General Engineering Introduction/Communication/quiz

< General Engineering Introduction < Communication

1. The communication goals addressed in this document are:

task negotiation
team documentation
presentations
identifying team problems
identifying the audience
speaking in a manner the audience understands

2. The communication rules are:

reply to text with text, canvas in canvas, voice mail with voice mail
reply within a couple of hours
initiate communication by asking for a reply, asking questions, do not expect a response to statements of fact
write everything down

3. Performance in the communication context of Engineering is:

doing something in front of people
working together successfully
deliverables
demos

4. Successful performance (best answer in communication context)

is what is graded
is what is observed
is what is paid for
is what initially binds people together

5. Repeated successful performances (best answer in communication context)

doesn't help groups stay together
require communication to stay successful
respect
help build discipline, forgiveness, "liking each other"

6. When young, performance is taught through

Engineering
Sports
Music
Art

7. Kids need what in order to learn performance

inspiration, initiation and ego
focus
emotional space, listening space and physical stillness space
gifts

8. Adults mess up kids by:

never giving space, kids feel like trained monkey
punishing when kids try to learn, kids are afraid to perform
grabbing all emotional, listening and physical space, kids never mature
neglect, kids hunger for something they can not name

9. How are gifts related to performance?

types of performance that have been done successfully
types of performances that feel inspired to do
ability to criticize
gifts grow in emotional, listening and physical space

10. What is meant by emotional space? (Best answer)

room to have emotions that others observe
others emoting constantly
flat, even emotional response by others so kids emotions can vary
quiet, observing, non-emotional adults waiting for kids to emote

11. How is discipline related to performance?

undisciplined performance is not rewarded
gifts merely establish uniqueness or personality
discipline is necessary to cultivate gifts into rewarded performance
discipline is necessary to mature as an individual, rewarded performance is extra

12. Which gifts should an engineer have?

any
none (no technical gifts)
science
math
logical thinking

13. What is a common mistake of people hiring engineers (that don't have an engineering background themselves?

assume engineers have matured technical gifts into an expertise
try to find the right mix of engineering specialties that a project requires
don't understand the open ended nature of projects, the unexpected problems, the creativity required
assume engineers have, in a disciplined manner, learned how to learn faster than anyone

14. The best engineers feel

can do anything
feel what role within the team is missing and plug that hole
can transform their technical skill set faster than anyone else
can be an expert on any topic

15. What style of communication is better initially?:

subtil
direct
obvious
polite
risk offending someone
risk misunderstanding between people

16. What needs to be within every message communicated?

incentive to reply
expected time frame of reply
reason to reply
civility

17. What does "Be Direct" mean?

look people in the eye
shock them with your abruptness
establish working relationship
look at your feet

18. What are the reasons given for not being civil initially?

lots of scientists, engineers and technicians will get confused
civility, politeness, subtleties often lock in dysfunctional behavior
civility, politeness, subtleties are often misinterpreted
did not give reasons, everyone should be civil

19. Which of these is types of student communication is necessary?

student to student
student to instructor
student to client
student to customer
student to supplier

20. What is scope?

a boundary
something the instructor worries about
mouthwash
size or number, scale

21. Who worries about time management?

instructor when agreeing to tasks
person creating team documentation
student when performing tasks and writing in notebook
student when negotiating tasks with team

22. Why is time something students don't have to worry about during task negotiation?

documenting failures can fill up the time
completed tasks are not rewarded
students should worry about predicting task completion time
estimating time is a very good skill to develop

23. Which below is good advice for giving feedback?

asking for thoughts and feelings afterwards
focusing on personality rather than behavior
focusing on facts rather than what you've heard
trying to stay general rather than focus on specifics
basing feedback on team problem/project/finish definition
wait for the perfect time to give feedback
give feedback in front of everyone

24. What is the problem(s) with tasks that involve two or more people in the same place at the same time with the same physical objects?

it is hard to split up the documentation
one person usually does all the work, everyone else just watches
cleanup responsibilities, tool putting away responsibilities are not negotiated, leading to messes
groups hold each other back
individual incentive, individual enthusiasm and inspiration is lost

