General Engineering Introduction/Communication/quiz

{The communication goals addressed in this document are: + task negotiation + team documentation + presentations + identifying team problems - identifying the audience - speaking in a manner the audience understands
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{The communication rules are: + reply to text with text, canvas in canvas, voice mail with voice mail + reply within a couple of hours + initiate communication by asking for a reply, asking questions, do not expect a response to statements of fact - write everything down
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{Performance in the communication context of Engineering is: - doing something in front of people + working together successfully - deliverables - demos
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{Successful performance (best answer in communication context) - is what is graded - is what is observed - is what is paid for + is what initially binds people together
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{Repeated successful performances (best answer in communication context) - doesn't help groups stay together + require communication to stay successful - respect - help build discipline, forgiveness, "liking each other"
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{When young, performance is taught through - Engineering + Sports + Music + Art
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{Kids need what in order to learn performance - inspiration, initiation and ego - focus + emotional space, listening space and physical stillness space - gifts
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{Adults mess up kids by: + never giving space, kids feel like trained monkey + punishing when kids try to learn, kids are afraid to perform + grabbing all emotional, listening and physical space, kids never mature + neglect, kids hunger for something they can not name
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{How are gifts related to performance? - types of performance that have been done successfully - types of performances that feel inspired to do + ability to criticize - gifts grow in emotional, listening and physical space
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{What is meant by emotional space? (Best answer) - room to have emotions that others observe - others emoting constantly - flat, even emotional response by others so kids emotions can vary + quiet, observing, non-emotional adults waiting for kids to emote
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{How is discipline related to performance? - undisciplined performance is not rewarded - gifts merely establish uniqueness or personality - discipline is necessary to cultivate gifts into rewarded performance + discipline is necessary to mature as an individual, rewarded performance is extra
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{Which gifts should an engineer have? + any + none (no technical gifts) - science - math - logical thinking
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{What is a common mistake of people hiring engineers (that don't have an engineering background themselves? + assume engineers have matured technical gifts into an expertise + try to find the right mix of engineering specialties that a project requires + don't understand the open ended nature of projects, the unexpected problems, the creativity required - assume engineers have, in a disciplined manner, learned how to learn faster than anyone
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{The best engineers feel + can do anything + feel what role within the team is missing and plug that hole + can transform their technical skill set faster than anyone else - can be an expert on any topic
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{What style of communication is better initially?: - subtil + direct + obvious - polite + risk offending someone - risk misunderstanding between people
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{What needs to be within every message communicated? + incentive to reply + expected time frame of reply + reason to reply - civility
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{What does "Be Direct" mean? - look people in the eye - shock them with your abruptness + establish working relationship - look at your feet
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{What are the reasons given for not being civil initially? + lots of scientists, engineers and technicians will get confused + civility, politeness, subtleties often lock in dysfunctional behavior + civility, politeness, subtleties are often misinterpreted - did not give reasons, everyone should be civil
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{Which of these is types of student communication is necessary? + student to student + student to instructor - student to client - student to customer - student to supplier
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{What is scope? + a boundary + something the instructor worries about - mouthwash - size or number, scale
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{Who worries about time management? + instructor when agreeing to tasks - person creating team documentation + student when performing tasks and writing in notebook - student when negotiating tasks with team
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{Why is time something students don't have to worry about during task negotiation? + documenting failures can fill up the time + completed tasks are not rewarded - students should worry about predicting task completion time - estimating time is a very good skill to develop
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{Which below is good advice for giving feedback? - asking for thoughts and feelings afterwards - focusing on personality rather than behavior + focusing on facts rather than what you've heard - trying to stay general rather than focus on specifics + basing feedback on team problem/project/finish definition - wait for the perfect time to give feedback - give feedback in front of everyone
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{What is the problem(s) with tasks that involve two or more people in the same place at the same time with the same physical objects? - it is hard to split up the documentation + one person usually does all the work, everyone else just watches + cleanup responsibilities, tool putting away responsibilities are not negotiated, leading to messes - groups hold each other back - individual incentive, individual enthusiasm and inspiration is lost
