PREMIUM: reflecting on the entire experience

Now that the Premium is coming to an end, looking back and reflecting on the entire experience becomes inevitable. The first few months of the project felt like a sprint. We were busy attending workshops, actively working on the assignment, and preparing for the midterm presentations while diligently updating Tumblr about our progress.

Midterm presentations became the highlight of the Premium experience for our group. After sharing our results with others, we, for the first time, felt like a real team, so proud of our progress and so happy to have accomplished something together.

After the midterm presentations, however, our group came to a standstill. We all needed some time to cool down and recover after an intense period. After reaching a peak, stagnation is almost unavoidable, and our team had to deal with it. Since our project team was divided into two smaller groups, coordination became more complicated. Each subgroup worked on their own assignment, but we had to keep each other updated. Scheduling meetings has become more difficult than ever and we didn’t seem to be making any progress.

During the team dynamics meeting with our coach and the reflective session with our mentor, the issues finally came to the surface. We all acknowledged that our team needed a different approach. Our coach helped us to reflect on the underlying reasons for our difficulties and together with our mentor we came up with a detailed plan on how to proceed. We also scheduled a few meetings in advance to make sure that everyone can be present. Our team finally got a second breath. We were again inspired to work and finish our project.

Although my overall Premium experience has been great, I feel that it is also important to acknowledge the challenges our team had to overcome. After all, it shows how far we have been able to come together. This difficult period has resulted in a great bonding experience for our team. We were able to reflect on our working process, learn from our mistakes and make necessary corrections. Our team also organized an informal team building activity so that we could get to know each other better. Even though Premium is almost over, the agenda of our team is still quite busy. I am looking forward to what the last weeks of our experience will bring!

Written by Irina Pokhilenko (FHML)

PREMIUM Student 2017-2018