This has been a less than perfect span of time for both myself and TANDEM. While we power forward towards a complete prototype and MVP, my physical and mental state has been taking a beating.
Call it change of seasons. Perhaps a spring bug. Something has knocked my immune system dead on its, well. I was half-anticipating this considering it’s a regular occurrence this time of year, but like all things this semester, I am doing my best not to let it drag me down.
In the midst of my life TANDEM struggles forward for a variety of reasons.
My ability to manage was called into question this week. While I don’t take things personal, TANDEM is after all a class project at it’s simplest iteration, it did kind of knock me down a peg mentally. I am beginning to question the things I have been doing the past few months and the relationships that have developed with my team. It’s easy to let that lack of confidence get in the way of progress, but I like to believe I know better than to allow it to. I’ve been working too hard and too much to let a moment of discomfort take center stage.
The truth of the matter is, I like to have my hands in things. I like to make sure the right motions are being made in the machine so that the whole thing rolls in the right direction. Some team members are more receptive of that kind of management and others are starkly against it. Small teams are a special kind of complex as all of us sit on an equal plane with spectrum-spanning different opinions and ideas for TANDEM.
The reality of the situation is this: We are so insanely close to achieving something amazing together that our differences, which have been identified since our team’s inception, should not, can not, and will not muddy our chance at success. It’s a moment for me to bite my tongue and nod my head; internally jarred and tangibly uncomfortable with the moment.
TANDEM was conceived with the lofty dream of uniting unlike parts and research motives in an effort to find something new and unique.
This team is a manifested parallel of that. Recognizing and acknowledging out differences will ultimately lead us to where we need to be on May 19th.
