IGEM:IMPERIAL/2006/Instructors Feedbacks/During iGEM

Stuff done and learnt during our first iGEM summer

Team Work	Project	Wiki	iGEM Community

	What we planned ...
	Breaking-the-ice type of activities to help the group to come together. Teaming up biologists and engineers during tutorials and labwork. Daily debrief to review how everyone is feeling (what was done well or badly ? and how things could be improved ?) Weekly meeting with senior academics (mini presentations + open discussion). Meeting with other iGEM teams (UK meeting + contacts with other iGEM teams through wiki or emails).
What happened ...
Daily debriefs were too much regarded as a formality and not enough as a real way to catch-up on the project and to plan future actions. Teamwork became a real challenge when the labwork was involved (communication issues and time constrains to organize meetings). Great experience when meeting with other UK teams (thanks to Cambridge team to organize it).
Next time ...
From an educational point of view, iGEM is a great platform to touch on teamwork issues. We should spend more time having the group to think about how they are performing as a group. More team-building activities and social events.

Team Work	Project	Wiki	iGEM Community

	What we planned ...
	The project was shaped by our attempt to use a pure engineering approach. Choice of the project would be left to the students.
What happened ...
The engineering approach was far from being a natural thing to do for students, however it helped a lot to structure the different aspects of the project. During the first week, through brainstorming sessions, 3 potential projects were selected by the group. A week later, the group voted for the project to be continued. At each steps, students had to pitch for their project in sub-groups. They were asked to market their idea and assess risks. In fact, a main project was chosen and a secondary one was also continued as it was seen as a potential extension of the main one.
Next time ...

Team Work	Project	Wiki	iGEM Community

	What we planned ...
	Wiki used as a tool to promote collaboration. First we planned a local wiki with all our documents + igem wiki updates on regular basis. Implementing on the Wiki: Lab notebook, Calendar, part documention. To support the engineering approach through rigorous documentation.
What happened ...
We quickly dropped the local wiki to move completely to OpenWetWare. The group decided to adopt a fully Open documentation. The Wiki had a real positive impact on the project. However some limitations appeared when the project grew (its structure became chaotic) and when some team members started to work remotely lack of clear (visibility on what was going on). Lab notebook on the wiki was useful but not really practical to browse afterwards. We expected to get more feedbacks from other iGEM teams through the wiki. Maybe a special award (voted by the teams) would be good to stimulate this aspect.
Next time ...
Wiki is clearly a vital tool for iGEM, we need to think more about coming up with templates for documentations. Some people in the group should be in charge of keeping the wiki tidy. Need to rethink the use of the Wiki to support labwork (lab notebook, management of lab consumables, to do lists)

Team Work	Project	Wiki	iGEM Community

	What we planned ...
	Keeping an eye on what the other teams were doing and interacting with teams dealing with similar problematic. Meeting UK teams. Giving feedbacks to iGEM on Registry usability.
What happened ...
Difficult to have a good visibility on what the other teams are doing thanks to their wiki. Meeting with UK team was great.
Next time ...
Try to promote more interactions with the rest of the iGEM community (phone or video conference). Could be interesting to twin iGEM teams.