25. What is tasking (as used in this course)?

splitting up the mundane, cleanup, putting away activities that no-one wants to do
figuring out what can be done to push the project forward and then attempting to do it
a tedious undertaking
a method of feedback that is usually negative

26. Tasks can result in many things. What doesn't a task result in?

writing in a notebook
data, pictures, video, instructions uploaded to wikiversity
weekly report
team documentation
a live demonstration
nothing written, shown, displayed, or talked about

27. Tasks are ideally figured out and negotiated

in the project team
with the instructor
individually
after looking at the materials and listening to what everyone else has done
after looking at similar/identical tasks that have been done in the past

28. Why is it dangerous to negotiate tasks with the instructor?

instructor may list different tasks every time you ask for ideas, thus appearing crazy
instructor may be confused and start talking about a different project
instructor may steal your enthusiasm, inspiration, ideas and motivation
instructor may wander away .. to be found later looking through piles of junk
asking "what should I do?" causes an engineer's reputation to drop

29. What could cause an instructor to reject tasks?

tasks require everyone to be at the same place, at the same time with the same materials
tasks involving "research" don't improve tutorials or build a knowledge base
unclear problem statements, requirements that need to be renegotiated, finish statements that need to be harmonized
tasks are not assigned to someone
the tasks themselves are wrong

30. Why is research such a dangerous word?

could result in building of a knowledge base
could result in more than one person doing the same thing
could result in nothing
could result in an improved tutorial

31. Why is asking task details, steps, instructions, procedure of the instructor so bad?

takes too much time
should be done in the group
should be asking the lab aid or someone who has already done the task
should be making a presentation where the class is asked for their ideas
makes the instructor a better, more respected engineer rather than you

32. What do instructors (project managers) want from an engineering team?

harmony, unity, consensus, voting
disagreement
misunderstanding
ego invested ownership of ideas
tension that exposes all possibilities and known facts clearly

33. What does majority tyranny refer to?

communism
democracy
voting in groups when decision matrices, decision trees are much better at exposing all possibilities and facts
gang pressure

34. Criticizing team mates for unproductive behavior is phrased with these code words:

feedback
criticism
peer review
calling out peers
constructive dialogue

35. The problem with unproductive behavior is:

not naming it and dealing with it in the group
the person behaving unproductively
the teacher/instructor/project manager paying attention and dealing with it
the low entrance requirements of a community college

36. Constructive dialogue is dealt with at which team stage?

Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

37. Discovering each other's talents and weakness is done at what stage?

Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

38. When can one expect a feeling of accomplishment, a buzz, even euphoria?

Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

39. Super team not super hero feelings occur at what stage?

Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

40. The shared expectations and rules of conduct that eventually lead to standards and ethics occur at which stage?

Forming
Storming
Norming
Performing
Adjourning

41. What does praise look like in a team that is functioning well together?

only performance is praised
good attempts are praised
well documented failure and praised success
changes in any direction that seem positive are praised
praise is thought about, cooked, different receipies are tried and served in class, within group meetings

42. Checking each other's work looks like:

one student watching another student do something
one student watching youtube video with another student
independently, while the author isn't there, repeating success or failure
editing wikiversity tutorials and/or engineering pages
creating a new wikiversity version of the other's work

43. Comparing top 10 lists looks like:

working together watching video and comparing rankings
building top 10 lists independent of each other, then comparing
watching David Letterman
a list of links in wikiversity

44. Telling atoms what to do looks like:

design before selecting material
wandering through junk heaps or hardware stores to get an idea of what is available/possible
cutting cardboard along the seams
drawing without dimensions

45. Focusing on the problem statement solves problems because:

everything should have explicit clear connections to the problem statem/project description/requirements/finish list.
problems must be named
all fog, confusion, disagreement ideally stems from the open ended nature of engineering projects
the negative side of people's gifts will be exposed

46. The negative aspect of a Cave Dweller personality is:

ability to concentrate
couch potato
slacker
hard to work with
disappears

47. The positive side of a Cave Dweller personality is:

communicator
list maker
hard working
needs only Cheetos and Dr. Who or Chuck episodes to be happy

48. The positive side of a communicator personality is:

presentation, prioritization, sound byte creation
hard working
socializing
network of friends

