I've written on here before about how I have this love for working alone. Part of it is because my interests are so obscure, and I have this craftsman's mindset. But the other reason? I hate waiting on other folks. Because, nine times out of ten, they have different priorities.
I never really cared for group projects back in the day. We'd get to work on them, and if it was a group of five, perhaps three of us would throw our all into it. There would be a fourth who would provide some effort, and then a fifth who would just phone it in, if we got participation at all. It almost always goes that way, I've found. That's part of why I don't make a practice of assigning group projects to my students. I know that some circumstances call for it (there's no practical way, for instance, you can put on a decent live-to-tape television show with only one person running everything), but other times, it's just a mess and people get frustrated. Sometimes you'll have an excellent manager who will stay after those who slack up, but sometimes you don't.
If I have a working partner who has the same "let's get this done" mindset, then I'm happy. But sometimes I'll have to work with folks who will work for a bit, put it aside, and I have to remind them. And then they'll work on it a little, and then it'll ebb. Worse, it'll be something I can't easily take elsewhere, because there's some organizational or proprietary reason. Even worse, it'll be a project I can't just abandon, either because I've given my word on it or because it's a project that really, seriously needs doing.
I'm a world-champion procrastinator, and I'll be the first one to call myself out on that. On the other hand, when someone else is involved, and it needs to get done...well, you know.
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