PE Week 2 Assignment 1

Team Project Planning Worksheet

Phase I (Week 2): Team alignment

A. The First Secret to Success: COMMUNICATE

Set up your first team meeting as soon as you and your colleagues receive your team assignments. Decide when and how to meet as a team (e.g., using a platform for live meetings is one option).

a. At your first meeting:

Clarify the team’s understanding of the overall RFP project, the major assignments for the project, and the first assignment, due in Week 4. Identify follow-up actions needed to proceed toward the first goal.

b. Develop specific plans for communicating further this week, and repeat this process in each of the future weeks.

Purpose of communication	Method (team discussion forum, live meeting, etc.)	Who?	When? Day? Due date?

B. The Second Secret to Success: Work in the present, with one foot in the future

What your team plans for each week’s activities should be in service to meeting the next major subgoal (e.g., submission of answers to questions raised in the Introduction and Section I of the Program Evaluation Proposal Template that is to be submitted as a graded assignment in Week 4). Also, each major subgoal is in service to the final major goal: preparing an Executive Summary of your program evaluation proposal. Toward the latter part of the course, subgoal assignment submissions are only one week apart. That is, what you are doing today should fit this week’s goals, but also be part of later goals.

Think of ways you may use the activities, and the feedback you receive from your submissions along the way, to begin to plan for your final assignment. For example, once you have defined the client’s question and statement of need, why not transfer the information right into the related parts of a draft of your Executive Summary? (See the Guidelines for Preparing and Presenting Executive Summary of Program Evaluation Proposal document in Week 10 Learning Resources.)

C. The Third Secret to Success: Build on your team members’ interests and strengths so it is everyone’s success!

Be sure to spend time together as you begin, and check in with one another regularly during the coming weeks, to discover each team member’s interests, strengths, and preferences. Use this collaborative information to help you, as a team, decide who will take which tasks for the group product.

Everyone has to be a critical contributor to a team because everyone depends on everyone else for the final product. No one likes to be in a situation where one or two people end up doing most of the work but everyone gets credit. That is a recipe for unnecessary stress and burnout! So, take the time to hear one another’s interests and preferences. Also, you may have different life circumstances and schedules to accommodate. However, that does not mean that some should take on fewer responsibilities than others, nor should it threaten the team’s success. Each member of the team should make himself/herself available for ongoing weekly communication each week, sharing information with the team and responding quickly when asked for updates or other information. Use your Personal Journal as an opportunity to think about what helps your team to work well or what may be some obstacles. Then, work with your team to enhance the experience.

D. The Fourth Secret to Success: Plan carefully, specifically, and clearly

Begin by reviewing the Program Evaluation Proposal Template (which lays out all team assignments for the term) and your Request for Proposal (RFP) to get the lay of the land. Identify overall action/product points required as part of this project. See more on this below.

Phase II (Weeks 3–4): Team begins first round of productivity

Form 1

Major Action/Submission Points for Program Evaluation Proposal Team Project

Major Action Points Completed	Date Done	Actual Deadline
Presentation of Executive Summary to Class (Weeks 10–11)
Submission of Executive Summary Assignment (Week 10)
Submission of Section IV of Program Evaluation Proposal Template (Week 9)
Submission of Section III of Program Evaluation Proposal Template (Week 8)
Submission of Section II of Program Evaluation Proposal Template (Week 6)
Submission of Introduction and Section I of Program Evaluation Proposal Template (Week 4)

1. Use your first team meeting/communication at the beginning of Week 3 to set up your game plan and assignments designed toward completing the information required for the first assignment (Introduction and Section I of the Program Evaluation Proposal Template) that is due at the end of Week 4.

2. Begin with laying out what you will need for your work product to be submitted at the end of Week 4. Then, discuss how to divide up the work to achieve that goal. Break the product down into subgoals/tasks. Decide who will take responsibility for each subgoal/task. Identify due dates for when the specific assignments are due to the team. Discuss how and when you will assemble the parts to prepare the assignment to be submitted at the end of Week 4. Be sure that all members of the team review and approve the product that you will be submitting for the Week 4 assignment. (Note: Each member of the team will submit the same version of the team product for the assignment.)

Week 4 Assignment: Introduction and Section I of Program Evaluation Proposal Template

Form 2

Major Action/Submission Points for Program Evaluation Proposal Team Project

Parts of Assignment to be completed (Provide specific descriptions)	Who?	Date Due	Date Done	Notes/Comments

Complete the above table each week. Post it in your team space where team members can go in and edit it to update their own activities (e.g., date done, notes/comments) as they go. Also, update it to reflect revisions that are based on team agreements. You may wish to include scheduled meetings, reviews by team members, and other team activities in this table. It can serve as a general schedule for the team.

Expand this table as needed. Also, it is okay to revise or add task assignments (or even columns) as needed. Include information in the Notes/Comments column to post information for the team: what is happening, is a revision to the plan needed, etc. If you need to revise the assignment information, do so on a new row of the table with the revised description of the task, assignment, due date, etc. It is not unusual to update the table, including new tasks that weren’t thought of earlier, from week to week while working on a subgoal over more than one week. We learn by doing.

Phase III (Weeks 5–11): Completion of assignments and final product

Incorporate Feedback and Your Own Learning Experiences into Your Work

In Week 5, you will receive feedback from your Instructor on your Week 4 submission. Be sure to schedule time for the team to review and discuss the feedback. Use the feedback for future revisions of team work as needed. As a team, plan how you will use that feedback (and other things you are learning along the way) for the revisions to the Statement of Need, so they will be reflected in your final Executive Summary. Repeat this process for all feedback you receive from your Instructor for Program Evaluation Proposal Template assignments.

Also, repeat the steps described above for how to plan, organize, and support your team’s work for each week and across weeks toward meeting your goals.

Finally, use your Instructor as a consultant if and when you get stuck!