I was working on my Senior Design Project during my undergraduate program with my classmates, and we reached a point where most of the group wanted to proceed with the project using a specific method, but there was one person X, who was more qualified in the subject, that wanted to use a different approach. Person X refused to listen to us because he was more qualified and wanted to use his idea. We proceeded to generate a pros and cons list for each method to decide how to move forward, and in the end person X was able to see that our method made more sense for that particular situation. Therefore, in group projects you'll always have disagreeing opinions. Communication is key; respecting and listening to others is crucial for a successful project. 

@hodafattel My undergraduate capstone also lead to many challenges both in our control and outside of it. As I took my capstone during the pandemic, closures of machine shops and difficulty meeting due to sickness and work schedules were two bigger problems that were out of my control. I learned a lot about compromising to fix these problems and how in a group if you are not willing to adapt your schedule you will not be a productive team. I also learned the importance of planning ahead and having multiple plans set ahead of time in case problems arise. Like the response above, we reached a point where we needed to decide about how to proceed, however, no one in our group was qualified in the area. To overcome this, it took a lot of research on our part to determine what others in similar positions have done and reaching out to other classmates and professors that were qualified on the subject. Throughout the trial-and-error process, I learned that it is good to call on people that have more experience than you for advice, and failure will happen, but you cannot take it personally. Preservice is key in many projects, and that is something I have taken with me to my projects in the lab. 

Similar to @hodafattel, my challenging situation also stems from my Senior Design Project. The project that my group and I were working on was a proof of concept project, where the goals of our project were ones that have not been widely achieved before. As a result, we did not have much supporting research to help us build a solid foundation for the project that could help us reach a successful prototype. However, knowing what the customer wanted in the end as well as some specific requirements the project needed to meet allowed us to break this big project in this undiscovered area of science into smaller slices. Going from "How are we supposed to do this without any proof of prior success?" to "Okay, I found x different methods we can consider to meet this requirement" which lead to "I did some research on those methods and this method seems more viable to reach this other requirement" and "I have an idea! We can try to incorporate this method into this process and try to simplify it to meet this requirement". Following this logic throughout the duration of the project allowed us to reach a prototype that helped us prove that what we were trying to prove was indeed possible to accomplish with a bigger budget and a longer period of time. This project really helped me learn that even if the project seems daunting and you have no idea where to start to get from point A to point B, if you can break it down into smaller more clear steps and milestones, with proper teamwork and coordination it definitely becomes a lot easier to achieve.

My biggest challenge until this point was when I was preparing for my qualifying exam (I am a second-year PhD student). For that project, I had to submit a 12-page report proposing three specific aims that would tackle specific research questions in brain research. Even though I had read the literature and I had formulated my questions and hypotheses, it was difficult to organize it and write the appropriate amount of information for each topic without exceeding the allocated space for each part. In addition to this, I had to present my proposal for 40 minutes in front of a committee. What really helped me through this endeavour was a type of thinking all programmers learn but has been applied multiple types to everyday life as well. Divide and conquer. I would divide each task into manageable chunks and each day I would devote hours to complete one or two of those chunks. By doing that, first, it was much easier to monitor the work that was being done and second, I trained myself to make progress since completing tasks is generally rewarding. Finally, I was able to give accurate reports to my advisor for the progress that was being made and he was also able to give me accurate feedback on each chunk he reviewed. 

It is interesting how everyone has reflected back on their days in senior capstone, which is a perfect example of a project - a temporary endeavor to create a unique product/service that drives change and enables business value creation. It is also fascinating how disagreements in each of these groups required communication and some troubleshooting before coming to a resolution which is how effective project management is intended. At work when I have been assigned a project such as securing network connections for several imaging modalities, I have learned that constant communication between cross-functional teams (i.e. hospital department, IT, and PACs) can make a challenging task much easier and less painful.

Seems like we all had major problems with our senior design group!

My senior design group was a group of people that I had never previously worked with; we interacted on occasion and in class, but I didn't really know much about them or how they worked in group settings. At the time of my senior design class, we had just switched to virtual classes due to the pandemic. Not being able to meet each other and discuss our ideas was a huge challenge. We would need to schedule time outside of the school week to meet to discuss our project. Luckily, we were all able to find some time for us to meet on weekends via Zoom. Even if all members weren't present, we would keep the other members updated about what we had accomplished and what tasks they would need to accomplish for the next meeting. To keep track of each other and the work we did, we used a website called Monday.com which helped us to track what we had accomplished and plan ahead. We were able to divide tasks amongst ourselves and "cross them off" once we had completed them. All in all, working as a group during the early times of the pandemic helped our communication and team working skills.

