Fundamentals for group work

Not too long ago a great man became a greater man when he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and lived beyond the doctor's expectations. That man was Randy Pausch, among many things he was a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.

During his time there he conducted a lot of research and taught classes. At the start of each class term he would divide the class into groups and encourage them to work as a group. Below is a list of encouragements he would give them lest they made it this far and still weren't sure how to play together.

• Meet people properly - exchange contact information, make sure you can pronounce everyone's name
• Find things you have in common - sports, the weather
• Try for optimal meeting conditions - no one is hungry / cold / tired, a great time to meet is over a meal
• Let everyone speak - don't interrupt, don't finish other's sentences
• Check egos at the door - label ideas appropriately (the Bridge Story, not Jane's story)
• Praise each other - even the worst ideas still have silver linings
• Phrase alternatives as questions - Instead of: "I think we should do A and not B." Try: "What if we do A and not B?"
• Sit together

Of course this seems very basic and could be insulting to those in grad school. But I share it with you because often we don't need to be told anything new, just reminded of what we may already know.