Leadership Self Reflection Software Engineering
In a subject, there will be at least one project or assignment that requires us to work in a group. Therefore, a leader has to be appointed so that everyone knows what goals that we want to achieve in the assignment. If all group members have the same goal for that project or assignment, the whole process of getting the work done will be smooth. If else, many alterations have to be done on the work and it will extend the working process. For the Software Engineering course, there are four parts project and 3 problem solving tasks that requires the student to be working in a group. The group was assigned by the lecturer randomly at the start of the semester. My group members for this course were Faris Faisal, Rakesh and Chan Yi Lin. I’ve known Rakesh since my first year in this university. However, I’ve never met Faris Faisal and Chan Yi Lin before this so I was looking forward to work with them together in this course. We were also in the same group for another course, which is Requirements Engineering and Software Management as this course is an extension for the Software Engineering course where we had the same case study for our project. I was appointed to be the leader for project part 1 and problem solving 2.
I was able to write my ideas with clarity, coherently and systematically. Most of the time, we did small discussions in the group chat. The thing about discussing through messaging is that people might interpret what we write differently than what we actually meant. Knowing that several of my group members are not Malay, I knew I had to be careful in writing my opinions or ideas. I knew it was important to write my ideas in a full sentence without any short forms. This way, every group member can understand what I want to deliver. Other than that, I also made sure to write my ideas in an orderly manner sort of like telling a story. By writing my ideas in a flow, other people can understand them and this can give them ideas on how to elaborate my points while doing the problem-solving task.
As a leader, I can say that I have a good leadership skill whereby I have a high ability to lead my group members effective towards goal. As an example, I was always the one who initiate the plan to have a discussion especially when I was the leader. I know that with so many other assignments and projects due, the group members are busy and forgot about this project. I also know that most of my group members are very active in their society clubs and handled so many programs. Therefore, it was crucial for me to always initiate the plan for a discussion early so that we can plan our schedule and there would be no absent group members during the discussion. Other than that, I also always make sure that everyone understands everything in what they have to do for their parts in the project. In order to make sure everyone understands, I would discuss the details in order by going through each part slowly. By doing this, I could avoid missing any important information and everyone will also get to know what other group members have to do for their part. At the end of the discussion, I would summarize everything that the group members need to do for their part and get an affirmation of everyone’s understanding.
After the discussion, I acted like an alarm. I made sure that everyone is aware of the due date and do their work. I would be on the WhatsApp all the time so that if any of my group members have any question, I would be able to answer immediately. I made sure to be there for them 24/7. For instance, I did a private discussion with one of the group members as he got lost on his part of the project to help him. When the due date of the project is getting closer, I would highlight any parts in the shared Word document that needs to be done or revised back.
We had a good relationship and worked together effectively. During the problem-solving discussion, I asked how every group member how they felt after watching the lecture videos. The reason for this was I wanted them to be comfortable working in this group knowing that they can express their feelings and talk about anything non-work related. I wanted us to be friends, not just teammates for one semester. By giving them the chance to say whether they understood or not, the other group members can step forward and help to teach the group members. It is a success that we fostered good relationship among us as we are not awkward to work together.
When working in a group, opinions can differ among the group members. As a leader, I was considerate of their feelings when it comes to disagreeing with their opinions. During the project part 1, the interview with the stakeholder wasn’t held yet. Due to that, we didn’t have many ideas on what to include in the proposal. No one was certain on what is right or wrong. Therefore, I asked everyone’s opinions on every part of the proposal and discussed them. I always encourage them to voice out their opinions. When we have more than one opinion, I would compare them one by one and come up with a solution that came up from all opinions. This way, each group members feels important and think that their opinion matters. Even if I don’t agree with some of their opinions, I would explain carefully on why his or her opinion cannot be considered to respectfully disagree.
Alternate roles are very important in a group work. By alternating roles within the group members, everyone gets to have an experience on being a leader in this project work or problem-solving tasks. When I was the leader in project part 1, I appointed each of the group members with a specific role. Usually, in a group there will be a leader and just normal group members. However, for my group, I designated a special role for every member so that each of them can contribute in making the group works systematically. For example, Faris was the accuracy checker. His task was to finalize what we wrote in the proposal report and checking the format, spelling and grammar. Rakesh was the sceptic. His task was to make sure what we wrote is correct according to the facts. Finally, Chan Yi Lin was the recorder. Her task was to record any thing important during the discussion and post them in the group chat so that we can remember what we discussed.
In a nutshell, being a good leader is very important to me as the leader will be the one who can guide you in doing the group work. Without a good leader, the group will be non-functional and the work produced will be in a bad quality. I love being a leader as it helps me to sharpen my soft-skills in communicating with new people. I really look forward to another course project in the next semester.