I have worked in a variety of teams before. Mostly, I’ve worked in groups for school purposes. I’ve also been part of a “team” of employees at various jobs I’ve had previously. The best groups I’ve been involved with have had some form of leadership that didn’t involve any micromanaging. There was a level of trust present within the group that everyone could trust people to make decisions that would benefit the group and get the job done. In terms of the Tuckman model of team development, I think the biggest barrier is getting the whole team through the storming phase. If everyone knows about the model, talking about the phase they are in and continuously making the stage of their group brought to the forefront of their minds is going to aid in the progression of the team through the performing stage. Having realizations such as “we’re in the storming phase, so what can we do to move past that so we can work together?” will help understand other teammates’ perspectives.

While we haven’t done much group work yet, my colleagues at Rockit Bootcamp and I have worked together a lot. We’ve helped each other in study groups, helped clarify problems, and offered suggestions and solutions. We’ve also been a sounding board to practice explaining the very technical content we’ve been learning in “regular English” terms that others can easily understand. (I’m hoping that this is a skill I continue to practice and maintain as I progress through my career.) As I reflect on the previous weeks, I recognize many stages of the Tuckman model. The first week, everyone was really nice to each other. When I first started getting to know everyone, I found myself jealous of the few people who knew others from outside of the bootcamp. They were friends previously who were working on Rockit together. I’m one of those people who feel really awkward around new people I don’t know, so it took me a while before I started to feel comfortable with everyone. I have been trying to figure out where I fit in the group. There have been a few times that some people have had to manage some conflicts, but they were usually resolved very quickly. I think we’re to a stage where we are now norming. For example, we know that we can mess with Justin because he always asks about increasing the size of what’s on the screen. We can tell Garrett he needs his name on the board for this reason or that.