Gardener...

Well I can see this being an interesting post this week from everyone. Being asked to pigeon hole yourself into one of nine categories is a hard task. But from looking at the list I would say I was something between a plant and a coordinator, hence the blog title.

If I had to take a specific role I would say that I'd most enjoy being a plant. Being creative and part of the design process would be my goal. I think that a coordinator would be someone that would be ideal in a project manager position but being in that position means you don't really get your hands dirty in the design process. This is something I would greatly miss.

I think the project manager has to have the respect of the group and this respect could be earned through their design work. This is like a double edged sword - you don't want someone who has a natural flair for design being the project manager as it is wasted talent for the team.

I can say that I am looking forward to working in a team in the second year and I can imagine that it will be a good change from working by yourself all the time. I can also see it as being quite a challenge. There's nothing more frustrating than people who don't pull their weight in a team. So I hope that I get put with people who are hard working.

I've worked in teams before. Well in a fashion. I've done commercial projects where I've had to work with people who specialize in things such as programming and coding. I was sort of the project manager for the project but I feel that I didn't have the power that I deserved. The budget and payment for the project was taken care of by my manager and the programmer was set on by him as well. It just made me feel like I wasn't in total control of the whole thing.

At first it wasn't bad working with the guy. He knew his stuff, had an impressive portfolio and talked the talk. At times though, there would be problems, and contacting the guy was a nightmare. It seemed that once the project was completed then it was 'out of sight, out of mind'.

Overall it was still a team experience and I am looking forward to doing this in the second year. I hope I am in a team with a (I use this term loosly) senior member as I think their experience will greatly improve the team dynamic.