So this memo started the MANY MANY memos and assignments to follow that dealt with our group project. The finished project was our group proposal plan and presentation. This entry is the first proposal plan memo. It describes what our group had already decided on as our subject and pretty much what we were going to be talking about in our 15 page proposal.

As far as the group project goes, this was the best group I have ever had. Sure, I had been paired up with friends before and had a good time, but this group made everything seem so easy! My group members were Stephanie Blackwell and Zach Long. No, Mom, you don’t know them. We were all randomly assigned to a group so we went with it. The proposal was Stephanie’s idea. The final title was “Promoting Local Rainwater Harvesting”. Stephanie was an Agriculture major, or something like that, so the proposal related to her major and she understood and appreciated it probably more than Zach or I did. I still thought it was a cool idea, don’t get me wrong. It just took a lot of thinking to wrap my mind around it. You will just have to read my later entries to see the entire report! Ooh exciting and climactic, I know!!! 

This first memo was really detailed, about 5 pages long. We decided as a group at the beginning that we would divide each assignment up into 3 equal parts and each do one of those parts. That method ended up working really well for us, I think. The proposal plan memo was only worth 2 percent, which was a little disappointing since we put a lot of effort into it along with the next two memo assignments. But I guess that’s just the way Dr. Fricke decided to divvy up the points. 

Oh yeah, and here is the LONG goal of this 2 percent memo as described on Dr. Fricke’s website…

Create a detailed plan for completing the formal group proposal report and proposal presentation assignments.  Spending up-front time and effort to make a detailed and realistic plan that everyone can use to organize their work will save you LOTS of time, effort, and potential headache later on. 

A focused, detailed, comprehensive and realistic proposal plan will help you in three ways.

First, it will provide a blueprint for the entire group effort.  This will help everyone in the group to stay focused and on track, and help everyone to complete their tasks efficiently and on time.  It is therefore a good idea to include a work schedule and a list of very specific responsibilities for each group member.  The more realistic and detailed you can make these items, the more useful your document will be. 

Second, it will help you to identify potential problems early and help your group plan to prevent these challenges from sinking the project.  It is therefore a good idea to include a realistic discussion of things that could go wrong with your plan and a work schedule that actually matches the abilities and commitment level of everyone in your group.  Be honest with your group members when you do this — DO NOT commit to something that you know you can’t or won’t realistically accomplish.

Third, it will help Dr. Art to offer more detailed, useful advice and help early on in your project.  It is therefore a good idea to include a list of unresolved issues, questions, or other things that the group is likely to need help with.  Remember that it’s Dr. Art’s job to help your group succeed.  If you suspect that you’ll have a problem with something, then clearly asking for help EARLY on in the project will save everyone time and effort later on.  On the other hand, if you don’t clearly ask for something then you’re not likely to get it.  Be clear about what you want and need Dr. Art to do for you.

Here is the first of three memos for the proposal project:

proposal-plan-memo