Making Assumptions (semi rant, but not really)

[kyrien]

Wanted to ask you guys' opinion on people who make assumptions about others.

I was ina group of 4 for a class project, and we had to build a website similar to Amazon.com. We more or less split the work up so that one person would do all the backend database stuff, while the other three did front end (ie the site). A girl, a guy, and myself were part of the front end team. The guy said that he would do the login and register pages, so the girl and I figured I'd be doing shopping cart and checkout.

We didn't really have much contact and neither I nor the girl went to lecture (very very sucky professor, we learned more from reading the slides than from listening to him babble), so this past Monday we emailed the other two people to ask for the rest of the files so we can finish our part and they said that they assumed we dropped the class or something and finished the project without us. They sounded pretty pissed too (which would make sense if they thought we were trying to claim credit to the work they had put into the site) and we were like, ".... er?"

So basically, the girl and I had no rights to the finished project since we didn't contribute anything besides the initial conception and design, and were pretty muched screwed. In that sense, we could understand why they got pissed at our email asking for the files they had been working on just a little more than 24 hours before the project was due since that was really very suspicious. But at the same time, we -had- been working on it, but the guys didn't even bother sending an email asking about our progress or if we were still in the class. They just figured we had disappeared, and essentially kicked us from the group. What's ironic is the group originally started as myself and the other girl only, and the guys joined in later when they couldn't find people to work in.

We did talk to the professor though, and he's letting us hand in a smaller version of the project that concentrates on the parts that we were originally responsible for, but this whole situation was pretty frustrating. To add to the irony, as far as we know, the guys used the site design that my current partner had made so when we did ours, we had to redo the site layout so as to not have a site that looked too much like theirs.

Anyway, what are your thoughts on situations like this?

[Evil]

Errr...That sucks man, but sadly it was inevitable...it would have been that or something else...teamwork and comunication are vital on projects like that..and the lack of comunication led to the assumption that you two had droped tha class...but from reading your post the blame is 50/50...half yours half thiers...you guys should have talked more...I feel your pain because I been there before

[Scarlett Fire]

i generally dislike group projects. people do have the tendency to blame other members on who did or didn't do what. the only thing to avoid rifts between project members is to finish it the damned thing the earliest that you can, and even clashing schedules can put a damper on that plan.

i'd be super pissed off if they used your initial concept and layout and mark it as their own. if you tip off your teacher on what it really was, maybe he can deduct marks on whatever bullshit tale the other guys of your team supplied if they declare it as all their own. :\

[kyrien]

Evil: Yeah, I think both sides were wrong since my partner and I did slack a bit and didn't talk to them about our progress, but we -were- working on it. It just bugged us that they made the assumption we dropped the class. I'd've preferred if they made the assumption that we were slacking and had emailed us about that. Hell, I've had trouble contacting my current partner before, but I kept emailing her and calling her. Never once did I jump the gun and think, "Oh, she must have dropped the class even though the dropping period ended a month ago!" Instead I was wondering if maybe she had gotten sick or had an emergency to tend to. Turned out she had been away for an operation and been busy with other work.

SF: Well, if they thought we had dropped the class, there's no reason why they shouldn't use our initial concept and layout since we -did- come up with it for the project. The site really wasn't a big deal though, and I still had the original files so we just copy/pasted all the stuff we needed into a different layout. It was just so ironic that we had to feel like we couldn't use it, so we threw together another design.

I don't know what they told the professor, but when we talked to the him and explained our situation, he said, "Okay, now I know who you are." in a way that sounded like he's heard about us. Though, at this point, I'm just glad that this whole mess has been resolved and my partner and I are allowed to do a separate demo. Just.... still kinda miffed, I guess, at having be defaulted out of the group.

[Evil]

yeah i totally undersand why you got pissed, but at least you learned a lesson from it. don't leave anything to chance.

[Scarlett Fire]

myeah, i think i would be mad for the wrong reasons now that i think about it. i would just be a miffed the idea of even the slightest credit being misplaced. u.u;

btw, had this scenario ever once crossed your mind? i mean, from experience, if i wouldn't assume myself that people would be so forgiving if my lack of inactivity and communication pertaining to the project, i kinda would expect that there's a chance that i would be dropped from the group without my consent to keep me on my toes. people can be, well, downright mean. T-T

[Minerva]

group projects are the devil.

[Star of Sorrow]

I don't really like group projects due to that sort of situation, but I can see where you're coming from. At least you've got a nice professor who's willing to let you do a smaller demo-type of the project.

[kyrien]

Hehe... yeah. I need to learn to talk to people more so this doesn't happen again =T. This isn't meant to be an excuse or anything, but whenever I'm in a group with guys, I end up feeling stupid and tend to withdraw into myself (which isn't a good thing to do!). Man, I hope I can break out of that. Finally learned to not be scared of professors, now to learn to not be scared of peers. =x

[Evil]

i dont think your scared, i think it takes you a while to warm to people you dont know that well. i'm the same way, i get real quiet around strangers, until i figure them out...then i talk them to death. :D

[phlyRy]

Hehe... yeah. I need to learn to talk to people more so this doesn't happen again =T. This isn't meant to be an excuse or anything, but whenever I'm in a group with guys, I end up feeling stupid and tend to withdraw into myself (which isn't a good thing to do!). Man, I hope I can break out of that. Finally learned to not be scared of professors, now to learn to not be scared of peers. =x

okay. i think it's stupid to assume that you dropped the class. but in the same right, there are some really inconsiderate people. from other's experience, i know there are people who take a class, join a group, then get a part to work on separately, and then never respond until after the project deadline to say that they dropped the class. talk about screwing others over.

but yes, i never liked talking to professors. i've always felt intimidated, even by peers. but it's something i'm working on, somewhat. if you want to be able to function in the work force, being able to get past that is really important.