Team:Imperial College/ltat

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Let's Talk About This

Your aid for raising difficult but important conversations

Working in a team can have its challenge and sometimes be difficult. Opposing opinions, misunderstandings, lack of communication and personal issues can cause stress and conflict within a team, which is detrimental to the teams’ health and to the team’s success with regards to their project.

These kinds of issues need to be addressed as early as possible, otherwise allowing such negative factors to fester in the team can have dire consequences, such as members outright fighting, or wishing to leave the team.

One of the most effective methods for dealing with internal team pressure is simply to talk about them in the open. By speaking out loud and listening patiently, many conflicts and unnecessary stress can be avoided, improving the wellbeing of the individual, as well as benefiting the whole team.

However, starting these kinds of conversations can be quite awkward and difficult, especially in the beginning of a project where everyone is new and the team members do not know each other very well. This lack of communication can lead to issues being bottled up, causing stress and frustrations that lead to arguments and loss of productivity, which is unhealthy for the individual and the team.

To help initiate conversations about issues within a team, we decided upon our solution, Let’s Talk About This (LTAT).

There are two key elements to LTAT:

Human Resources

We thought that each team should have their own Human Resources (HR) person, who is elected by the team. The HR’s role would be to act as a listener and mediator of issues that are raised in the team. They would help solve issues where they can or involve more appropriate parties where they see fit.

The LTAT web application

communicating one’s issues can be awkward, even to someone dedicated to listening to these kinds of things. It can also be difficult to break down your own problems and think of them objectively. Also, having to use a personal communication channel (such text or email) to raise an issue can be intimidating, especially if the user is unsure or nervous. We decided that a level and unbiased platform for specifically communicating issues is needed, on which a user is assisted in objectively breaking down their problem, and they should be able to access and use the platform with ease. Furthermore, we want the HR to receive the message in a way they can efficiently and effectively understand the problem.

The LTAT web app is a tool to raise an issue in a discrete and orderly manner. It is up to the user and the HR to meet in person, with other relevant parties, to discuss the issue further and resolve it in person.

But first, is LTAT really needed?

Before going into making our LTAT app, we needed to confirm that something like LTAT is needed in the real world, and whether other teams would find it useful. We contacted several iGEM teams from all over the world to fill out our survey, in which we asked individuals general questions about their team management system and about issues they have within their team. Through our survey we wanted to confirm two key things. First, do individuals Why individuals?
The app is to be used by individuals to communicate issues with the team, therefore it is best to get an idea of issues faced in other teams from an individual’s perspective. Furthermore, this allows the individual filling our survey to be more comfortable about honestly answering the questions, rather than feeling pressured into choosing answers that creates a false-positive image of their team. in other teams feel like they have communication issues within their team, and secondly, whether LTAT would be able to help resolve these issues. A total of 68 individuals from 14 different teams responded to our survey, the results of which further motivated us to develop our app to completion.

Do other team's have communication issues?

How often do you perceive communication issues within your team?

How often do you feel you have communication issues with your team?

These confirmed to us that individuals in other teams do perceive challenges and difficulties when it comes to communication. One fifth of the respondents believe that issues occur regularly is a considerable amount, and a total of 61.8% believing that there is at least one issue a week. Furthermore, slightly over half of the total respondents believe that they themselves have at least one communication issue a week. These data suggest that other iGEM teams also have communication issues and so LTAT could potentially be used by others.

Would other teams be interested in LTAT?

Would having a dedicated Human Resource person improve communication within the team?

Would a tool that allows members to voice issues and encourages the team to sort them out together improve team communication?

These results showed some promise, as majority of individuals do agree that a dedicated HR could possibly be useful, but most of them are sceptical about how well it could be implemented by the team, which is a reasonable thought to have. However, one participant commented “We've implemented this [HR] role this year and it has helped immensely, especially because our team is very large”. This particular response was encouraging to hear and supported our belief that a dedicated HR in a group would be beneficial to everyone. It’s unfortunate that we couldn’t contact this individual further, as we the responses are recorded as anonymously.

In Summary...