@terril_vallikalam 

My situation was actually the opposite of yours. In the case of my capstone team, each person had worked with at least one other team member in a class project. Due to this we were aware of how each member worked in a group setting. Since our college allowed on campus meetings for the project, we all lived near campus. So unlike your situation, we did not have that many issues meeting, with both virtual and on campus meetings possible. However, due to the pandemic many resources were limited in availability for students. For example, in order to use certain labs and the machine shop we had to schedule a time in advance. This provided a challenge because we had a set time when we had to run a test or fix a device component. If the device was not ready for the testing appointment or the component did not work properly we would have to schedule another appointment that could be several days later. This forced us to be very efficient in time management and planning since there were limited times available for the labs. If we missed our appointment or didn't have our device ready in time we would have to wait several days before we could get another appointment, which would push our timetable back quite a lot. Therefore, one of biggest challenges we had for our capstone was staying on schedule and keeping up with the deliverables. 

While working on my senior design project, an issue my group and I would often encounter is communication. Countless times there would be conflicts due to communication and these issues were amplified even more so since we started and finished the whole year virtually so there was minimal in person contact. To deal with this, I found it best to give updates on my respective part as soon as they were available and then ask if anyone else required any help to get their part done since all of our parts were intertwined and relied on each others parts to function. This experience really taught me how to communicate and that it is not always what you say, but rather how you say it. Communication issues is something that can heavily impede a project. 

I was working with my team at my workplace to get one of our projects out and it was on a tight deadline. However, in order to do this project, there came a series of roadblocks and standoffs that happened between various members of the team as it was holiday time. Because it was holiday time, we were faced with a shortage of co-workers as they all had decided to take a vacation as they had many PTO days off. This difficulty made it very difficult for us to coordinate with everyone as various integral parts of the project was missing and needed to be substituted by those who were in the office at the time. In order to remedy this, I learned, as the project lead, that it was important to discuss when everyone was going to be taking off from work and to give ample time from the day it is due to when you actually finish. To finish the project, I decided that it was best to pick and choose who would take on the missing parts based on my prior knowledge of what everyone's background was. Even though I knew that it was going to be impossible to replace those that were out for the month, I believed that if we all worked together, we would have enough expertise within our group to effectively finish the parts without requiring an extension. 

Challenges during my projects usually revolve around timing and meeting deadlines. The work assigned is usually always doable and within a reasonable expectation to accomplish but often times when handling multiple projects and assignments at one time it can be difficult to prioritize what to work on and in turn leading to tight deadlines. To combat this I write detailed schedules and notes in order to organize my time and thoughts. Blocking off portions of the day to complete an important task on one project can open up breathing room for other projects to get worked on more quickly. Ultimately each time I learn how to better manage complex projects as well as how to ask for help from management or co-workers when I need assistance.

One of the most difficult group situations i have encountered was during the pandemic how to communicate with my group efficiently and get work done since we were limited on resources. It was extremely difficult to work with one another because we had never met before, could not physically work on a project, and also had to work around meetings Times using technology which was not the greatest.

The way we overcame this issue was put together everyones strengths/weaknesses, make endless groupchats/ensure everyone was apart of group emails, and additionally make a time sheet showing everyones availability. It made it fairly easier to then see when it was best to meet as a group, which days should we have our work done for the next meetings, and also break down the group work based off of our strengths.

What i had learned from this was working from home requires a lot of organization and focus, especially when working with a group. It also required a ton more communication along with patience to really make sure we all understand each other well enough. 

This past summer I managed a co-op and with the fluctuation in covid transmissibility the company restrictions were constantly changing too. I had to be flexible enough to change the timeline of her co-op to ensure she would receive the most valuable experience including hands on work while also maintaining proper procedures working in a covid world. Maintaining a cool composure and working through any problem that arises is a great attitude to work with as many things will often not go as expected. 

A challenge I have faced occurred during my senior capstone project. After my team members and received our design inputs from our capstone advisors we started to come up with solutions in creating a medical device that covered the given inputs. Through out the process as we presented our ideas our client/ advisor continuously kept adding and/ or changing design inputs. This was frustrating and set us back multiple times from a time stand point. However, no matter how much time was lost, the customer is always correct and we did our best to adhere to all the changes they requested. From this we learned to communicate more frequently with our advisor/client to better stay on the same page and prepare for any changes more quickly. Overall it was a good lesson on managing communication and time management, showing us the importance of early and often communication.

 I am currently working on a project with a group of my peers to create a medical device that can fit in an MRI machine that can induce dyspnea (shortness of breath)  at different levels. Our customer had specific requirements and specifications for the device, for example 1) all materials used had to be MRI compatible 2) comfortable for the patient. 3) Have to be able to calculate the amount of airflow for research purposes and so on… We were having difficulty creating the device that fits within the machine while also ensuring that the patient was comfortable. First, I tried searching up if there are any devices that are similar to the device that we were building. I found none. It was becoming very difficult to ensure that all requirements were met. So I decided to initiate a meeting with my team to communicate our ideas and sort out all our details. I began to assign roles to each person based on their strengths. For example, someone would focus on market research, while another person would focus on technical research and I would focus on designing and blueprinting the device. After this meeting, we began to be much more efficient because everybody had a role. As of right now, we have already created a prototype for the device and have created a pilot study to test it and we have been receiving promising results. From this situation, I learned that the best way to be efficient is to learn about the people in your group and understand their strengths and this helped us become successful today.