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{What is tasking (as used in this course)? - splitting up the mundane, cleanup, putting away activities that no-one wants to do + figuring out what can be done to push the project forward and then attempting to do it - a tedious undertaking - a method of feedback that is usually negative
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{Tasks can result in many things. What doesn't a task result in? + writing in a notebook + data, pictures, video, instructions uploaded to wikiversity + weekly report + team documentation + a live demonstration - nothing written, shown, displayed, or talked about
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{Tasks are ideally figured out and negotiated + in the project team - with the instructor - individually - after looking at the materials and listening to what everyone else has done + after looking at similar/identical tasks that have been done in the past
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{Why is it dangerous to negotiate tasks with the instructor? - instructor may list different tasks every time you ask for ideas, thus appearing crazy - instructor may be confused and start talking about a different project - instructor may steal your enthusiasm, inspiration, ideas and motivation - instructor may wander away .. to be found later looking through piles of junk + asking "what should I do?" causes an engineer's reputation to drop
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{What could cause an instructor to reject tasks? + tasks require everyone to be at the same place, at the same time with the same materials + tasks involving "research" don't improve tutorials or build a knowledge base + unclear problem statements, requirements that need to be renegotiated, finish statements that need to be harmonized + tasks are not assigned to someone - the tasks themselves are wrong
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{Why is research such a dangerous word? - could result in building of a knowledge base - could result in more than one person doing the same thing + could result in nothing - could result in an improved tutorial
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{Why is asking task details, steps, instructions, procedure of the instructor so bad? - takes too much time - should be done in the group - should be asking the lab aid or someone who has already done the task - should be making a presentation where the class is asked for their ideas + makes the instructor a better, more respected engineer rather than you
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{What do instructors (project managers) want from an engineering team? - harmony, unity, consensus, voting + disagreement + misunderstanding + ego invested ownership of ideas + tension that exposes all possibilities and known facts clearly
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{What does majority tyranny refer to? - communism - democracy + voting in groups when decision matrices, decision trees are much better at exposing all possibilities and facts - gang pressure
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{Criticizing team mates for unproductive behavior is phrased with these code words: + feedback - criticism + peer review + calling out peers + constructive dialogue
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{The problem with unproductive behavior is: + not naming it and dealing with it in the group - the person behaving unproductively - the teacher/instructor/project manager paying attention and dealing with it - the low entrance requirements of a community college
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{Constructive dialogue is dealt with at which team stage? - Forming + Storming - Norming - Performing - Adjourning
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{Discovering each other's talents and weakness is done at what stage? + Forming - Storming - Norming - Performing - Adjourning
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{When can one expect a feeling of accomplishment, a buzz, even euphoria? - Forming - Storming - Norming - Performing + Adjourning
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{Super team not super hero feelings occur at what stage? - Forming - Storming - Norming + Performing - Adjourning
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{The shared expectations and rules of conduct that eventually lead to standards and ethics occur at which stage? - Forming - Storming + Norming - Performing - Adjourning
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{What does praise look like in a team that is functioning well together? - only performance is praised - good attempts are praised - well documented failure and praised success - changes in any direction that seem positive are praised + praise is thought about, cooked, different receipies are tried and served in class, within group meetings
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{Checking each other's work looks like: - one student watching another student do something - one student watching youtube video with another student + independently, while the author isn't there, repeating success or failure + editing wikiversity tutorials and/or engineering pages - creating a new wikiversity version of the other's work
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{Comparing top 10 lists looks like: - working together watching video and comparing rankings + building top 10 lists independent of each other, then comparing - watching David Letterman + a list of links in wikiversity
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{Telling atoms what to do looks like: + design before selecting material - wandering through junk heaps or hardware stores to get an idea of what is available/possible - cutting cardboard along the seams - drawing without dimensions
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{Focusing on the problem statement solves problems because: + everything should have explicit clear connections to the problem statem/project description/requirements/finish list. - problems must be named + all fog, confusion, disagreement ideally stems from the open ended nature of engineering projects - the negative side of people's gifts will be exposed
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{The negative aspect of a Cave Dweller personality is: - ability to concentrate - couch potato - slacker + hard to work with - disappears
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{The positive side of a Cave Dweller personality is: - communicator - list maker + hard working - needs only Cheetos and Dr. Who or Chuck episodes to be happy
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{The positive side of a communicator personality is: + presentation, prioritization, sound byte creation - hard working - socializing + network of friends
