the end it was more of myself procrastinating and not seeking to change the situation rather than actively thinking about ways to move forward but failing to get a breakthrough. Not progressing in my work had a negative impact on the Research Team as they would have less tools to talk about in the final report and presentation, which made me realise that my procrastination is having a negative impact not only on my productivity but also the progress of others. Undergoing this self-realisation has greatly increased my understanding of self-management as I have found a method to handle with this situation in the future. But procrastination does not encompass all of self-management and so I can use how I approached this experience to tackle the other parts of this aspect of practice, such as time management. So whenever I encounter another experience where I realise I am procrastinating, I can reuse this method of taking a break but also incorporate how I could manage my time to make up for the lost productivity.

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