Brainstorming

A group brainstorming template had been set up that required us to download, save a copy to our Google Drive account, then share with the other members of our group. Firstly, I had to set myself up with a Gmail account as up until now I have always used a combination of Hotmail for personal use and Outlook Exchange for work. This setup was easy. Simply follow the step by step instructions on the Gmail web page. For information on how to set up a gmail account watch this You Tube video below on How to set up a Gmail Account.

Sharing the group brainstorming document with my team members was the first point of communication I had with them. I found it daunting collaborating with people I did not know, as I am generally quite shy until getting to know people. However, I felt a lot better that a I was able to recognise a few of my group members names from chatting with them on the Skype group or on the externals Facebook group.  

At this stage I am unfamiliar with how Google Docs works. Although I have been able to use and access documents previously, I am unsure if i am doing it correctly. I would soon find out I suppose. I sent an email to all my group members sharing the google doc requesting that they add their name, contact number, email and preferred communication method.

After this I took a few days off this task to complete another assignment. I was shocked to return to my Gmail inbox a few days later to discover a mass of emails I was not aware of. I was not used to checking this one regularly and had not expected such a quick initiation to this task by my group. This highlighted to me the importance of prompt communication for a group to work together effectively. 

It seems over these couple of days somehow there had been some confusion over the brainstorming document. One of my team members hadn't been able to receive this or able to edit it. We then discovered that this was probably because they had given a hotmail email as their contact, as opposed to a gmail email which was shortly rectified.  Members of my group all seem very enthusiastic to commence this task and are keen to make a good start. I did not want to let them down and admittedly I had gotten off to a slow start with this task. It was time to get the ball rolling...