Team Agendas for Collaboration1

The Business Writers Companion identifies the following tasks for collaborative writing: planning, research & writing, reviewing, and revising. Additionally, the Business Writers Companion points out that you must be ready to tolerate some disharmony, but temper it with mutual respect, and look at differences as opportunities for reexamining assumptions and looking at issues in a new way. In my experience, the best way to avoid conflict is to create a plan as well as a series of expectations (i.e., what each team member will do if particular situations arise). Today, I would like you to collaborate with your team members to come up with guidelines so that you can be sure each of you knows what the others expect from this working relationship. E-mail those guidelines to me (and CC all team members) before the end of class. Below are some guidelines and questions that may aid you in setting those expectations. All team members should agree to abide by all collaboratively established guidelines.

Planning
When are the due dates for the various portions of the assignment? What sections of the proposal will each team member do? Will you divide work in another way? How? The BWC suggests having a coordinator, someone to oversee and facilitate. Since we have 2 units to the teamwork (the proposal unit and the deliverable unit), you may want to have one person coordinate for each unit. Who will coordinate each unit and what responsibilities will being coordinator consist of? How often will you communicate about your progress on each of your assigned portions of the assignment(s)? How will you communicate (in person, telephone, e-mail)? If you decide to communicate by e-mail or telephone, set a specific day/time each week you will call/e-mail. What will your backup mode of communication be if your partner misses a communication deadline? If something comes up, how often will you check your phone/e-mail for messages? How will you exchange sections for review (e-mail, Google Groups or Google Docs, etc.)? What will you do if your team member misses a deadline for review? What will your review process consist of (track changes and re-upload, print out and write comments, etc.)? What will your process be for deciding which of your partners suggestions to take and which to leave? What will your process be for reviewing the final copy (sitting down together and going over everything, e-mailing/uploading a copy for your partner to review & approve, etc.)? What will you do first if your team member does not fulfill his/her responsibilities or abide by the agreed-upon guidelines for collaboration? (i.e., meet to discuss, e-mail, call, etc.) What will you do second? (i.e., same as above, contact me, etc.) Are there particular modes of communication and/or ways of addressing such issues that you are uncomfortable with? What are they? What would you prefer your partner say/do if they feel there is a problem that needs to be addressed? How would you prefer to address problems to your partner?
Taken from Georgie Millers English 307 pedagogy.

Research & Writing

Reviewing

Revising

Conflict