49. The negative side of a communicator personality is:

waiting to see who volunteers
cataloging expectations by watching others quietly
learning customs, politeness, habits gifts of team mates
giving up on the immature mess of people that are in the team and becoming a slacker

50. The term "slacker" has what positive values associated with it?

creates space and time for others to have emotions, feelings, inspirations, and logic
listens, repeats, agrees and then inspires
builds relationships through sharing rather than working together
disappears when negative things start to happen
seems to operate in polychronic time

51. What are the positive virtues of polychronic time that benefit engineering?

understanding tasking
have no problem with being late
do many things at once
highly distracted and subject to interruptions
values context
changes plans often and easily

52. The Brilliant Problem is also called:

the perfect SAT score problem
the Chicken and the C student
the trimmed beak problem
the A student problem

53. How does an evolution context help understand the brilliant problem?

both in-group and between group evolution has to happen
dominance within a group helps shake things up and set expectations
dominance within a group can harm the group
better socialization within a group helps improve between group evolution
why instructors are interested in group dynamics as well as actual group success
brilliance helps establish specialization or role boundaries necessary for group success
why documentation is emphasized rather than technical success

54. How does between group evolution influence engineering projects?

both in-group and between group evolution has to happen
dominance within a group helps shake things up and set expectations
dominance within a group can harm the group
better socialization within a group helps improve between group evolution/project documentation
why instructors are interested in group dynamics as well as actual group success
brilliance also helps establish specialization or role boundaries necessary for group success

55. Why does good engineering documentation indicate group dynamic success?

groups dominated by brilliance don't document well
groups without technical brilliance have successfully identified specialty roles
groups have figured out how document failure
productivity can be measured in quantity of documentation

56. Why can engineering be described as successful when merely documenting failure?

Between group evolution involves learning from other group's failures
Starting over from scratch should be an option, not standard operating procedure
Must leverage and learn from previous teams failures
Clients, venture capitalists and executives expect engineers to fail technically
Clients, venture capitalists and executives will pay for failure

57. Why grade documentation rather than technical success?

Engineers document the path taken towards success, this requires documenting failure.
The rest of the world only documents success.
Deciding what is success and failure when projects are open ended leads to arguments
It is too hard to grade individuals uniquely within a team without a paper trail

58. If engineers are only paid if things work, then why focus on documenting failure?

No success is achieved without failure, failure inspires success, success inspires competition
Quality control, continuous improvement, new patents benefit from failure documentation
Every success involves the creation of a new design process and documentation organization
Every success involves new within group and between group dynamics

59. What motivates business managers, project managers, and clients to demand documentation?

An understanding of the importance of documenting failure
The need to be free from dependence on isolated brilliant engineers
An understanding of the need for quality control
The need for continuous new patents and continuous improvement
Worries about retirement, and the success of mouth to mouth communication of trade secrets

60. Who is in the audience that reads engineering documentation?

business managers
project managers
clients
customers
other engineers

61. Why is it that business managers/clients hire engineers to represent them like lawyers?

facilitate between group evolution
to read engineering documentation
protect themselves from law suites
resolve problems before law suites occur
represent their technical, political, financial interests

62. What is the group mind?

what classes, companies develop in response to meetings, lectures and communication from management
documentation that a group develops
something archetypal related to Jungian psychology
something associated with in-group evolution
something associated with between group evolution

63. Why is the group mind better captured by failure documentation?

success seduces, blinds and limits documentation ... witness the frustration of internet diy tutorials
reverse engineering technical failure is easy
repeated forward engineering failure is attractive because along the way, one finds solutions
a clarity develops, more detail is exposed when documenting failure
failure documentation enables continuation of between group evolution better than demo success
the successful demo documents itself, thus only failures need to be documented
engineering teaches how to capture physical world context from a demo success

64. What are the characteristics of a brilliant individual within a team?

announces brilliance
talks with confidence even when corrected
makes everyone else watch and listen
doesn't create tasks that make the team a success
doesn't document
doesn't like others trying to duplicate their work

65. How should brilliant (a student personality trait) success be moderated?

slow down by repeating the brilliant success
slow down by asking questions and documenting, taking pictures and video
eliminating brilliance with in the group
ignoring the person, letting them do their own thing
competing with the brilliance