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{The negative side of a communicator personality is: - waiting to see who volunteers - cataloging expectations by watching others quietly - learning customs, politeness, habits gifts of team mates + giving up on the immature mess of people that are in the team and becoming a slacker
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{The term "slacker" has what positive values associated with it? + creates space and time for others to have emotions, feelings, inspirations, and logic + listens, repeats, agrees and then inspires + builds relationships through sharing rather than working together - disappears when negative things start to happen - seems to operate in polychronic time
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{What are the positive virtues of polychronic time that benefit engineering? - understanding tasking - have no problem with being late + do many things at once - highly distracted and subject to interruptions + values context + changes plans often and easily {The Brilliant Problem is also called: - the perfect SAT score problem + the Chicken and the C student - the trimmed beak problem - the A student problem
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{How does an evolution context help understand the brilliant problem? + both in-group and between group evolution has to happen + dominance within a group helps shake things up and set expectations + dominance within a group can harm the group - better socialization within a group helps improve between group evolution - why instructors are interested in group dynamics as well as actual group success + brilliance helps establish specialization or role boundaries necessary for group success - why documentation is emphasized rather than technical success
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{How does between group evolution influence engineering projects? - both in-group and between group evolution has to happen - dominance within a group helps shake things up and set expectations - dominance within a group can harm the group + better socialization within a group helps improve between group evolution/project documentation + why instructors are interested in group dynamics as well as actual group success - brilliance also helps establish specialization or role boundaries necessary for group success
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{Why does good engineering documentation indicate group dynamic success? + groups dominated by brilliance don't document well + groups without technical brilliance have successfully identified specialty roles + groups have figured out how document failure - productivity can be measured in quantity of documentation
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{Why can engineering be described as successful when merely documenting failure? + Between group evolution involves learning from other group's failures + Starting over from scratch should be an option, not standard operating procedure + Must leverage and learn from previous teams failures - Clients, venture capitalists and executives expect engineers to fail technically - Clients, venture capitalists and executives will pay for failure
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{Why grade documentation rather than technical success? + Engineers document the path taken towards success, this requires documenting failure. - The rest of the world only documents success. - Deciding what is success and failure when projects are open ended leads to arguments - It is too hard to grade individuals uniquely within a team without a paper trail
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{If engineers are only paid if things work, then why focus on documenting failure? + No success is achieved without failure, failure inspires success, success inspires competition + Quality control, continuous improvement, new patents benefit from failure documentation + Every success involves the creation of a new design process and documentation organization + Every success involves new within group and between group dynamics
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{What motivates business managers, project managers, and clients to demand documentation? - An understanding of the importance of documenting failure + The need to be free from dependence on isolated brilliant engineers - An understanding of the need for quality control + The need for continuous new patents and continuous improvement + Worries about retirement, and the success of mouth to mouth communication of trade secrets
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{Who is in the audience that reads engineering documentation? - business managers - project managers - clients - customers + other engineers
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{Why is it that business managers/clients hire engineers to represent them like lawyers? - facilitate between group evolution + to read engineering documentation - protect themselves from law suites + resolve problems before law suites occur + represent their technical, political, financial interests
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{What is the group mind? + what classes, companies develop in response to meetings, lectures and communication from management + documentation that a group develops + something archetypal related to Jungian psychology - something associated with in-group evolution + something associated with between group evolution
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{Why is the group mind better captured by failure documentation? + success seduces, blinds and limits documentation ... witness the frustration of internet diy tutorials - reverse engineering technical failure is easy + repeated forward engineering failure is attractive because along the way, one finds solutions + a clarity develops, more detail is exposed when documenting failure + failure documentation enables continuation of between group evolution better than demo success - the successful demo documents itself, thus only failures need to be documented - engineering teaches how to capture physical world context from a demo success
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{What are the characteristics of a brilliant individual within a team? + announces brilliance + talks with confidence even when corrected + makes everyone else watch and listen + doesn't create tasks that make the team a success + doesn't document + doesn't like others trying to duplicate their work
