Quote Originally Posted by Board of Command
Now for my real bitch:

I hate group projects. People have proved time and time again that they are always able to find some way to let me down. I just don't understand their mindsets behind this. It's okay if it's an individual mark and if you don't care enough to do a decent job then so be it. However, if you're in a group then you drag everyone down. Are they not aware of this? Do they not care about what the other group members think of them? Do they not feel guilty when someone else (ie. me) puts in a lot of effort and tries to pull the group together, while they exert a half-assed effort and let others down?

I never drag the group down because I never put myself in a position to do so. I'm always the unofficial, unelected group leader who organizes everything and assigns work to others. Of course, I also assign work to myself, and usually a large chunk at that. I do this because I no longer trust other people. I no longer believe that the other members can do as good a job as me no matter what kind of work they take on. So far throughout my life, there hasn't been a single exception to this trend. I've always been the "best" group member.

My most recent group project was no different. I pretty much organized everything and the others didn't seem to mind. It's always good for one person to stand up and rally the troops.

Problem with Member #1
This person said he'll write a majority of the report in return for not having to do any of the hands on part (building a bridge). Nobody opposed this idea, so he went ahead and did his thing. Originally, I told the group that I'll do the final editing of the report after everyone's done writing. Nobody opposed that idea either. Two nights before the due date, the guys were still quite behind on the report, so this person said he'll do the final editing instead. I okay'd it since I still had quite a bit to write, and I figured it can't be that hard. On the night before the project was due, the other two guys still haven't finished their parts (very small parts, actually), and it was already past midnight. This person told me he'll definitely have everything done and ready to go by the next morning, when the project is due. He also said he'll email out a copy of the finished report the following morning for everyone to check before he prints it.

The next morning, I get to class early and check my email. There it is - the final report. However, it was missing stuff on the title page, it was missing a list of references, it was badly formatted. I immediately sent out an email for him to fix some stuff. A few minutes later, I logged onto MSN in hopes that he would still be online, and he was indeed. I told him I skimmed through the report and mailed out a list of small changes that must be incorporated before he prints it. He then replied as if he read my email and is making those changes as we spoke. Great. 20 minutes later, he comes to class with the report printed out and none of the changes were made. I asked him what happened, and he said I never told him about any changes.

WTF...?

And we got a shitty mark on the report.

Problem with Members #2 and #3
These two never show up on time. One of these guys had our finished project (the bridge) and all he had to do was bring it from his dorm to class at 10 AM. He couldn't do that. It was 9:55 and he still didn't show up, so I was pretty worried. I called him and he doesn't pick up his phone. He eventually arrived at 10:20 and I didn't even bother asking him where he was. I no longer cared.

The other guy is horrible with communication. It felt like he never reads any emails, but he does.

Throughout this entire project, I did all I could to divide the work fairly among the four members. Why can't everyone just do their share? If I could write the entire report by myself, trust me I would. However, I couldn't because I also need to be there for the hands-on work because the other guys might not know how to build it for whatever reason. Even though I pretty much designed the whole thing myself, the other two guys appeared to be on the same page as me. It was a millboard bridge that held 460 lb., which put us near the top of the class. So yeah...I believe I did my part in terms of the design work.

The worst part about all of this is that I feel like all of this was beyond my control. I gave an honest effort and the rest was up to them, and they utterly and completely let me down. I just don't understand these other guys. They have less work than me, yet they do a poorer job and drag the entire group down with them.
This, really, truly does suck. That's why whenever I'm in a group, I step my game up, even taking on the responsibilities of others if necessary. Sounds to me like you were the lead in this project. In future projects, you might want to consider the following: These projects are usually long-term. If you're playing "team lead", you might want to consider overviewing the entire project, and dividing the work as fairly as you can (which doesn't necessarily mean equally). Both of these you've done. But the problem in how you handled it was you took their word that they would do what they said they would.

There's a way around having to deal with this. Take a look at each person's responsibilities, and come up with what you feel are mini-milestones, for each person. Then, come up with set deadlines for each of them to reach those mini milestones. You may want to involve the group in coming up with this (or at least make it look like you involved them). Once the group agrees, whether or not they do what they should have, or perform as they should have, you have several points at which to evaluate where this project is heading, and try to take measures to improve the situation. Some other points are, if you do this, you might be able to go to whomever is going to evaluate your work, let that person or those persons know you did this, and then let them know that one or more of the the group members are jacking off when they should be working. You'll have very specific points that make that professor or boss sympathize with you and possibly aid you. Otherwise, you get what you got, assed out, and at the last minute, without a damned thing you can do. Again, I'm sorry man, that sucks.