From our survey we received confirmation that other teams also have communication issues and many individuals felt that they personally had some form of communication issue with their team. Furthermore, the responses to having a dedicated HR and a tool to communicate team issues through were positive, encouraging us that LTAT could be successful at helping initiating conversations about issues within a team.

Demo of Let's Talk About This

With the help of the iGEM community we were able to develop a beta of our web application Let’s Talk About This

The application is coded in HTML, JavaScript and PHP, and the app is hosted on a Raspberry Pi model 3B+ server. Our team has a personal account that is active at all times and can be accessed by every member through this web address: “www.icigem.com/LTAT/LTAT.html”. Our personal account is password protected, therefore only members of the Imperial iGEM Team can access it, however a demo of the app as it were to be used in a web browser can be found at this web address: “www.icigem.com/LTAT_demo/LTAT.html”.

How the web application works is that the user can access the app through any web browser (also including mobile devices) by typing the web address for the app into any web browser. When the app is opened, the user is asked a series of questions regarding their issue. These responses are recorded and at the end an email is sent to the appropriate person with the responses collated as a letter.

A fully functional demo of the web app is available for you to explore below.

Let's Talk About This: Demo Web App

11:22

Let's Talk About This

Welcome to LTAT, your aid for raising difficult but important conversations

Press the button below to begin

Let's Talk About This

What's your name?

Stay Anonymous

Let's Talk About This

Who do you want to involve?

Human Resources Only Everyone Principal Investigator

Let's Talk About This

What kind of issue would this be?

Personal

This can be about your personal life, your health or be work related

Group

This would be about anything related to other members of the team

Let's Talk About This

Which of the below category does your problem fall into?

Family/Friend related
Health related
Assignment related

Let's Talk About This

Would you be comfortable giving more details?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

Please give more details of your problem bellow:

Let's Talk About This

Would you like help from the team?

Yes
No
I am not sure

Let's Talk About This

How do you suggest the team could help you?

Let's Talk About This

Would you like to talk to someone in person about the issue?

Yes
No
I am not sure

Let's Talk About This

Who would you like to talk to?

The HR person
A team member

A supervisor
The whole team
A counsellor/GP

Let's Talk About This

Has the issue affected your mental health?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

How has the problem made you feel?

Anxious
Stressed
Depressed
Scared
Frustrated

Let's Talk About This

Has the issue affected your physical health?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

How has your problem affected you physically?

Nauseous
Tired
Light Headed
Lose Appetite
Insomnia

Let's Talk About This

Would you like to take some time off?

No
I don't know
A day
A couple of days
A week
I want to leave

Let's Talk About This

Would you like the mediator to pass a message to the team?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

What would you like to say?

Let's Talk About This

Let's Talk About This

The issue is between/with...

You and the group
You and a group member
Other members of the group
The group in general

Let's Talk About This

Do you feel mistreated by the group?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

How do you feel the group has mistreated you?

Ignoring me
Bullying me
Bossing me around
Abandoning me

Let's Talk About This

What do you think is the root of the problem?

Misunderstanding
No compromise
Prejudism
Inflated Egos

Let's Talk About This

Would you like to give more details of the problem?

Let's Talk About This

Could you please give details of the issue?

Let's Talk About This

How has your problem made you feel?

Anxious
Stressed
Depressed
Scared
Frustrated

Let's Talk About This

Could you please provide their name(s)?

I would rather not

Let's Talk About This

Could you please provide their names?

I would rather not

Let's Talk About This

What do you think is the root of the problem?

Misunderstanding
No compromise
Prejudice
Inflated Egos

Let's Talk About This

Has the issue affected your productivty?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

How has your productivity been affected?

It's discouraging
I cannot focus
I cannot communicate with them

Let's Talk About This

Has the issue affected the team's productivty?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

How do you think the issue should be resolved?

As a team Among the member's themselves By Human Resources By the Principle Investigator By an External Person

Let's Talk About This

What do you think is the problem with the group

Inappropriate behaviour
Lack of productivity
Lack of concentration
Lack of communication
Lack of Motivation

Let's Talk About This

Please give more details of the issue:

Let's Talk About This

What do you think is the root of the problem?