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{How should brilliant (a student personality trait) success be moderated? + slow down by repeating the brilliant success + slow down by asking questions and documenting, taking pictures and video - eliminating brilliance with in the group - ignoring the person, letting them do their own thing - competing with the brilliance
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{Why is it said that "A" students end up working for "C" students? + A students become professors, C students end up in business that hires professors + C students are usually better at building, valuing and leveraging the group mind - C students usually fail at being engineers and become managers - A students usually become "hard to work with" and end up changing jobs more often + C students are better at creating between group evolution + C students understand when it is necessary to find an A student to jump start between group evolution
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{When a team member disappears and stops informal communication, what should you do? - assume the team mate doesn't like anyone on the team + attempt formal communication through the schools LMS so that the instructor can see the attempt + inform the instructor - cover for the student by doing their work - find out what problem the team member has and attempt to help them + let the instructor refer the student to student services
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{What should you think and say in response to queries by others about the student that has disappeared? - we have assumed they have disappeared - they have "let" life get in their way to becoming an engineer + life has gotten in their way of becoming an engineer - you have tried everything and they are not responding + you are hoping they return
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{What should you do with someone who is stuck, will only do certain things? + attempt to relate what they want to do to the project and give them acceptable tasks - change the project to focus in their direction - attempt to convince them to be an engineer .. practice learning something new + talk to your instructor
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{What are some ground rules you should negotiate? + ask for help, everyone has a different set of skills + visualize expected communication associated with tasks each week + establish minimal communication, emergency communication protocols - talk among each other until everyone likes each other - be agreeable and express reservations associated with group decisions outside the group
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{How should you handle someone who is not pulling their own weight? + first talk to them privately - try to negotiate simple tasks for them based upon prior work - confront within the group only after talking with everyone else in the group first + confront within the group only after no response to a private talk
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{How should one handle someone who wants to talk a lot? - try to talk over them yourself + interrupt with a request to give someone else in the group a chance to talk - only talk when you disagree with something
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{Which student profile is the most difficult to deal with? - slacker - communicator - hard to work with - cave dweller - brilliant - disappearing - couch potato + hitch hiker - stuck
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{"Absorbing" is something that a group does wrong. What are the characteristics of absorbing? + team takes pride in getting the job done, with out dealing with problem behavior + everyone wants to be friends first rather than bond over working hard + friendship and being nice is defined as acting in a self-sacrificing manner - absorbing good rather than bad + dysfunctional teams ... teams that don't get anything done or can not create tasks for themselves
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{Dealing with a hitch hiker almost always ends in talking to your instructor. But involving your instructor is dangerous because: + professor distracted may not take the time to figure out the details and instead label everyone dysfunctional + professors usually don't want to be put in the middle of dysfunction + feelings and emotions in the absence of facts are hard to respond to with action - hitch hiker's usually beat up the instructor and then file complaint forms
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{How might the professor deal with the couch potato or hitchhiker? + put them on a team of one + team up with the student themselves to see behavior first hand + kick them off the team and wait force them to work their way onto a new team/project - ask them to drop the class
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{What are some facts about a hitch hiker/couch potato that the professor will respond to? + left meetings (make a list) without everyone clearly knowing what task they are going to do + claimed to be (make a list of when) "too busy (forcing others to help him prioritize) + takes up all available time/space and without helping negotiate tasks + leaves meeting prematurely, without knowing what everyone else is doing (make a list when) + doesn't respond to agreed upon communication methods (make a list of emergency communication protocol violation) + summarizes your work, presenting it as their own or "we" in weekly reports (point this out to the instructor) + writes their weekly report in 10 minutes before class + does someone else's task badly and then tries to confuse agreed upon tasks when confronted
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{What will hitch hikers teach you about yourself? + must stop trying to make others happy at my own expense + must find a stopping point even though you can visualize/feel doing better + don't live with the feeling of a long suffering martyr .. it generates no respect, just abuse + cooperation without participation in delegation or task acceptance means nothing + stop trying to fix people + set high expectations, don't reward the slightest contribution because it represents "progress" + loyalty is irrational + must let people fail so that the team can succeed - communism has a place
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{What are your chances of meeting a hitch hiker in engineering projects? + high - only in the work place - high after 6 months of working together - eventually can be sure one will meet a hitch hiker {How is a couch potato different from a hitch hiker? + doesn't argue, doesn't spread confusion, doesn't change the subject + accepts criticism and then begin to perform + will go along with the group consensus + can be guided to do reasonably good work
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