Importance of Team Work

I must thank Asha for hoping that an opportunity comes my way to see the Taj Mahal. We never know. It might just happen, God willing.

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Team work is important. It teaches all of us to work together, even though we may all differ in our views on just about anything.

This write-up is about team project work.
Engineering students are required to work in teams on projects in their final year, in a company of their choice but related to their branch of engineering.

4 years back a team of 4 students (let's call this team 1)took up a mechanical engineering project as dissertation and 2 students (team 2) took up a refrigeration project in a nuclear facility, some distance away from our city. These 2 teams would travel by bus every day, report at the site, do their work and return back late evening. 1 gate pass was issued to one team which meant all the members of the team should report at the site together to pass through the security gate, unless 1 or 2 were absent and were not going to report later that day, at the site. It was tricky and these things were explained well in advance so that all of them understood the importance of starting together at the same time each day. So the team spirit had to start right from there! Working together would come later!!

4 students coming from 4 different backgrounds. In team 1, 2 came from the villages of Andhra and were staying in a rented room in T.Nagar. 2 were residents of Chennai.
All of them had to assemble at a particular bus stop at 8am. It can be expected that initially all will have problems with the time schedules. For 2 days they struggled, fought over this and that. Their guide was very strict that all 4 should come without fail unless very sick. Otherwise they would not get through with the project. As young lads of 20 tempers are supposed to run quite high but how they all managed to control it just so that the team finished work at hand was a revelation to me. They would comment badly in whispers so that the bad one never heard of it so that there was no spoke in the wheel at any time. I will quote just one major instance in each team.
On the 3rd day the T.Nagar guys din't appear at the bus stop even by 10am! Despite repeated calls to their mobile phones there was absolutely no response of any kind!! So these 2 din't know whether to proceed without them or not. Eventually they decided to go in person to T.Nagar and find out the reason as it was really too late to report at the site that day.
When they reached the place they could hear the other two talking quite loudly but when they called out to them and knocked at the door, it was opened by one fellow while the other fellow was covered with a blanket from head to toe! All 3 chatted for about 3 hours arguing about wasting a day and all the while, the other fellow slept through or at least pretended to be in deep sleep :D
The other guy said once they both knew it was going to be late they just din't want to even respond to calls as they were afraid of what the other 2 will say. That was the excuse but he promised to 'tell' the sleeping beauty about it and assured that this will not occur again next time.

Later it was decided to take up a few rooms near the site itself and stay there itself until their project got completed which took about a month and more.
This seemed to work better. They finished it though with so many complaints amongst themselves, yet one thing that emerged from this exercise was that they learnt to adjust somehow with each other's failings or shortcomings in that period. It was a good thing to have happened especially since all were on the verge of starting a career. Unity in diversity.

The 2nd team had only 2 guys. One would work very hard at the project while the other would prefer to roam around the city in his motorbike which meant 1 fellow was left to do all the work and include this lazy guy's name also in the project. There was so much heart burn. Towards the very end the other guy read up the report and starting projecting as if he had been instructing this other guy over phone at every step! This made the hard worker even more angry yet peace had to be maintained at any cost for the sake of project.

How teams were formed seemed to be god's handiwork. They just joined in!

When it was time to face the viva voce, those who worked hard were able to answer questions from the external examiners better than those who showed scant interest or merely submitted their copy of the same project report with all their names on it as a team.

Even if its the same project, same age people working in the same place, some put their hearts and souls into their work, some run errands, some just watch as if it din't concern them at all. But when its time to answer questions, it shows who worked!! So no one can fool everyone all the time.

The true nature of the person comes through in such situations so very transparently for everyone to see or feel. Teams, Families, Office... it's all about the same thing. How we see, place, depend, perform, behave when we are put together for a purpose.

It's a good learning experience of how many kinds of people we may have to come across in our lives - project or no project.

Mahalakshmi.

To Desire For More

Dear Readers,

I remember when I was in school and the rank I got always mattered to me as well as those around me.

I would like to have said I was the first in class but the ranks would always be within the first 5. Mostly the 3rd rank till about the 8th standard.

I have prayed to lord Ganesha for the 2nd rank in exchange of an offering of a coconut! But 3rd it was most times.

Then due to the Telangana agitation in the late sixties and early seventies, all of us lost one year at school or college. So my uncle who had just started a tutorial college found a private candidate in me appearing for the 11th HSC straight without even decently finishing my 9th standard from Vivek Vardhini Kanya Shala, Hyderabad!

I remember we were just 4 candidates appearing that year for the HSC from Sri Vidya Tutorials.

I was the topper having secured a second class! After seeing my results I thought God could have given me a first class. This trend seemed to follow my thinking through my higher education. If I got 62% I would think how nice if I had got distinction. If I scored a distinction, I would think how nice if I could have got the gold medal. I realized how futile it is to think about the results after they have come out!
I had friends who scored different percentages and their reactions were anything but hilarious when heard out. X felt she could have at least got pass marks as she had failed in the B.Com. Y felt she could have got a 2nd division but she got only a 3rd which disappointed her a lot. I got a 2d division and thought I could have done with a higher
2nd! Well there appeared to be really no end to this kind of wanting..

Then came a time when I started earning. If the pay was Rs.200/-per month I would dream of what I could have done if my pay was Rs.300/- There seemed to be no end to this cycle until I was at the cross roads in the year 1996 with no interest in working for others. Realization came that we can lead a simple life with simple wants and earn just that minimum which can see us through every month. So it was time to set up a business and pick projects my husband and I could easily handle. There was no dearth for engineering projects and we worked for some of the best companies and star hotel groups for the past
15 years now. We earned more than we expected. At times we had to employ 8 boys to see us through some important projects. I have no regrets and no high expectations either. Life is simple when kept to the bare minimum. That does not however mean that we don’t enjoy life or living. We are still able to get the best out of life through the various interests we have cultivated over a period of time.

But the main thing in all this was the studious avoiding of comparing ourselves with anyone, be it our own siblings who were doing well nor our relatives or friends. I think if we are past caring about petty things we can enjoy our lives being satisfied with what we have and not crib about not having something which is out of reach.

Psst… having said all the above I have one confession to make though. Over a period of time we have accumulated so many things at home which we don’t use. They occupy space in the lofts above. Both of us have made a promise that we should clear the things we have not missed using over a period of one year. Then and only then can we truly call ours a simple living. Now this is a new project which requires our attention!!

Cheers!

Mahalakshmi