66. Why is it said that "A" students end up working for "C" students?

A students become professors, C students end up in business that hires professors
C students are usually better at building, valuing and leveraging the group mind
C students usually fail at being engineers and become managers
A students usually become "hard to work with" and end up changing jobs more often
C students are better at creating between group evolution
C students understand when it is necessary to find an A student to jump start between group evolution

67. When a team member disappears and stops informal communication, what should you do?

assume the team mate doesn't like anyone on the team
attempt formal communication through the schools LMS so that the instructor can see the attempt
inform the instructor
cover for the student by doing their work
find out what problem the team member has and attempt to help them
let the instructor refer the student to student services

68. What should you think and say in response to queries by others about the student that has disappeared?

we have assumed they have disappeared
they have "let" life get in their way to becoming an engineer
life has gotten in their way of becoming an engineer
you have tried everything and they are not responding
you are hoping they return

69. What should you do with someone who is stuck, will only do certain things?

attempt to relate what they want to do to the project and give them acceptable tasks
change the project to focus in their direction
attempt to convince them to be an engineer .. practice learning something new
talk to your instructor

70. What are some ground rules you should negotiate?

ask for help, everyone has a different set of skills
visualize expected communication associated with tasks each week
establish minimal communication, emergency communication protocols
talk among each other until everyone likes each other
be agreeable and express reservations associated with group decisions outside the group

71. How should you handle someone who is not pulling their own weight?

first talk to them privately
try to negotiate simple tasks for them based upon prior work
confront within the group only after talking with everyone else in the group first
confront within the group only after no response to a private talk

72. How should one handle someone who wants to talk a lot?

try to talk over them yourself
interrupt with a request to give someone else in the group a chance to talk
only talk when you disagree with something

73. Which student profile is the most difficult to deal with?

slacker
communicator
hard to work with
cave dweller
brilliant
disappearing
couch potato
hitch hiker
stuck

74. "Absorbing" is something that a group does wrong. What are the characteristics of absorbing?

team takes pride in getting the job done, with out dealing with problem behavior
everyone wants to be friends first rather than bond over working hard
friendship and being nice is defined as acting in a self-sacrificing manner
absorbing good rather than bad
dysfunctional teams ... teams that don't get anything done or can not create tasks for themselves

75. Dealing with a hitch hiker almost always ends in talking to your instructor. But involving your instructor is dangerous because:

professor distracted may not take the time to figure out the details and instead label everyone dysfunctional
professors usually don't want to be put in the middle of dysfunction
feelings and emotions in the absence of facts are hard to respond to with action
hitch hiker's usually beat up the instructor and then file complaint forms

76. How might the professor deal with the couch potato or hitchhiker?

put them on a team of one
team up with the student themselves to see behavior first hand
kick them off the team and wait force them to work their way onto a new team/project
ask them to drop the class

77. What are some facts about a hitch hiker/couch potato that the professor will respond to?

left meetings (make a list) without everyone clearly knowing what task they are going to do
claimed to be (make a list of when) "too busy (forcing others to help him prioritize)
takes up all available time/space and without helping negotiate tasks
leaves meeting prematurely, without knowing what everyone else is doing (make a list when)
doesn't respond to agreed upon communication methods (make a list of emergency communication protocol violation)
summarizes your work, presenting it as their own or "we" in weekly reports (point this out to the instructor)
writes their weekly report in 10 minutes before class
does someone else's task badly and then tries to confuse agreed upon tasks when confronted

78. What will hitch hikers teach you about yourself?

must stop trying to make others happy at my own expense
must find a stopping point even though you can visualize/feel doing better
don't live with the feeling of a long suffering martyr .. it generates no respect, just abuse
cooperation without participation in delegation or task acceptance means nothing
stop trying to fix people
set high expectations, don't reward the slightest contribution because it represents "progress"
loyalty is irrational
must let people fail so that the team can succeed
communism has a place

79. What are your chances of meeting a hitch hiker in engineering projects?

high
only in the work place
high after 6 months of working together
eventually can be sure one will meet a hitch hiker

80. How is a couch potato different from a hitch hiker?

doesn't argue, doesn't spread confusion, doesn't change the subject
accepts criticism and then begin to perform
will go along with the group consensus
can be guided to do reasonably good work

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