Lack of communication
Lack of compromise
Prejudism
Inflated Egos

Let's Talk About This

Is something about your work bothering you?

Yes
No

Let's Talk About This

What is bothering you?

I feel overwhlemed
I cannot focus
I don't understand my work
I cannot communicate with others
I don't like my work

Let's Talk About This

Please give details of the issue(s) related to your assignment?

Let's Talk About This

How has this affected your work?

I've lost productivity
I cannot meet deadlines
I cannot think
My work is of poor quality

Let's Talk About This

What do you think is the root of the problem?

I've lost motivation
I've lost interest
I dislike my work
The team

Let's Talk About This
Welcome to LTAT. Even though this is the wiki demo version of the LTAT web app, it still has all the functionality of the full web app and represents it quite truly. Press the button to begin the demo.

Be known or be anonymous
The user can choose to let themselves be known if the issue is specific, but the option for anonymity allows them to raise concerns in which they may not be directly involved and would simply like to report a general issue.

Choosing the mediator
The role of HR is crucial for the success of the app, however sometimes the user may feel like they wish to share something with the whole group, in which case they can via selecting everyone, which would send an email to the team account. The user may also wish to speak directly to the PI regarding a serious issue, and so this platform allows them to do so, and lets the PI know that there is a severe issue that needs addressing.

General Issue type
Issues have been generalised into two categories, the first being “Personal”, where the issue being raised is to do with the user only and does not directly involve the rest of the team. The second being “Group” refers to the issue being directly related to the team.

Series of questions
After selecting, the user follows a series of questions that help them break down and summarise their issue.

Getting the team involved or talk to someone
The user is prompted on a few occasions to talk to someone in person, as the apps primary function is to act as a platform for initiating this conversation in person

Asking about their health
Towards the end of a series of questions, the user is always asked about their health, both mental and physical. It is important to prompt the user to self-monitor their health, especially if they are stressed or frustrated.

Message to the team
At the end of every series, the user is always asked this question. This is to give them an opportunity to share something with the team through the mediator, if they don’t feel confident doing it themselves.

Submission page
All the inputs have been collected by the app, however they have not been sent to the mediator yet. This is done only when the user presses the submit button, allowing them full control over if they wish to raise their issue.

Mail Box Of Recipient

iGEMail

• Search
• Inbox
• Sent
• Spam
• Deleted

• Priority
• Updates
• Social
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LTAT Mail

• idt: Your IDT order has been shipped
• upv valencia: We've sent over your parts
• igemhq: Wiki freeze deadline is approaching!
• t.ouldridge: Order Approvals Needed
• i.mullor-ruiz: I thought you'd find this paper useful!
• neborders: Your High-fidelity Q5 will be arriving soon
• ucl_igem: What time is the meet-up?
• oxford: IDT parts order?
• oxford: New Scientist Live payment receipt
• benchling: T-shirts are on their way
• sue: regarding agarose and missing brush
• t.ouldridge: Don't forget the pub quiz this firday!

To refresh the demo, click here

The program files and documentation for the LTAT web app can be found on our GitHub directory.

How has the app changed the way we work?

With the aid of the app, we were able to work together more coherently, and in fact found that after a certain time it was no longer needed as the main platform for raising issues, and people felt more natural talking about it to one another in person. By working more coherently, we were able to dedicate our time and energy to developing our project and taking it further to completion, rather than dealing with internal stresses leading to lack of productivity and hurting the team’s mental health.

Giving back to the iGEM community

After making the beta, we distributed copies of the app to other teams. However, as the app will be used for communicating personal and often sensitive material, we drafted a terms and conditions document for the app to which the users and the developer must agree to.

In summary the document reassures the client (the iGEM team) that their account is secure and independent from Imperial College London, that the developer has access to all the information however they will not and cannot use this information in any way and doing so will put them at risk of serious prosecutions. And finally, the document also protects the web application from distribution without the developer’s permission.

An account for you team can very easily be created by the developer, you would just need to download the terms and conditions document, follow the instructions on the document and contact the developer.

official.imperial.igem@gmail.com