This is my first blog related to the client project that my team and I are working on for the Virginia State Parks client as part of our technical writing class. The Kiptopeke group is working on an interpretive sign for Kiptopeke State Park on the Eastern Shore of Virginia which is located just northwest of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel.  In fact, before the tunnel was completed, a ferry service used to be based where the park is currently located so that people could transit back and forth between Norfolk and the Eastern Shore. 

I’ve found in many of my college classes that working in groups is extremely difficult. It is not difficult because of the group. It becomes difficult when there is no clear leader and no one seems to want to be in charge. Sometimes I wish the professor would designate the team leader so as to avoid the storming and norming part. Because I have had an extensive leadership role in the past, I usually try to guide one of the younger team members into that leadership role and provide them with advice. This never seems to work out and I end up leading the group by proxy. This time I decided to take charge and in doing so, I learned that I have a really good group. My team members are motivated and seem to work well together.

Our chosen topic is Beach and Bluff Erosion. I am the single point of contact for the project and developed the Gantt chart based upon the schedule outlined in the ENGL 334 Technical Writing web site. I also provided a basic proposal template to work on for our revisions. The team worked really well together and managed to build the proposal rough draft as a team. Emily wrote most of it although several suggestions and comments were made from other team members. Michelle and Kenji did some really good research while Dynastie took care of the sign design. I think that we are on schedule, but I’d like a little more direction from our instructor. There is a “requirements gathering” section in the project that I do not understand. I would normally have gathered requirements prior to submitting a proposal but, just like 99% of projects that I have worked on in the past, there seems to never be enough time to do things in order.